Sawstop Injury I didn't think this could happen.

[Martin Wasner]

Don't be concerned. In more than 4 decades of professional woodworking I have never used a blade guard on a table saw. None of my table saws has a splitter, riving knife or blade guard. It is not "safety" accessories that make a table saw safe--it is keeping your body parts out of the blade. Know where the blade is and where your hands are.

In that video the injured party proudly showed off his foot-tall push stick. Ridiculous! One cannot work safely with such unstable devices "protecting" oneself.

My new line in the shop is, don't put your finger anywhere you aren't willing to put your man bits.

Gets a laugh. Drives the point home.

[Peter Christensen]

My father had a professional woodworking career of 51 years, never had a table saw injury of any kind and never used a guard. But at about the mid 40 year mark he jointed the tip, about half an inch, of his thumb off. He was in a hurry to get done and beat the traffic home. Nobody is immune to injuring themselves somehow on something, so an extra layer of protection isn't a bad thing. SawStop technology will eventually find it's way into most kinds of hand feed machinery.

[John TenEyck]

I couldn't care less what anyone does in their shops because it doesn't affect me.

Actually, it does effect you if you pay for health insurance.

John

[Wayne Lomman]

To those who can't use their machines without guarding, update your skills. There is a whole section of learning that you have missed. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that as an adult you can skip straight to being an expert. As one with considerable experience, I can assure you all that there is still plenty to learn.

Guarding, setting up and jig-making are acquired skills that are taught to apprentices very early in their training. Those who cannot or will not take safety seriously don't make the grade. It's not worth the risk to the employer. The whole professional woodworking industry works with guarding in place and productivity does not suffer. To the contrary, productivity improves because our staff work with confidence, concentrating on the job, not on whether they are going to lose a body part.
Cheers

[Brian Holcombe]

I believe strongly in good guarding. There is no downside to it.

[Larry Frank]

Some of the comments and such are almost beyond belief.

I worked for years in an extremely large heavy industry company. Safety was a requirement and the rules and regulations were enforced for everyone. If someone took the guards off of equipment, they were severely dealt with. The company could be fined for not following the safety requirements.

Some of the comments in this thread and actions about removing guards and such could easily get one fired.

If one was running a small company and allowed the removal of guards, the liability would be large.

Personally, I will use the guards and other safety equipment. If you think you are good enough with out it, I wish you good luck.

[John TenEyck]

Then maybe people ought to stop being stupid and costing other people money.

I couldn't agree more, Brian. This is exactly why some companies made smoking illegal on their property, require routine drug testing, etc. Individual rights are one thing, until irresponsible behavior impacts others, financially and/or physically.

In my corporate days, if you removed a guard you were gone. No discussion. No exceptions.

John

[Martin Wasner]

There's only one thing you can do to keep yourself safe doing anything. Doesn't matter if it's woodworking, climbing mountains, racing cars, or doing intravenous drugs with strangers. You gotta keep your head out of your rear. No amount of nerfing, padding or guarding will protect you if you're determined to be a dummy.

I have seen guys get mauled by pieces of equipment that I would've guessed it weren't possible.


Btw, those of you that do this sporadically and for fun, you need every advantage. Those who do it day in and day out don't need the dark warnings of playing the odds.

[Mark Hennebury]

There seems to be a lot of derogatory remarks pointed at people who don't use guards. There is an assumption that they are irresponsible. That they are stupid, and that they cost the health care system a lot of unnecessary expense due to their reckless, inconsiderate and dangerous operation of equipment. The suggestion that they don't know what they are doing and shouldn't be allowed to show others how they operate machinery.
I have not seen any data to back this up.
I have seen people say that guards are put on machines because they protect workers, also seen the argument that they are put there to protect the business owner from law suits, and the argument that they could do both.
I read the "humble" post about human error and how surgeons who are "far above woodworkers" still make mistakes and leave tools in patients and cut the wrong limbs off. . But to keep things in perspective how many surgeons operate on themselves? Would that statistic change if it were their own limbs being cut off, would they maybe be more careful?

If you want a sensible debate you have to have an unbiased and even approach.

To flippantly write off people who have put in 45, 50 years of woodworking without guards and suggesting that they have worked dangerously and ignored safety and what, just been lucky? every second, every day for 50 years, is pretty absurd, don't you think?

Maybe you should consider that maybe they have something that is worth exploring, maybe there is more to the picture.

[Carlos Alvarez]

I stopped depending on guards which are often in the way and a potential risk themselves, and doing two things:

1. A perfectly tuned saw. Nothing is more than 1/256 off anywhere on it. This nearly eliminates some risks like kickback.

2. Visualize EVERY cut before feeding. I "see" the wood and my hands go through the cut. Every.Single.Time

[John Sincerbeaux]

When i was 14, i was tought to use a tablesaw in my HS woodshop by my instructor who’s major was woodworking. It was an industrial Rockwell tablesaw that had no guard, no riving knife and no SS tecnology. I loved woodworking so much, that i bought my first tablesaw, a craftsman contactor saw when i was 15. I remember taking off the guard because it was clumsy, akward, and frankly, not what i was trained on using. Well, 40 years, and several saws later i can say i never had a kickback or even a scare from any tablesaw and i never used a guard. Almost a year ago i bought my first slider, a Martin T 60C. I embraced the guard it came with because of its dust collection. I use Airtight pneumatic clamps to secure nearly every piece of wood i cut. Ironically, when cutting smaller stock, the guard interferes with the clamps. Fortunately, the guard arm has a mid hinge point allowing the guard to be moved out of the way. My guard rarely is over the blade due to my clamps. My hands and body are at least a foot away from the blade.

So was a trained in a “stupid” high school by a “moron”teacher? Were the pros i worked for in the pro shops i worked in while in college all “idiots” because none of them used guards? Am I “irresponsible” to move my guard while using my clamps on my slider?

I work in the most safety dominate profession on the planet PERIOD. SA (situational awareness) is paramount like no other profession. I flew supersonic jets in the USAF. I know a little bit about safety and the preservation of life and limb. Your hand placement near a rotating blade is actually pretty minor compared to a jet 3 feet off your wingtip at 400 kias. If i screw up on my tablesaw or Any other equipment and loose my fingers, i lose my paycheck.

So for those who are so adamant about pontificating about their prowess in the shop, their “skills”, and their careers in the wood industry or medical profession or whatever, just know there are other very competent and safe woodworkers that read your dribble that might just know at least as much as you think you know.

[John Sincerbeaux]

So, is this very smart, responsible, expert safely operating this very professional tablesaw?
There is a guard over the blade so he’s gotta be safe, right?
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[andy bessette]

I believe strongly in good guarding. There is no downside to it.

Brian--not picking on you (really!), but your statement begs a response.

Mine is a very crowded 1-man shop. Because there are no guards on my table saws their tops frequently serve as additional clear and uncluttered glue-up/assembly tables for large scale projects. I simply roll out polyethylene sheeting on them to keep them clean.

The lack of guards means that there is no fussing when I want to use a crosscut sled or tenoning jig, for example. When ripping very narrow stock there is no guard in the way. One Unisaw (with a rip blade) is married to a contractors saw (with dado); there is no guard to interfere. Another Unisaw is married to a router table; there is no guard to interfere.

I can see the entire exposed portion of the blade and know where not to place my body parts.

[Glen Gunderson]

Keep in mind he said "good guarding". A well designed guard can be out of the way in about as much time as it takes you to lower your blade(s) below the surface, which is also required for you to use your saw as an assembly table, work surface, etc.

Everyone has their own tolerance for risk. For me safety is my #1 priority over everything else. I won't touch a saw without at least a splitter or riving knife and would never go without a guard on my own saw. Frankly I can't imagine not having the dust collection above the blade from a good guard, let alone the safety aspect of it. But everyone's different and that's fine.

[Wayne Lomman]

No! Safety devices are fitted because lawyers insisted on the manufacturers protecting themselves from liability suits.

Has anyone actually studied the history of timber trades or is that another part of history that is swept under the carpet as inconvenient? All trade work used to be basically lethal until regulations were introduced. It was part of the advance of civilisation that included sensible limits on working hours, reasonable wages and safe working conditions. It embodied the freedom of the individual to live without fear of threat to life and limb in their society and their workplace. This is a fundamental human right and it genuinely concerns me that the opposite is put forward as somehow better.

I will say again, do what you want in your own workshop. That is your freedom. But do not publicly advise others to adopt a culture of safety risk and impact on their right to be free of bad advice. Cheers