Comments on: Table Saw Injury Survey Results

By: Skip Feld

Skip Feld — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:40:58 +0000

What could have been done to prevent my injury? I was cross-cutting some stiles to length when several of the cut-offs jambed between the blade and the rip fence. One off them flew back and lacerated my thumb. I probably needed stitches but you know how that goes. I don’t think any gaurd gaurds or even a Saw Stop would have prevented this accident. I should have known to move the rip fence further away and/or cleared the scraps when that "little voice" in my head told me.
Regards, Skip Feld

By: Ken Hall

Ken Hall — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:55:00 +0000

Every accident I had was my own fault. I nearly lost an index finger and end of thumb by reaching across a moving blade to pick up a small piece I had cut. 34 stitches and loss of felling in the tip of my thumb, but still have 10 digits. I can’t even find the guard and splitter that came with my saw 20 or so years ago. Now I wait till the blade stops before reaching for any wood at the other end of the blade. Still no guard, not available.
I learned never to use a molding head with a radial arm saw, fortunately the piece I was molding entered a cinder block instead of my body. Took me years to use a molding head again and that is only rarely. I manufactured a splitter after I had breakers trip when a piece of oak decided to grab the blade and stop it dead. Guards or not, safety needs a brain that is working. Shops are dangerous, thinking helps make them less so.

By: al

al — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:03:49 +0000

The best tool that you can take into your shop always is your brain. If you tend to leave it at the door, don’t go in. Short of natural causes such as lighning strikes etc.,all accidents are caused. I’m not saying this lightly, but if you look back you can usually trace an accident to a cause. Whether it be lack of attention at the time, or a momentary diversion, or whatever. It should not take more than one trip into a wood shop to determine that it can be a dangerous place if you are not tuned in to what you are doing. There are more than enough safety books, blogs, and teachers out there to keep you safe when in the shop. Your responsibility is to heed the warnings and instructions. Don’t let some shyster lawyer with an idiot in tow going to court make the rules for the shop. Thanks to all of our new safety czars and rules etc., we are in more danger than ever before. You don’t have to get shot to respect what a gun can do, well the same applies to shop tools and your safety.

By: David Bartle

David Bartle — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:02:48 +0000

Thanks for the article and survey. Another good job from your magazine.
DB

By: Jason Miler

Jason Miler — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:04:43 +0000

I’ll answer that question.

I should have had a planer. A table saw is not the best tool for turning 3/4 mahogany into 1/2" (in one pass no less). It was stupid. The last board (3" x 24", for a little box) kicked back at me and left me with a split open finger. Scared me more than anything. I bought the planer.

By: Jeremy Jones

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:10:21 +0000

I did not respond to the survey, but here is my incident: I was cutting through a piece of 1/4" plywood about 3′x2′. As the plywood exited behind the blade, it bowed down and got hung up in the blade insert recess. I could not push it through. Next things happened really fast – I was shifting my grip and stance when the ply came back at me. Thankfully it struck my left forearm. The pain I felt made me thankful it did not hit me in the abdomen. I did not seek medical attention, but I probably should have.

This was an old saw that had been owned by a one-man contractor shop. Then it was owned by my grandfather. I’m not sure what safety equipment it came with. But I think a ZCI that was flush mounted to the table surface could have saved me this incident. (Along with other devices – but most don’t look at a ZCI that way.)

By: Bob Lang

Bob Lang — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:12:50 +0000

In the final photo, Marc is making a non-through cut, making a groove. If you look close, you can see 2 cutters of a stack dado set, and the top of the groove.

By: Alex Pung

Alex Pung — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:14:32 +0000

DON"T DO WHAT THE LAST PICTURE IN THIS ARTICLE SHOWS!!

I read your article above but when I was that last picture I said to myself "Good idea to guard the blade BUT what happens to the piece of wood that’s between the blade and the fence under the blade guard AFTER the cut is made?"

I feel that to AVOID ACCIDENTS, one should always CONTROL the piece of wood between the blade and the fence until it is past the spinning blade. You wouldn’t be able to do that in the last picture above.

Also, after a cut, you should always turn off the saw and wait till the blade stops before moving any piece of wood around the blade.

Above all, ALWAYS UNPLUG the saw before messing around the blade area.

Keep Safe.

Alex

By: chris

chris — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:39:08 +0000

Bob,

Well, I read that part of your reasoning, but I don’t agree.

Specifically, a splitter (even the old style, unified with dust shroud and pawls) is designed to *prevent* kickback that’s induced by the kerf closing up on the backside of the cut.

The problem is, we can’t ever know how many of the kickbacks that occurred with NO protective gear in place would have never happened if the gear was there. But I bet it’s a non-zero number.

Regards,

By: Bob Lang

Bob Lang — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:24:52 +0000

There wasn’t a significant difference in the distribution of types of injuries whether or not guards were in place. Nor was there much difference in the severity of injuries reported.

I think reading the entire sentence you quoted explains the reasoning behind what I said about guards. Here it is: "But there isn’t much evidence that guards or other safety devices can actually prevent accidents; their main purpose is to mitigate the damage after the operator loses control of the workpiece or places his or her hand in the path of the blade."