Table Saw Safety

Table saw safety is of paramount importance – and it’s a hot-button legal topic. Not only is it easy to quickly get injured with these powerful woodworking machines, table saws are a foundation tool in most shops, so there are a lot of people using them – and that means widespread opportunity for mistakes. Here, you’ll find table saw videos, discussion of litigation that could affect your woodworking, safety tips and techniques and shop-made push sticks (as well as other table saw jigs and fixtures) to help you use your table saw safely and efficiently. Let the experts at Popular Woodworking Magazine show you how.

Speed Tenons – Safely

Table Saw Blades & The Laws of Physics If you wanted to make a device to throw pieces of wood at a high rate of speed, how would you design it? You could look at the machines used in sports for throwing things and start with a spinning disc, say 10″ in diameter. If you … Read more »

CPSC Table Saw Rules: Emotion vs. Numbers

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will be accepting public comments on a proposed rule to improve table saw safety. Comments will not be accepted by e-mail, but will be accepted online via regulations.gov, or through the US mail. Submit your comment to CPSC online through this link. We hope that readers of this blog will … Read more »

Table Saw Verdict Upheld, CPSC Commisioner’s Statement

Two items are in the news today in the ongoing story about table saw injuries. In Boston yesterday, the US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling in the case of Carlos Osorio vs. One World Technologies, awarding Osorio $1.5 million for a job site injury. You can read the entire court decision here. … Read more »

CPSC Votes to Begin Table Saw Rules Process

By a unanimous vote, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted today to begin the formal process of creating new rules to reduce table saw injuries, according to this story in the Washington Post. The next step will be to accept public comments for 60 days, then the commission will begin the two-fold task of deciding … Read more »

Public Comments Next Step in Table Saw Safety Rules

The Consumer Products Safety Commission will meet on October 5, 2011 to decide whether or not to continue with an “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” to address table saw blade contact injuries. If the commission decides to proceed, the next step will be to accept comments from the public on this issue. Comments will be … Read more »

New CPSC Report: Human Factors in Table Saw Safety

Note: Executive editor Robert W. Lang was quoted in this article in USA Today. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a new report on table saw injuries, and the report is available online. It should be noted that this is a report by an engineering psychologist about how consumers interact with two things: … Read more »

Ripping Thin Stuff Safely

One of the issues of using a table saw safely is that many of the things intended to keep us safe don’t work well when you really need them. Ripping thin pieces on the table saw is a good example. In our shop, we have an overhead guard with built in dust collection. It’s a … Read more »