Sawbench accident reports

[Matt P]

I've ordered a Jet Benchtop table saw from Amazon for $199, but after reading this I am rather nervous:

http://www.amgron.clara.net/circularsawbenches/accidents.htm

One thing I can't visualize is that there are some injuries where the hand was "pulled" into the blade as a result of kickback.. don't understand/see how this happens..

[Jim Kountz]

Always remember this, respect but never FEAR your power tools. If you respect them you are more aware of what you're doing and you should know the capabilities and limitations. If you're scared during use, you're asking for trouble. More than likely you're going to be tense and not focused on the task at hand. Fear makes us make bad decisions.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Hi Matt

Exactly as Jim said...Respect but never fear...

All those accidents happened because of bad (very bad) TS technics.

Align your blade to the miter slot and align the fence to the miter slot and the blade.

Use the Splitter (better, riving knife)

Always use the guard (many accidents happened not only during the actual cut but after the cut was finished and the operator hand contacted the blade), unguarded blade is "inviting" an accident...

Use push sticks that leaves your hand at least 6" from the blade at any stage of the cut (as a general rule, keep you hands at least 6" from the blade in any direction; before, behind, above and sides of the blade)

Remove the off-cuts with long stick.

For ripping, it's better to use short fence.

Use feather boards and hold down rollers.

If, some operation looks dangerous to you...it probably is...don't do it and find safer way.

Oh, and the hand was "pulled into the blade" because there was no guard to "pull the hand into the guard"

:):):) If you don't have intentions to operate according to the above...you must buy Sawstop and relay on the computer that your "hot dog" will be only scratched...:):):)

Have a safe work
niki

[Jason Beam]

Jim's points are sound. Never use a tool you're scared of. It is possible to develop a healthy respect for a table saw. Absolutely. But some people never feel safe and that's okay. Personally, I avoid ripping solid woods on the table saw if I can avoid it. I feel much safer ripping on my bandsaw and it's worth the trouble of cleaning up the edge if I need to.

As for envisioning the "pulled" phenomenon, think of it more as falling. The advice I give new people is to always think of what will happen if the wood disappears. That's what this is usually accompanied by. The kickback quickly throws the wood. If you're lucky, the wood doesn't smack you in the face and you are suddenly left with nothing but air between your advancing hand and that blade. This does happen faster than most people can react and they continue pushing for some time before they realize the wood's gone and their reflexes kick in.

The response time can be as much as a full second or more. If you're moving along, 1000ms is an eternity and a couple thousand saw teeth. A very dear friend of mine had exactly this injury happen to him. He was pushing some 8/4 maple stock through. He describes the chain of events as this: "Sawing, sawing ... BANG! ... what the? ... BLOOD ... OH the wood's gone! MY HAND!". His surgeons were so good. His thumb was 99% severed and the tip of his finger was removed completely. They reattached him and is left with 90% functionality in his left paw - dang lucky, to be sure.

That wasn't to scare you. I swear it wasn't. It was to point out that you must always know what to expect before a single tooth touches that wood.

What happens when the wood disappears?

[David DeCristoforo]

"As for envisioning the "pulled" phenomenon, think of it more as falling."

What you are describing, Jason, is completely valid but it does not really address the OP's question. Rather, you point out another way you can lose a body part.

Imagine you are ripping a stick and you have your hand on the stick on the outfeed side of the blade. If you get a kickback, the force might simply pull the stick out from under your hand, But if you have a grip on the stick or are pressing down on it, your hand could be pulled back into the blade.

[Jason Beam]

Oh that's true - That verywell could be what the OP was talking about. I saw it from the front. I guess it didn't even dawn on me to reach back there, as I just don't do that. Thanks for shedding that light :)

[glenn bradley]

One thing I can't visualize is that there are some injuries where the hand was "pulled" into the blade as a result of kickback.. don't understand/see how this happens..

As stated "pulled" is a sensation or description of what happens to your feed hand when what you're pushing against suddenly goes away. As to fears of kickback on a TS, they should be no less than fears of kickback on a handheld circular saw or a drill motor for that matter. I'm pretty sure you won't find a report of a tool that attacked someone.

Proper setup and execution makes pretty much all the tools we work with safe. Think about firearms. A gun doesn't load itself, cock itself and jump off the table resulting in an 'accidental' trip to the hospital, eh?

The fundamental rule always applies for me; if it doesn't feel safe . . .stop and asses what you're about to do wrong.

[Mike Parzych]

Quite frankly, table saw accidents happen from doing dumb stuff.

Once I saw a thread wherein someone was describing an accident he had. But the pictures revealed he was cross-cutting a 24" long actual 4" x 4". So the blade didn't even cut all the way through! Cross cutting something like that is just begging for an accident.

Respect and solid work habits are the key. My hands just NEVER get within a foot of the blade no matter what.

[Chris Rosenberger]

One thing I can't visualize is that there are some injuries where the hand was "pulled" into the blade as a result of kickback.. don't understand/see how this happens..

This exact thing happened to me. That was almost 23 years ago. I was doing something stupid & I was tired. I lost the end of my pinky finger at the first joint & badly chewed up the 2 middle fingers & my thumb. I remember it as if it happened yesterday & remember thinking just before the piece got kicked out of the saw I should not be doing this. :o :o

[David DeCristoforo]

"...accidents happen from doing dumb stuff."

It may be true that most injury happens from doing dumb stuff. Not all accidents do. An accident can be defined in many ways but for me it's this: "an unexpected event causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured".

Maybe I'm splitting hairs here but sometimes things happen that cannot be foreseen or defended against. For example, I had an associate who had his wrist cut to the bone when a band saw blade snapped and whipped out of the enclosure. All guards were in place and the work was being performed according to proscribed safety procedures. But somehow, it still happened. Another coworker had his wrist broken by a drill while cutting shear ring grooves in a roof truss member. The shear ring cutter caught on an imbedded piece of metal buried inside a 6 X 16 oak timber. It tore the drill out of his hands and spun it with enough force that when the handle came back around and hit his wrist, it just snapped the bone. Again, there was nothing identifiable as unsafe in the method of work.

The point, I think, is that life is simply inherently dangerous. And while it's possible to avoid the most obvious pitfalls by paying attention and not becoming overconfident, getting all the way through without such gruesome occurrences may require the assistance of a power greater than ourselves. Either that or play it safe and do nothing at all. An even then one might need a little help.

[Bob Feeser]

I have fortunately only had one minor incident with a table saw, and it taught me a great lesson. Kickback is caused by the workpiece even slightly rising off of the table, then the workpiece is capable of twisting a little bit, which makes the blade grab the workpiece and turn it into a missle. Keeping the workpiece flat on the table, even as it is exiting the mid point of the blade is critical. Of course a riving knife, or a splitter forcing the workpiece down onto the table is a good solution. I don't use either. I use a plastic push stick that has rounded edges on everything. It also enables me to direct the workpiece against the fence, as well as follow it up past the blade, without getting my hands near the blade.
Getting afraid of the saw will cause you to go light on the piece as it is getting ready to exit the blade, and that will enable it to rise, causing a kickback.
The other thing that I think is key, don't ever put your hand over the blade onto the outfeed side for any reason whatsoever. When you think about how the blade is spinning, it is pushing the workpiece toward you. Any hands on the side closest to you are safe from getting caught in the blade. Kickback is the only concern on that side.
A hand on the outfeed side of the blade is really in danger. Anything that happens on that side, can lead to injury, with a hand being drawn back into the blade.
Another consideration is that if you are cutting slim strips, make your first pass to clean up an edge, then consider making consecutive cuts to the outside of the blade. Then you have the maximum control on the greater width of the board between the blade and the fence. With that wide of a board to handle, let's say over 5" for example, you can even use your hands to push the board, then the tail end of the pass you use a push stick, then at the tail end of the pass, once the 5" board clears the end of the saw blade, you can lightly slide it to the left, pushing the cut piece away from sitting their rattling on the edge of the blade. Remember we are now on the aft side of the blade so the push stick keeps your hand above the plane of the blade.
Cutting to the outside of the blade, requires some exact fence setting, and a blade like the Forrest Woodworker II which is exactly 1/8" wide. That makes it easy to set your fence by adding 1/8" to your setting to compensate for the blade width. Sorry to push Incra, but their table saw fence enables you to set your fence with any width blade, within a 1/32" setting, and get perfect results, since each setting locks into a comb or threads with the new spiral setting. I guess I am getting off on a tangent.
The other danger is wearing loose fitting clothing, or rings, jewelry etc, anything that can take a dumb move that results in a glance, into an amputation.
Another problem is misaligned fence, miter slot to the blade. If your blade is not perfectly parallel with the miter slot, and the fence perfectly parallel to the fence, will cause you to fight with the workpiece to get it to go through the blade. With a misaligned fence with the blade wide closer to you, you are trying to fit a semi through a narrow bridge. With the fence set with the blade wide on the outfeed side, you are fighting a workpiece that wants to creep away from the fence. So you exert a lot of force to keep it tight to the fence, and that is un natural. It causes you to be pushing the workpiece toward the blade, and a slip of the hands could result in them winding up in a blade.
A dull blade, causing unnecessary force is another concern.
You should never use your hand to push the workpiece directly in front of the blade. That is a common injury problem with band saws as well. You exert a lot of pressure, then a soft spot in the wood, causes a zero resistance cut and the hand winds up in the blade.
Drunk, stoned, medicated, or tired is another risk factor.
I lock the door at the top of the steps, when I am cutting in the basement shop, that way no one can come up behind me an startle me in the middlle of a pass.
Don't work in the dark. :D Had to throw that one in there.
Sorry if I am getting a little wordy, but I am big on safety. Hope it helps those who want to know.

[Burt Waddell]

Matt,

Table saws are dangerous tools and I am glad to see you looking information on them. I have several scars from small cuts on my fingers but thus far nothing serious.

Also in the last couple of years, I've become acquainted with the rail systems. I've found the new Ez power bench to be the answer for a lot of those situations where you get your hands close to the blade. CHeck the EZ Forum here on sawmill creek for more information.

I'm in a commerical setting so I won't be able to totally eliminate the table saw but the EZ has drastically reduced the usage of the table saw and the scms.

Burt

[Mike Parzych]

Dave C. - I agree that some things such as you described just cannot be forseen.

But I'd wager that 99% of tablesaw accidents are a result of something that the injured party would later (hopefully) realize was just not the right thing to do.

[Michael Schwartz]

I have worked with many cabinet saws including a Powermatic, Delta Unisaw, Sawstop, and a restored Delta Rockwell with new motor (best tablesaw I have ever used :o) as well as a craftsman and bosch contractor saws.

My advice......

Number One, Make a good pushstick that is conformable for your hands and make a few of them so you can run them across the blade on narrow cuts. Keep a pushstick at the saw at all times so it is there for you to use. I have seen guys start of the saw, get half way into the cut, and reach for the push-stick and when realizing its not there push the wood past the blade with their fingers dangerously close to the blade.


I don't care what anybody says about the guard and spitter. Use the splitter and anti kickback fingers wherever you can and use the guard if you feel more comfortable with it.

Keep your feedrates slow and feed with even presure. If there is a void or softer area in the wood and it all of a sudden wants to cut faster you will be able to feel that and adjust your feed rate. Same thing if there is a knot or a harder area of grain or cross grain, you won't be feeding it to fast for the circumstances.

Make sure your saw is setup correctly, and use a good blade.

Stand off to one side of the blade and push the work smoothly. Use your pushstick to push the wood past the blade when the tail end is on the table. Push it all the way past and well clear of the blade with the push stick angled towards the fence slightly.

Use feather boards as well on narrow cuts. If your saw has a cast iron top get a couple of magnetic featherboards. I have seen kickbacks that could have been prevented by use of the spiltter and feather-boards, and I have had close calls myself where the feather-boards and splitter saved the day.

Lately I have been using my Eureka-zone circular saw guide system for most of my cutting. I am not going to go into the specifics of that though in this thread because it is off topic. However I will say that you should look at guided systems for a circular saw for handeling sheet goods as this is very tedious and dangerous to do on a small saw without substantial infeed and out feed support and a helper. There are a number of systems out there made by a number of manufacturers. You can also make a shop made guide that works pretty darn well.

Just be carefull and trust your gut instinct. If it doens't feel right it probably isn't'.

[Steveo O'Banion]

Number One, Make a good pushstick that is conformable for your hands and make a few of them so you can run them across the blade on narrow cuts. Keep a pushstick at the saw at all times so it is there for you to use. I have seen guys start of the saw, get half way into the cut, and reach for the push-stick and when realizing its not there push the wood past the blade with their fingers dangerously close to the blade.


I don't care what anybody says about the guard and spitter. Use the splitter and anti kickback fingers wherever you can and use the guard if you feel more comfortable with it.

Here's my 2 bits on this. I've stood on the other side of tools for 13 years teaching kids how to use them and I have learned more from them than I ever was taught.

Ditto on the push sticks. We cut ours out of soft pine, don't use hardwood for this. On a daily basis we run these over the blade to make very narrow cuts. Like all tools though it has to be used correctly. I'll have about 3 cases a year of push stick kickback because of the kids not useing it correctly. The Brett guard has helped to reduce this.

We use the splitter (kerf keeper) and anti kickback fingers and remove it only when we have to.

I also use a Brett guard. Once you get used to it you'll wonder why you didn't use it before. The uniguard on the machine is very frustrating and difficult to use and I believe creates a greater hazard.

Look at that list the Brits put together. Human error, not the machine is written all over that document.

I'll try to post some picks of our setups at a later date.

Steve
I'd rather be lucky than good:)

[Steveo O'Banion]

Another consideration is that if you are cutting slim strips, ...., consider making consecutive cuts to the outside of the blade. Then you have the maximum control on the greater width of the board between the blade and the fence. With that wide of a board to handle, let's say over 5" for example, you can even use your hands to push the board, then the tail end of the pass you use a push stick, then at the tail end of the pass, once the 5" board clears the end of the saw blade, you can lightly slide it to the left, pushing the cut piece away from sitting their rattling on the edge of the blade. Remember we are now on the aft side of the blade so the push stick keeps your hand above the plane of the blade.


Ouch! I'm sorry but I have to disagree with this. I'd first recommend never useing the plastic push stick and use a soft pine push stick instead. If the plastic accidently contacts the blade it has a greater chance to be thrown than pine. I'd also suggest woodworkers get rid of their dark blue aluminum push sticks as well for the same reason.

Also, never, ever, ever use a push stick with a board over 4" wide, especially since you don't use a riving knife or similar devices to help control the board. If you are pushing forward on the RH side of the board away from the blade, remember that the blade is pushing even harder on the opposite corner towards you. Your material can easily climb up on top of the blade and really get launched. We use a push block for boards over 4" wide.

Steve

[Robert Conner]

I have to mirror Steve O'Banions posts. I have used the Brett Guard for 25 years in a School environment. I hated it at first but used it and then as time
went by I realized how good it is. However it must be kept clean so it can be seen through.
I also agree with the use of soft pine push sticks. In fact I used to spend a part of a lesson on making them. Initially this was out of necessity since purchasing replacements were difficult with approval and pick-up etc. Then their true value was realized.
I might have been lucky but None of our students over that time period were ever injured when using the Unisaw. The only Saw related injury was the result of a Student using a Band Saw. The injury required 3 stitches and the student was furious that she had failed to follow what she knew was correct. She was back at the Saw the next day.
Robert