Is it safe to take the blade guard off here?

[jm]

I have to make a kerf that makes the wood hit the splitter, riving knife before it is finished. Don't I *have* to take the blade guard off for this kind of cut? Thanks.

[Dave Balderstone]

If you're not cutting through the thickness of the wood, then you either remove the spiltter or do the kerf on the router table.

Personally, I'm one of those that runs without the guard/splitter quite often without fear. A hell of a lot of caution and respect, but no fear.

djb

[Jay Pique]

I agree. Proper technique - ie. body positioning, use of pushsticks, knowledge of potential wood movement, proper face down, A GOOD JIG, etc... - can really prevent a lot of accidents. I try very hard to think about the cut I'm about to make prior to turning on the machine.

I'm not a huge fan of the blade guard, but I really wish we had good splitters in our shop.

JP

[Dave Balderstone]

I've only made one mistake (almost, body position saved me) so far. About three years back I was making what I knew was a dangerous cut, blade tilted toward the fence.

Sure enough, it caught and fired the length of the shop where it put a

1/2" deep dent in a solid core door leaning against the back wall, and landed back at my feet.

Sure got my attention. Fortunately, I NEVER stand directly behind the piece I'm cutting. Had I been, I think the piece in question could have gone right through mu (substantial) gut.

That episode reinforced the concept of JIG. I went and bought some hold-downs after that and built a sled that I can attach them to in a variety of positions depending on the cut I need to make.

[jm]

Do you happen to have a picture of such a Jig? Thank you for the advice.

[Dave Balderstone]

I can take one for you. It's in pieces now, but I'll put it back together and post a link to the jpegs...

djb

[Dave Balderstone]

Here's the shot...

The holdowns are mounted on a piece of ply with slots, so it can be adjusted for the width of the board (see the additional holes in the base? I can relocate the hold-downs for wide boards). The piece to the right is one of several used to adjust for thickness (height). A variety of bases allow for tilted blade, etc. The base shown is the one I use for jointing edges on smaller pieces.

The hold-downs are screwed to the secondary piece, and that's held in place with carriage bolts and wing nuts.

Let me know if you have any questions...

And yes, the band saw in the background is purple.

djb

[jtpr]

Dave,

Looks good, but how do you push the piece past the hold downs? Also, I've seen these hold downs before, where does one get them?

[Dave Balderstone]

The entire unit is a sled.

I got mine at a local hardware store, Princess Auto (they're more of a general store than the name suggests).

djb