kick back

[jeff oldham]

im actaully ashamed to say this,,but i was trying to square up a 8 in block of wood about 2 in thick and on the second cut i got some kickback,,,lol,,firt time i ever got it and it was scary,,and it was on my new saw stop,,lol,,i did learn a good lesson i should have had the guard on it and and actually i should have done it on my miter saw,,lol

[Jacques Gagnon]

….glad to know you did not get hurt. Out of curiosity, was the riving knife installed?

[jeff oldham]

no it wasnt and i was watching a you tube video,,steve ramsey at wwmm and he said a riving should be on the saw,,it does help,,

[Lee Schierer]

I'm glad you weren't injured. What blade were you using when the kick back occurred and which side of the square (long grain or cross grain) was being cut at the time. I would guess that you were making a rip cut with a combination or cross cut blade.

[Bill Space]

I'm glad you weren't injured. What blade were you using when the kick back occurred and which side of the square (long grain or cross grain) was being cut at the time. I would guess that you were making a rip cut with a combination or cross cut blade.

OK, but why would one not use the riving knife? Seems like a no brainier to me to use the riving knife regardless of what I am doing...all other things being equal.

[Patrick Varley]

no it wasnt and i was watching a you tube video,,steve ramsey at wwmm and he said a riving should be on the saw,,it does help,,

Glad you are ok. Definitely would say the riving knife can be your friend. Honestly I don't remember the last cut I did where it wouldn't have been possible with the riving knife in place. But the SawStop does make it easy to get in on and off if you need to. Admittedly, I switched to a SharkGuard as the guard mounts to the riving knife and simplifies that process.

[Frank Pratt]

I'm a guy who never even used a guard or riving knife before getting a PCS. But it's so easy to use both & to switch them out that there's no excuse not to, excepting a few specific situations. Glad you're okay though.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Short pieces are easy to kickback without using hold downs, push sticks, or a pair of push sticks, one to hold down, one to push.

[Ron Citerone]

Glad you are OK!

[Kris Cook]

I'm a guy who never even used a guard or riving knife before getting a PCS. But it's so easy to use both & to switch them out that there's no excuse not to, excepting a few specific situations. Glad you're okay though.

Me too also. No reason not to use them.

[Frederick Skelly]

Short pieces are easy to kickback without using hold downs, push sticks, or a pair of push sticks, one to hold down, one to push.

+1. I've made that mistake. Garage door still has the dent to remind me.

Very glad you are OK.

[George Yetka]

Ive only had 2 and they are scary. One was an offcut Im not sure how it happened it was kind of a blur. The other was on a Pm66 with no knife.
Definitely keep the knife on if the guard is not on.

[Darrell Bade]

After owning saws without & with riving knifes I would never own one without again and leave it on all the time. Granted it ain't a do all savior I have never put any additional dents in my toolbox in the 13 years I've had the knife. Can think of 3 times some crazy internal stresses in some oak closed the kerf to the point of slowing the blade down a bunch and I stopped the saw and the wood hit the scrap pile, I feel without the knife they would have launched for the toolbox to stop.

[Prashun Patel]

Reading your description again, "I should have done it on my miter saw" makes be think you were doing a cross cut without the miter fence, but instead with the rip fence. That's a serious no-no - even with the guard. It's just difficult for mere mortals to guide a cross cut squarely through the cut using the rip fence. Even with a guard or riving knife, you may still twist and get a trapped/kicked piece. Do all cross cuts using a miter fence and with the rip fence out of the way.

Kickback is something we all have dealt with. To new saw users, the physics of kickback, the circumstances under which it occurs, and the magnitude of the force generated are not intuitive.

Sadly it's something we kind of have to experience to appreciate.

Glad you were not hurt.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Ok, on my soap box I try to not ever not have the guard or riving knife installed. I can't recall ever not having it installed..... Glad you're safe!
Look into Grrippers if you do a lot of small cuts. I do boxes and that means a lot of small short cuts. I know the Grippers saved my fingers at least 3 times. Once from a very scary raised panel router bit kick back. I cut the Grippers 2 times.
As mentioned, cutting wood on your fence that is wider than long is always dicey. You can use your miter bar, put a 1" (or so) spacer against the fence away from the blade and set the fence an inch away, register the piece, then do your cut. The piece will not get trapped between the blade and fence.