I'm a hobbyist. When I use the saw I 1) Take my time and don't rush 2) Use fingerboards/sleds/etcs so my hands never get within a foot of the blade 3) Keep my eye on the blade, especially when it's spinning.
I tend to turn off the saw when I'm done with a cut. Not very efficient, but I feel comfortable with this.
But while that blade is spinning, I'm watching it.
If it had a guard, I might take my eyes off it, and forget about the blade. So the guard might make me more comfortable, and less cautious.
Likewise, I've never owned a table saw with a guard, so I don't use a guard. That said, my miter saw came with a guard and I have no philosophical or practical problem with it in place. Since I've never had a blade guard, I've come to look at my table saw in the same manner that I look at my chain saw or my circular saw. All of them have exposed business ends and require a certain attention on the part of the operator.
Contrary to the alarmist voices, it is no more a matter of "when" than any other equally harmful accident is. The presence or absence of a guard in no way affects "when" anything will happen. In fact assuming that the guard affects "when" is probably a more dangerous position. Pay attention to the irrevocable laws about saw safety as they relate to the physics of things and you are far more likely to avoid an accident than by relying on the false security of a guard. A guard will not protect against bad cutting practices and trusting in devices like this may well be the very downfall of what one trusts as a safe program.
I would not have any philosophical or practical issue with a guard on my table saw, if it had one. As it is, I have always known a table saw to be a tool with a pretty significant business end and have approached the use of it as a tool accordingly - just like my chainsaw and my circular saw. It becomes the way you view the tool. You approach it with more than respect, you approach it with a knowldege and a certainty of what the blade can do. It's simply the way it is.
Never quite understood that rationale (or attempt at rationale). It's been years since I've seen a blade guard that wasn't see-through. I've had four different guards on two saws in 20 years and I've never had a bit of trouble "seeing the blade" with any of the guards.
Whatever the rationale not to use a guard, and the choice is certainly their's to not do so, my bet is that it boils down to simply a matter of convenience, or lack thereof.
The Uniguard I use is "convenient" most of the time ... the time's it's not is when I find myself tempted to "just leave it off for this one cut".
At that point it boils down to a matter of common sense and discipline ... a combination that always seems to be in short supply.
Yeah, but as you know, it's not as perfectly visible as no blade guard. I suspect that most (all) tablesaw accidents start with the "who me, I don't make stupid mistakes like that" thought before the inevitable happens.
Hardly a fair comparison because there's a lot not in your control (e.g. other drivers) when you're on a bike.
I have the utmost respect for the tablesaw anytime I have it running. Take a lot of care to keep fingers and such away from spinning blade and never rush. It's an imposing tool so it's hard to forget the respect part.
Use push sticks and such.
Sure, there's always a chance an accident could happen, but it's more likely to be something other than "accidentally" sticking my hand in the blade.
Warning- I am biased- I manufacture a safety tool for ripping.
But you shoud really know- there is a better way to rip wood than using your fingers.
I have ripped over 5 million linear feet of thin, knotty, warped, and cupped lumber over the last 15 years at woodworking shows without kickbacks or fingers near the blade. I get to see the short fingers for three days per weekend at woodworking shows. A question I ask is "Has anyone in this group (of
10 or so) tangled with a tablesaw?" Almost always someone has. Usually the fingers have been sewed up or back on, but do not work as well anymore.
The key to finger safety when ripping or dadoing is to use something other than your fingers to hold the wood against the fence, down (both before and after the blade), and use something other than your fingers to push the wood by the blade.
Question: How often do you use a featherboard instead of your fingers? The reason you don't is that clamped feather boards take too long to clamp in place and remove. You use them only when you have to.
The solution is a magnetic featherboard or roller feeder that sets up with one hand, as quick as putting your fingers there- Something you actually use. It exists- and 250,000 table saw owners use it on every rip, and jointer cut.
I apologize for the rant, but I have seen too many short fingers to keep quiet.
Jerry Jaksha http://
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PS: we are giving away 25 Grip-Tites to public school shop programs this fall- please tell any shop teachers you know about this.
Sams> I haven't used a blade guard for years, but was reading a book
I've heard people say that before, and could never understand it -- why the heck does anyone "need" to see the blade on a table saw during a cut??
Band saw or scroll saw, sure -- it's awful tough to make a freehand cut if you can't see where you're cutting, but nobody with any sense makes freehand cuts on a table saw.
So what purpose does it serve to be able to see the blade on a table saw while you're cutting? Proper cutting technique on a table saw means using a guide of some sort, be it a rip fence, tenoning jig, miter gauge, crosscut sled, or whatever. Once you set the guide and place the wood against it, the blade is gonna cut where it's gonna cut, whether you can see it or not. Any adjustment that may be needed (checking blade height against the thickness of the wood, or aligning a pencil mark left-right against the blade, for instance) can, and should, be done with the blade *stopped*. Once the saw haw been started, though, what possible reason is there to see the blade?
Safety Rule Number One, for any power tool. For most hand tools, too, for that matter.
Another good idea, although a foot is perhaps a bit overcautious IMO.
Why? What's it gonna do?
It's excellent safety practice, in my opinion. And the impact on "efficiency" is very, very minor. I've timed my saw: it goes from stopped to full speed in much less than one second, and when switched off, coasts to a complete stop in less than ten.
WHY? What's it gonna do?
Sorry, but that just doesn't make any sense. You don't need to see the blade in the first place, so taking your eyes off of it doesn't matter. You don't (or at least shouldn't) need to be able to see the blade in order to remember that it's there, and that it's dangerous. You don't need to see it in order to make a proper cut, because the cut path is determined by the setting of your rip fence, miter gauge, or whatever you're using to guide the wood past the blade. So what purpose does it serve to watch the blade?
You are making the erroneous assumption that an accident is inevitable. Well, yes it is, if you think those monkeys are going to reproduce Shakespeare in your lifetime :-).
I've ridden motorcycles since I was 14 (I'm 69 now) and apart from a few cases of road rash, had no problems. I've driven at least a half million miles and been involved in 3 non-injury accidents, none of them my fault. And I've been pushing wood through a tablesaw for at least 30 years and still have all my fingers. In fact, I can only remember one kickback in those 30 years.
Yes, I know you're going to say I'm just lucky. I happen to believe you make your own luck. If being careful and knowing the odds is luck, then yes I'm lucky :-).
Luck is when somebody shoots at you and misses :-). And yes, I've had that happen as well.
No kidding. I'd rather not be in the same shop as a person who can use a tool to cut off a 2 x 4, and yet not realize that it is dangerous unless he can see the spinning blade!
In nearly 15 years as an orthopedic nurse in a hospital setting, I can only recall taking care of 3-4 table saw accidents myself. I saw what he wrote and wondered but I didn't really think about it. Now you make me think about it.
Are all these guys outpatients?
I don't really want to question him since he's agreeing with my position but his numbers are a bit odd. His conclusions, however, are right on. Obviously the man is a genius.
Maybe he runs the day shift in the Grand Rapids ED or something--some place where there's a lot of woodworking going on. Still, not one with a guard is kind of surprising. I do wonder how he _knew_ whether the guard was used though--if the place is that busy (and for him to have seen that many table saw cuts I'd expect it to be a _very_ busy ED) I'd be really surprised if any surgeon in the ED had time to talk about matters peripheral to the treatment.
:> [Curious here, not argumentative] Why? How can you be more comfortable : without :> the guard than with it?
: I'd guess that some feel more comfortable when they can see the blade as : compared to a guard that partially obscures seeing the whole blade.
I never have a problem seeing the blade doing the cutting while using a guard -- I've never understood this argument.
It's also worth noting that no one can see the *teeth* of the sawblade while the motor is turned on. So what one thinks of as the blade, visually, is actually only part of the blade (and not the part farthest forward, nor the part that can take a finger off).
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