(First, nothing bad happened to me, I made my "tests" with the power off)
Hey All, I had purchased some Forest blades - including their blade stabilizer/stiffener -after seeing an in store demo at the local Woodcraft last year. I hade used the blades in my table saw with no problem but I wanted to try some new set-ups last week with them and this is what I discovered; First, I had a need to make some 45 degree cuts so with the saw unplugged I tilted the blade to its extreme angle while the blade was at its highest setting. I was mildly surprised to see the metal table insert begin to rise as I approached 45. The stiffener was pushing against the insert. Had I not gone through this exercise and instead, tilted the blade when it was low, I could have had a tremendous accident if I brought the blade up while running. I simply removed the insert and returned to making the bevel cuts with no problem. My next discovery, again with no power, was when I wanted to use a new blade with stiffener in a zero clearance insert. I made the relief cut with a 7&1/4 inch blade but before I finished the process with the
10 inch, I checked the measurements to see how much blade could go through before the stiffener touched the underside of the insert. I was going to lose an additional 1/2 inch of cutting height to keep the stiffener from touching. I know that some of you have negative opinions of inserts and I am skeptical about how much benefit they add. The Forest Monkey (translated= rep) stated that I am limited to 2 inches of cutting but I should use the stiffener as much as possible when not cutting thicker material. I'm not that hung up on using the stiffener along with the insert and I could still make a relief cut for it by reversing the placement order of it and a 7&14 blade on the arbor. Anyway, this post was not intended to be a rant against stiffeners, just a reminder to check all new set-ups at there extreme settings before you turn the power on. I'm glad I did, and this will continue to be one of the many safety rules I follow when I'm in what my wife calls my "Play Station". Be safe everybody. Marc