Sawstop save

[earl wojciechowski]

I am building a medicine cabinet (following article in recent popular woodworking) and was ripping maple boards to width.
I have been doing woodworking for over 25+ years and should know better. I was using a magnetic featherboard to hold the board against the fence.
Now the really dumb part, reached behind the blade while ripping to push the board against the fence behind the blade.
Next thing I knew, felt a small nick on my hand and the saw stopped. Knew immediately what happened and was really annoyed at myself.
I looked at my thumb, and sure enough there was a small nick, but no blood. Scared the bejezzers out of me.
Shut down for lunch and to collect my wits about myself.
I realize that if it was not for the sawstop feature, I probably would have lost the tip of my thumb :-(

Will eat some lunch, undue the damage and buy a new blade and Sawstop cartridge to continue my project. Won't be reaching behind the blade anymore.

Earl Wojo2

[Sid Matheny]

Good to hear you were not hurt. Things happen fast!

[Ben Rivel]

Nice. Glad you didnt have to go through a worse experience with that one. Be sure to send the brake to SawStop as I understand they will give you a free one if it triggered due to the blade contacting skin.

[mreza Salav]

Second SS save in this week here. Good to hear you are Ok. I too would be mad at myself for doing that.
But why do you need to push the back of the blade against fence? were you using riving knife?

[Mike Henderson]

Glad you're okay. That "insurance" you bought with the SawStop paid off.

Mike

[glenn bradley]

So the price difference just disappeared, eh? glad you weren't hurt.

[Joe Jensen]

Glad you were not hurt. When I was young I did tons of unsafe things and I was largely just lucky until I got a sawstop and became much more aware of the safety aspect. Now I'm a bit of a wussy and I cringe at cuts on TV shows all the time, especially the home improvement shows where they have somebody who has never used a table saw cutting with no guard.

[Ben Rivel]

Now I'm a bit of a wussy and I cringe at cuts on TV shows all the time, especially the home improvement shows where they have somebody who has never used a table saw cutting with no guard.

Oh those are the worst! These DIY YouTubers that pop up overnight everyday showing people how to build their own bookshelves and coffee tables and have no idea how to use the tools themselves are painful to watch too. Its even more interesting when they show their accidents and trips to the hospital when things go wrong.

[Neil Gaskin]

These two recent threads about saw stop saves make feel good about the recent purchases we made for our company. Glad both of you are ok.

[Victor Robinson]

Glad you're ok!

I know the instinct to push the board to the fence behind the blade...it's disconcerting to see the board peeling off the fence behind the blade as a sign that something is not right with the cut.

Question: Was there a kickback as a result of your pushing the board against the fence behind the blade or did your hand just graze the blade in the act?

[Daniel O'Neill]

Glad you're okay!

[Rick Fisher]

Wow.. Just imagine the pain that Saw Stop saved you .. ugh.. Today would be a rough day without it..

Good story

[Keith Hankins]

Wow glad you are ok! I've had mine two years and no issues, but good to know its there. Take care.

[Rod Sheridan]

Earl, I'm very glad to hear that you're OK.

I suggest that in the future for ripping solid wood you use a short fence that ends at the front of the blade.

A simple "L" shape made from 2 pieces of 4 inch wide wood clamped to your fence would provide a short fence for you.

If you make it exactly 4 inch or 3 inch, it's easy to still use the rip fence scale for dimensioning.

Oh, and make sure the guard/splitter/riving knife is on the saw..............Regards, Rod.

[Jim Andrew]

Do you not use pushsticks?