Finally happened to me - TS kickback

[Patrick Nailon]

I was doing the most obvious thing that will get you kickback - using the rip fence to crosscut. 23" pieces of cherry. The first one cut fine, the second, I took my hand off the off-cut piece and WHAM! Luckily I was not in the line of fire, and tho the piece was gouged on the bottom, it came out whole and didn't damage anything else. I was cutting pieces for a bedside table top, and the damaged piece glued up nicely in the middle, hiding its deficiencies.

I'm so lucky to have experienced this without any injury or real damage to work or tool. Got to learn the lesson but not as grimly as some.

[Ken Shoemaker]

Kickbacks are a nasty event. Your one of the very few I've heard of that had one and it was not a blood shedding event. Mine were. Heck, even got bit by a jointer.

I'm alot more careful about what I do with those tools now.

By the grace if GOD I still have'em all...... Be careful.... Ken

[Chip Lindley]

Glad you survived totally intact, Patrick! This type of kickback is very likely to involve your fingers in the blade. Check out the use of an auxillary fence for crosscutting. Biesemeyer makes an expensive one, but same results can be had with a piece of MDF and a clamp. I avoid the TS all together, and use a RAS for all crosscuts.

But, long strips being ripped can become projectiles which shoot backwards with scary force. I had a 3/4 x 3/4ish oak strip shoot backward completely through a big roll of Formica laminate sitting in the shop. I think I'd rather taken the hit!

[Glen Butler]

It is always nice to learn something for free. It seems to happen so little in the school of hard knocks, though.

FYI: As you already know never use the fence for crosscutting. Use a jig in the miter slots. Also never use the fence to set the length for a crosscut. If you do this clamp a block to the fence and butt to the block. Once you start feeding the wood it will become free from the block and you can feed it without worrying about binding.

[glenn bradley]

Close call. Glad you're OK. I assume you mean the board was wider than it was long and therefor didn't track straight(?). Its lessons like this that stay with us a long time, eh?

[Patrick Nailon]

It is always nice to learn something for free. It seems to happen so little in the school of hard knocks, though..

Amen to everyone! I'll be sure to take the extra time to do it right. You only need take ONE shortcut to end up with a disaster. And I DID clear up the area behind and in front of the TS prior to this mishap, so I was thinking, just not all the way thru?

[Craig D Peltier]

I have only thought about using a leather apron in the shop. Sounds like a reminder to me. Keep the sticks out of my stomach.

[John Thompson]

BAD.. BAD BOY! It takes only seconds to clamp a piece of stock on the rip fence well before the cut to accomplish what you were doing leaving a free zone after you slide the stock forward with the miter gauge.

Glad you were OK and betcha ya do it right next time.. huh! ;)

[David DeCristoforo]

This is the kind of thing that makes woodworking exciting. I'm just glad it did not get too exciting!

[Joe Shinall]

Fractured my wrist with a piece one time from kickback. I'll post a picture if I can find it. Nasty, still have the scar, perfect plywood indention in my arm just above my wrist. After the piece hit me, it flew 12 feet across the shop and put a dent in my toolbox and a hole in my wall.

You are very lucky!

[Patrick Nailon]

Glad you were OK and betcha ya do it right next time.. huh! ;)

You got that! I'm normally very careful with all kinds of things, BUT this was a wake up call to those things where I'm not as careful. Gotta take the time to do 'em right, or there may not be a next time...:cool:

[Fred Voorhees]

...........even got bit by a jointer.

You too huh?

[david kramer]

Two words: Cross cut sled. Wait that's three words. Anyway, you can build a sled in an hour or two, out of scrap, and never have to think about this problem again. Search on this site for design ideas.

David

[Carl Babel]

+1 for the cross cut sled. When I was first starting in woodworking, I did the exact same thing as you and had a kick-back that missed my body by about 1/2" (pure luck). It actually dented the aluminum garage door, about 6 feet away. :eek: I always use a cross-cut sled now.

I am glad to hear that your incident didn't cost you anything other than creative thinking to hide the damage.

[Glen Butler]

Two words: Cross cut sled. Wait that's three words. Anyway, you can build a sled in an hour or two, out of scrap, and never have to think about this problem again. Search on this site for design ideas.

David

Mine took three days, but yes you can build a simple one rather quickly.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I had a 3/4 x 3/4ish oak strip shoot backward completely through a big roll of Formica laminate sitting in the shop. I think I'd rather taken the hit!

I don't think so. We had a young guy in our shop take a similar sized piece in the side of his stomach. It went in about 3". He was lucky, and only got a bruised liver, but he spent 3 days in the hospital.

[Tony Bilello]

...will get you kickback - using the rip fence to crosscut. 23" pieces of cherry. .....

I assume that the cut-off was between the fence and the blade and you were holding the piece against the miter gage on the left side of the blade.
If you were cutting the piece off and you had the miter gage also between the fence and the blade, this would be a relatively safe cut. Some precautions to be taken are a real good grip on the piece against the miter gage and move slowly and steadily and dont ease up until after you pass the blade and shut the saw off. Most times though, when I make many repetitive cuts, I pull the piece back through the 'danger zone' I do it all the time and am comfortable (but cautious) doing it.

[Tony Shea]

I don't completely understand how your kickback happened but do know they scare the hell out of me. I've become a safe man due to kickback.

Now I crosscut panels a lot, as long as it is plenty wide enough to keep on the rip fence safely. And as long as the cut-off is on the opposite side of the blade than the fence is on. But as soon as you start leaving the waste peice between the fence and blade is when all hell breaks loose. I've only done this once, maybe twice, when I was new to table saws. After some blood shed I learned that this was not proper procedure.

[mreza Salav]

++++ for cross cut sled. I have one with miter tracks embedded in and two of those toggle clamps to hold the piece down securely. I can safely cut pieces as small as 1.5" by 1.5" without my hands anywhere withint 12" of the blade!
Safe and accurate! very accurate.

[Peter Quinn]

Glad you were not injured. Not every lesson should cost you dearly. Now NEVER DO ANYThING THAT STUPID AGAIN PLEASE. Slap yourself in the back of the head if you think it will help to remember or in some way integrate this lesson deep into your pschye. That's how my father did it for me and it seems to have worked?

Your ok? Good, dope slap.

[Jay Jeffery]

Scary stuff in this thread. I've just upgraded my 8 1/2" RAS and small 8 1/2" TS, both with 1/2 HP motors on them to a 12" sliding miter and R4511 hybrid saws. The new saws are much stronger than I am. Not to say my old tools weren't dangerous, but if I ever disagree with the saw on where the wood should go, the saw will now win.

[michael case]

Glad your ok. I'm a little surprised that there is a feeling in some these posts that this was an accident in the sense of oops, bad luck. Please pay attention to the posts that emphasize the fact that you NEVER use the rip fence to crossut solid stock. You should grab a book on table saw basics. And this is basic. There are plenty of books out there and they will all tell you never to do this. Please be careful and please read up a bit.

[Kevin Bickford]

Happy to hear you're ok! I switched over to a track sawa a couple years back becuase of that and a few other mishaps. There's no going back to the TS. Keep it safe!