Kickback is Real! - WARNING - Some blood shown!

[Brent Ring]

I broke two rules this morning while working on the sliding drop-leaf supports for a dining rule table project that I am "THIS" close to being finished with. The supports are sliding dovetails and I was cutting the 14 degree sides. Rule 1 that I broke was that I stood behind the cutting path of the saw. Rule 2 was that I was in a hurry. I was only going to make a couple of quick cuts and then come back in the house for some family items. I was using a push stick. The cut was a left tilt, with the fence on the left side of the blade. This was done with a Ridgid Portable contractors saw, 15 amp motor. Of course, the support I was cutting bound and rode up the blade and shot back at me, and I am now wearing the evidence, at least for awhile. It knocked the wind out of me, and is very painful. This temporary 'brand' I am wearing will serve as a great reminder to not make those same two mistakes again. Here is the evidence and I promise this is not a gloat!

[Adam Strong]

Nice sharp corners too! Kick back is all too real and dangerous. The biggest hazard is that the stock can kick your hand into the blade. I have had it happen with a panel, but was lucky enough to avoid the blade and end up with only a bruise on my waistline. The extra 10 seconds to install the splitter when changing the blade are certainly worth it. Glad to see this is the worst of your injury!

[Russell Johnson]

I'm still healing from the 1/4" Baltic Birch that was flung into my stomach a month ago. No blood but some vicious bruising. I learned from that experience though.

[Britt Lifsey]

Ouch! That's gotta hurt. But, glad that is as bad as it was.

When I first got my TS my "shop" was a little 12X17 metal building. I had the TS setup where my back was to the open 6' door on one end. I was doing a rip cut and it hung up and kicked back. Luckily I was standing to the side. The piece of wood went sailing out the door and about 30 or 40 feet into the yard.

[Rick Markham]

OUCH!!!! Aren't ya glad ya decided to use a push stick!

Kick backs suck, getting hit by them suck worse! I won't lie, I have had two in my life. One thankfully I was doing everything right, and wasn't standing anywhere near and managed to escape unscathed. The other I wasn't so lucky, I was in a similar situation as you were... almost done, was breaking the rules and subsequently paid for it. I was lucky, I took a piece of 3/4" Melamine covered particle board (10" x 10") to the solarplexis, Right below the sternum (where that little bony point below the sternum is) I am thankful it didn't hit my sternum, and thankful it didn't hit me in the head, thankfully my hand didn't get pulled into the blade either. For some reason it is always a corner that hits you, I think it is God's way of leaving you with a reminder!

Take it for what it is, A LESSON, gotta do what it was meant for LEARN and DON"T DO IT AGAIN!! I feel your pain, LESSON LEARNED! I will never break the rules again, it isn't worth it. Mine was many years ago, but it is always in my head when I am working on my table saw. It could have been a whole lot worse! Some of us have to learn things the hard way :rolleyes:

Glad your OK! Sorry your ego and body are bruised!

[Brian D Anderson]

Let me just say I know how you feel. I took one in the gut a few weeks before last Christmas. It shook me up pretty bad. No internal damage, but a whole bunch of external and mental damage. I was also using a Grripper to push the board through. I hesitated at the end of the cut and the off cut went flying into the wall, that startled me enough to let go of the board I was holding down, and that climbed the blade and launched into me.

I immediately purchased the Sharkguard splitter/guard. I also got one of the magnetic feather boards.

I feel much safer now, and hopefully will never have a kickback again.

Word of caution . . . like your mother told you, don't pick your scab! It's been 6 months and I still have a good scar to show for it.

I haven't come up with a good alternate story for the scar yet though. I've tried my wife hit me with a board, but no one believes it. :) Maybe I'll just say it was for my dumbass removal surgery.

-Brian

[Tom W Armstrong]

Wow and OUCH! Very sorry about the accidents guys, but THANK YOU very much for posting (visually) what a kick back can really do. A SS isn't going to help when that happens. Replacing my contractor with a slider just moved up the priority list!

[Don Alexander]

about 30 years ago when i was in the 9th grade and in shop class i got a visual lesson on the dangers of kickback and my classmate that was using the saw was LUCKY he only got clipped as the saw put a 1x8x3' piece of oak completely through a concrete block wall approx. 20' behind the saw and the remains of the board ended up 10-15' out in the yard on the way through the wall it took out 2 of the concrete blocks leaving a pretty jagged hole in the wall

my classmate escaped with a minor scratch, a torn shirt and sore ears as the shop teacher vented on him a bit about the reason for safety rules

obviously i have never forgotten it :rolleyes:

[Chip Lindley]

My first kickback taught me to never stand in the LINE OF FIRE! When it happened again, the piece of oak went shooting past me, clean through a roll of costly Formica standing against the shop wall. I really wish I'd taken one in the gut again! Oh, Well....

[Randy Rizzo]

Had that happen last week. Took my eye off the ball. Normally work by myself, but today my son was helping me. Had just finished a dado cut on a piece and had pushed it thru with the push stick. At that moment Joe said something to me, I looked up to answer and in the process put the push stick right into the dado blade. Don't know the exact sequence of events after that, but the push stick got jammed back into my hand, tore a hunk of flesh out of my palm and then wound up back in the dado finally jamming the saw. Fortunately only bruised pride and a really bruised hand. Reminder to self, pay attention dummy!! The push stick is now on prominent display near the saw as a reminder.

[Steve Kohn]

True confessions time. I have had 4 kickbacks, 3 on different tools. Had a shaper throw a piece of wood through the garage door and 40 feet down the driveway. I was not in the line of fire.

Had a radial arm saw, trying to rip cut and it shot a strip of wood through the drywall covered wall on my shop. I was not in the line of fire.

Had the PM66 tablesaw sling a piece of walnut past my ear and through the shop blinds and the window behind it. I was not in the line of fire.

Had the same tablesaw sling a piece of plywood back at me. This time I was in the line of fire and it caught me in the gut. The only saving grace was the plywood/missile was wide enought that it spread the impact all the way across my belly. No pictures, but I was pretty bruised and sore for a couple of weeks.

I now have a sharkguard on that same tablesaw, don't rip on the RAS, and sold the shaper. At least I am trying to work safer.

[Peter Quinn]

Ouch. So what is your plan to avoid this sort of thing in the future?

[Richard Dragin]

The last time I took one to the gut it hurt more after a few days of turning different colors. You don't need a new plan when you have had that lesson. It gives you a healthy respect for the tool.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The cut was a left tilt, with the fence on the left side of the blade.
Left & left?
Isn't that a no-no?

[Brent Ring]

Left & left?
Isn't that a no-no?

Probably - but especially if you are standing behind the blade :D

[Brian Kincaid]

Ouch! Hope you get well soon! :eek:

In the mean-time find a better way to make those cuts... seriously not worth it and could have been SO MUCH worse.
-Brian

[Brent Ring]

I did, tilted the bandsaw to the correct angle. All done with those now. And no more left and left. I could have done these much differently as I thought it thru more and, should the need for them occur again, I will.

[John Coloccia]

I'm curious how many of the kickbacks on this thread had a riving knife, or at least a splitter installed. I've never heard of a kickback occuring with a riving knife in place but I'm always curious to know if one does and how.

[Steve Bracken]

I'm curious how many of the kickbacks on this thread had a riving knife, or at least a splitter installed. I've never heard of a kickback occuring with a riving knife in place but I'm always curious to know if one does and how.

A riving knife prevents the most common cause of kickback, that is, the kerf of kiln dried lumber closing behind the blade ... nasty.

It won't help much with a fence that is badly aligned (tapering towards the blade, even a bit), nor with the operator twisting the lumber because they get distracted, or careless.

I am liking the look of the Shark Guard, and would welcome the thoughts of those who have used it.

[Brent Ring]

No riving knife here

[Jon Lanier]

On the positive side: 'Chick's dig scars.' ;)

[Joseph Tarantino]

Left & left?
Isn't that a no-no?

this is the reason i never understand the feeding frenzy that arises whenever an older unisaw becomes available. they tilt right and the widest rip area is to the right of the blade. isn't right & right potentially as dangerous as left and left? kickback cost me 2 stitches in my left index finger, which taught me to never rush when interacting with power tools. when it happened, i thought my entire hand would wind up in the blade, so i consider myself lucky. the OPs bruise is a good lesson in being "sure to read, understand and follow, all the safety rules that come with your power tools. knowing how to......." glad the op, and the other posters, injuries weren't worse than they were.

[John Coloccia]

A riving knife prevents the most common cause of kickback, that is, the kerf of kiln dried lumber closing behind the blade ... nasty.

It won't help much with a fence that is badly aligned (tapering towards the blade, even a bit), nor with the operator twisting the lumber because they get distracted, or careless.

I am liking the look of the Shark Guard, and would welcome the thoughts of those who have used it.

I have a SharkGuard on my SS and it works very well. I got tired of waiting to SS to release their blade guard dust collection for the contractor saw, and now that I see how expensive it is, I'll pass :)

[george wilson]

When I first started shop class about 1953(?) I was sawing a narrow,beveled strip of wood on the Unisaw. The fence was on the right hand side of the blade,and the blade was tilted right. The3' long stick took off and speared through an old wooden rowboat about 20' away. I was standing properly,and didn't get hit. I never liked the old right hand tilt Deltas,but they made them that way until fairly recent times. I never liked the inconvenience of having to shift the fence to the other side of the blade,but quickly learned that I had to.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I never liked the inconvenience of having to shift the fence to the other side of the blade,but quickly learned that I had to.

Hmmm. I've had a right tilt Unisaw for almost 15 years, and have worked in a shop with a couple for even longer, and have never put the fence on the left side of the blade, nor have I seen anyone else do it. I think that kickback is avoidable if you're familiar with the operation, doing it properly, and paying attention. I'm sure there are situations where it's unavoidable, but I haven't seen any yet.

[Chris Parks]

Some saws can change the blade to fence alignment as the blade tilts due to poor engineering or set up. I can imagine this to be a real problem if the fence is the same side as the tilt. How many of us have measured this? I never have but I have never had a problem either but the devil is in the detail.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Glad to see you weren't more seriously injured!

I would love to have a real cabinet saw. The LOML bought me a Ridgid TS3650 and until I figure a way to break it without it being repairable, I suppose I'm stuck with it. For a contractor saw, it performs reasonably well.

That being said, I am one of the few who uses the manufacturer's supplied blade guard and splitter ALL THE TIME unless I'm using my dado blade. Think what you will but it works better than nothing and since I'm not being video taped I don't have to remove it for photographic or video-graphic clarity!:D

Yesterday I had my first kickback and it was under strange circumstances. I was using my Osborne EB-3 miter gauge and squared off a drawer front and the residual piece sitting under the blade guard. The piece wasn't long enough to engage anti-kickback pawls. I used a push stick to try to clear it from the blade guard before I started my next cut and the blade was spinning. The scrap piece caught on the blade and got thrown so hard that when it hit my Osborne EB-3, it changed it's alignment. I had to realign it.

It was an eye opener!

[Eiji Fuller]

Time for some sit ups Brian.

[Mark Beall]

Kickback is scary, mainly because it happens so fast that it's over before you know it started.

I've had a couple of cases where I had kickback, every time it was due to some level of stupidity on my part. The worst (which wasn't bad compared to what some people here have described, but I bet it hurt just as much) was clearing a relatively small - a few inches in each dimension - cutoff out of the way. No blade guard (stupid), cutoff hit the blade, launched, hit me square in the nipple. OMG that hurts. Left a good bruise too....

On my current saw (a PM2000) I almost never work without the blade guard (occasionally for a dado cut, but tend to do those with a router more these days). Part of the reason for that is that it's so easy to take off, put back on (10 seconds maybe) that there's no reason to.

Next saw will almost certainly be a slider, since I think the overall design of those is just inherently safer for the operations that I do on a table saw.

Glad you were only hurt enough to remember not to do that again and thanks for sharing to keep all of us on our toes.

mark

[Rick Akl]

This thread finally did it for me. I finally ordered that leather apron I've been putting off.

[Brian D Anderson]

Time for some sit ups Brian.

Only because I'm in a good mood will I allow that comment.

-Brian

[Ron Conlon]

Time for some sit ups Brian.

Does the man have to endure TWO low blows? There's a reason there's not a swimsuit competition on this forum.

[Brian D Anderson]

Does the man have to endure TWO low blows? There's a reason there's not a swimsuit competition on this forum.

Thanks. :)

I could have easily posted the picture below, but I wanted to give some perspective.

2 year old + pregnant wife + full time job + golf league + woodworking = no time to workout.

BTW, I don't think a leather apron would have helped me all that much.

I'm now convinced that a splitter or riving knife is the key.

-Brian

[John Shuk]

And a catcher's vest!
Good lord! I'm glad you are OK. I witnessed a kick back when a 10 inch by 9 inch piece of 5/4 maple sailed across a college shop and hit a guy in the head. It was just a blur.
Long story short....no splitter being used.
Get better.
I want a riving knife.

[Bill White]

"I haven't come up with a good alternate story for the scar yet though. I've tried my wife hit me with a board, but no one believes it. :) Maybe I'll just say it was for my dumbass removal surgery."

Brian, where can you get the DA removal surgery in the deep South? I think I need some. :D
Bill

[Milind Patil]

This thread has been an eye opener for me and thank you all very much for sharing experiences and picures. I stand right in the path of the blade all the time :( I never had kickback before, but I am not going to wait for one to happen :mad: Taking all corrective steps, today !