Junk Brothers, proper tablesaw use question

Watching Junk Brothers last night, and I noticed they were doing some crosscuts on the tablesaw just using the fence. The boards looked like 1x4s about 18" long. Is this a safe?

I would have used a sled or at least the mitre gauge.

Reply to
Locutus
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It's a television show on DIY network. They pick up furniture people set out on the curb and fix it up, and then return it to the people who were throwing it away. I think its an pretty entertaining show.

Thats what I was thinking. I think I will stick to safer methods. I was suprised that they would do this on a woodworking related program.

Reply to
Locutus

What is a "junk brother"?

I have done it myself, though I recommend against it. You had better pray it goes through straight, because if it binds the kickback is dramatic.

Reply to
Toller

No

Me too. Actually, I have a sled for just this purpose. Jim

Reply to
Jim

I am new to the tablesaw, and I asked because I couldn't specifically remember reading anywhere that this should not be done, but rather just implied by omission. So I thought it might be possible that this type of cutting is OK in certain situations.

Reply to
Locutus

For boards it is a FOOLISH practice.

Reply to
Leon

Yep. A good rule of thumb is to always control the longest side the board.

If you're ripping, the longest side goes against the fence. If you're crosscutting, the longest side goes against the sled/mitre gauge.

That said, I've done rectangular pieces with the shorter side against the fence, but it was with sheet goods and I still had about 15" of registration along the fence.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

I don't watch TV at all but I imagine that this one slipped by whatever "filter" they have to the content. Maybe writing a letter to the producer would avert another showing of this sort of thing. I have never had a kickback on the tablesaw, but I am always doing things the safe and slow way, taking the time to set up my guard or featherboards, or go and get the sled. It is a drag, yes, but it is even more of a drag learning how to use a finger again after it has been re-attached by a surgeon (although that accident happened far from the woodshop and did not involve any power tool).

I am certain that many people have succesfully crosscut wood using the rip fence many times, and would expect that most of those people would not expect that anything will happen outside of their control, unless something does happen... And from then on, they become careful.

It is much better to be careful without learning things the hard way. The last thing that we need is the wrong thing being taught by the "sacred box with pictures". But I suspect that there is plenty of that.

Reply to
Andrew Williams

If the length is less than about 1.5 times the width then it's pretty safe. That would be 5x the width and nowhere near safe. I would personally only use that approach in a trimming fashion, ie only removing a blade's width or slightly more so there isn't any material on the waste side. I did that recently when I needed to take an 1/8th off both ends of a small panel (about 6"x8").

-Leuf

Reply to
Leuf

Cutting a 1x4 to width on a table saw requires use of the fence to keep the board straight. Cutting a 1x4 to length on a table saw is usually done with the miter gauge. If you try to cut it to length by using the fence, you are very likely to get the board cross ways with the blade. Very very serious accidents happen when the work gets bound on the blade. I may have misunderstood what you said because I can't believe that anyone would attempt to cut a board to length by using a fence (especially on TV where an accident would not be a good thing to show).

Jim

Reply to
Jim

If it was on the DIY channel, the slips happen regularly. On the Ultimate Workshop the tall guy cross cut a dado on a 1x4 with the standard guard in place, hit the guard, and proceded to back the board back through dado with the saw running. I sent them an e-mail and they sent me a different e-mail address to sent to. I think they should have handled it from there IMHO. They don't care.

Reply to
Leon

A sled will work. Otherwise clamp a piece of 1x onto the fence just short of the blade. Measure the size of the crosscut, make adjustments to the width of the cut, and move the board with the mitre. This way you can make repeated cuts without too much danger of kickback. mahalo, jo4hn

Reply to
jo4hn

Reply to
nospambob

My friend is an editor on the show, and I watched a couple of episodes to see what it was like. The film editing is great. That's the only good thing I can say. Every time they used a tablesaw or router, I had to cover my eyes and scream at the TV, "Don't do that, you idiot".

Reply to
bob

Bad and dangerous practice.

Proper method is to use a miter gage. For multiple cuts clamp a block on your fence to repeat the length (or pull the fence back to the front of the blade in the case of the Unifence) but it should not be in contact with the fence or block when the piece enters the blade.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

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