How Close Do You Get To Your Miter Saw Blade? (2023 Update)

[krw]

I let the blade wind down for ANY cut. It only takes a couple of seconds.

As long as the rear of the spacer is in front of the blade.

[Leon]

Your comment is what Festool, and I am sure others too, says.

[Leon]

Well in some instances you don't want to do that, miter gauge and rip fence, but I cut rabbets this way. No problem at all since this is not a through cut operation.

[Jack]

While not specifically related to miter saws, check out Frick'n Jeep at his saw mill:

to 14:50 on the time line then drop him a note on how stupid he is for doing this for the past 30 years. He's still in his early 70's so when he gets a little older he might be wise to use a stick more often.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If too short for comfort I put another board on top to hold it. Never measure but my limit is about 12" or so.

[DerbyDad03]

Now there's a technique I've seen or even heard of.

I would need to put a decimal point between the 1 and the 2.

What do you think could go wrong that keeps you 12" from the blade?

Let's cut that in half. (NPI) Let's say your hand was 6" away. How would a person get hurt by a miter saw with a hand that is more than a finger's length away?

[Markem618]

Jammed finger if something goes awry? Being tired and in a hurry is not recommend though, that my story I have all my fingers though, skin lucky grows back.

[DerbyDad03]

What do you mean by “jammed fingers” and what could go “awry” to cause that?

I’m looking for a specific situation, similar to how you would explain kickback on a table saw. “The board does _this_ causing your hand to do _this_.”

What could happen with the wood and blade to cause an injury while holding it at 2” that wouldn’t happen while holding it at 6” or 12”? (I am, of course, assuming that the user is fully aware of the placement of all fingers, e.g. the thumb or any other finger is not in the path of the blade.)

[Scott Lurndal]

I've seen a blade _pull_ a board towards the blade when the board isn't perfectly flat and square or if it hits a buried knot.

[Ed Pawlowski]

In theory, the blade travels a tight path so 1/4" is safe.

[Leon]

The work coming back against your hand or finger and jamming the finger joint.

If the blade caught the piece you are holding and bangs it into the back fence and then back toward your hand/finger.

With a 2" long piece you do not have as much leverage and or holding force to keep the piece flat against the fence as with a 4" long piece.

When in doubt, with the saw blade up and away try a 2" long piece and a

4" long piece against the fence. Notice the more of the 4 inch piece is against the fence and less likely to pivot at the fence opening than the 2" long piece.

Also think about cutting a 4 foot long piece in half. Now cutting 2" off of the end of that piece. It happens with regularity that the shorter cut off pieces twist, jam, and get thrown by the blade.

And the narrower the stock the more likely to jam.

[Leon]

Yes! but theory is what should happen. Case hardened wood, warped wood, what ever the issue, the wood can move slightly and cause all kinds of havoc if the piece is short and mostly NOT supported by the back fence.

Most miter saw fences have something like a 2" gap between the left and right fence. So if the piece is 2" wide only half of the piece is being supported by the end of the fence on either side. The piece can easily pivot on the end of the fence and get thrown by the blade.

A few weeks ago I was cutting base board moldings. In some cases the piece needed was mitered on one end and square cut on the opposite and they were 1.5" long. This was a dangerous cut and I stood clear of the where that piece would fly back should it pivot against the end of the fence. It happened twice. Ideally this should have been done a TS but I was not at the shop.

[Bill]

I had a piece of wood snapped away ("forward") from me once, so I will validate that it can happen. It was a gentle reminder that the work should be pushed all the way forward before you cut! : )

[Leon]

Well in my case if you do a LOT of woodworking something is going to happen at some time or another. And a lapse of judgement is the leading cause. Weekend before last I had issues with short pieces coming back at me but this has happened time and again in the past so I made sure that the saw motor was between me and the work.

[krw]

GO wrong? Stupid mistake. Not thinking. Distraction (and if you say that you're never distracted when your attitude about something is "What could go wrong?", well...

As soon as you say "What could go wrong?" It will.

[krw]

In theory, reality and theory are the same. In reality, they aren't.

[DerbyDad03]

What you read as an "attitude" was typed as a legitimate question.

As far as being distracted, of course, that happens to all of us from time to time. But if I am doing something like making a "hazardous" cut (e.g. fingers close the blade) my concentration is centered on the cut.

I'm going to take a guess here and assume that you do the same thing: "OK, pay attention. Where are my fingers, what is the wood going to do? What could go wrong?"

I tend to follow the old adage of "If what you are about to do makes you uncomfortable, there is probably a reason." Stop, think about it and perhaps comes up with an alternative way to get the job done.

Nope, because, at least for me, saying "What could go wrong?" is not the cavalier attitude that you took it to be. It's a legitimate question. An assessment of the situation. A chance to change what I'm going to do next, because I took the time to answer the question.

I ask myself that question all time and not just in the shop. Setting up a ladder, jacking up the car, any situation where something *could* go wrong, I ask myself "What could go wrong?" and then I adjust my plan as required.

[DerbyDad03]

I agree with everything you've said here. I thought I addressed that issue a few days ago, but looking back I see that I did not mentioned it. I know that I thought about, because it makes a big difference in terms of my hand placement question:

Both of my miter saws have zero clearance fences and zero clearance inserts. I wouldn't cut some of the small pieces that I do without the fence and insert backing up both sides as well as the bottom of the cut.

On the other hand (PI), you are talking about a situation where the cutoff could be thrown, while I'm asking about hand placement on the board. In either case, a zero clearance fence makes a huge difference.

(I was cutting some plugs in half on my bandsaw recently. I used blue painters tape to create a zero clearance "insert" around the blade so that the plug was fully supported by the table as it went through the blade.)

[krw]

"What can go wrong?" attitude leads to complacency.

THe nonchalant "What can go wrong?" attitude makes it a whole lot worse. If you *expect* something to go wrong, distractions are a lot less likely.

The difference is that you're saying "What can go wrong?" as in "What, me worry?", vs my attitude of "what _could_ go wrong?" (there is a difference", or what happens _if_ something does go wrong". I don't want my hands anywhere near the blade if something *DOES* go wrong, even if that something could "never go wrong".

I'm a conservative. Unintended consequences are inevitable.

So that's why you put your fingers 2" from the blade? Putting your fingers right next to a spinning, moving, blade doesn't make you uncomfortable? It certainly does me. That's why they're a shoulder's width away.

Yet you put your fingers right next to a spinning, moving blade. Even parallax doesn't bother you.

But you don't think "What can go wrong, then lean 2' outside the ladder or use the top step anyway.

[Jay Pique]

12" from the blade on many (most?) miter saws is outside of the fence - you'd be pushing against air.