You May Now Officially Hate My Son - Table Saw Find

[DerbyDad03]

My son just bought this Rigid TS3650 on Let-Go for $120. Las Vegas area. Barely used.

He is just getting into woodworking and doing a pretty good job so far. He's asked me how to do a few things and more than once I told him that it would be easy if he had a TS. Well, now he does.

I told him that a TS can be one of the most versatile tool in his shop, but you gotta respect it and know how it can hurt you. I talked to him about doing some research before he starts using it.

I want to send him some safety accessories. Push sticks, push pads, feather boards, etc. Does anyone know of a good accessory kit that comes with the basics to help get him started working safely?

I looked on Amazon and there's a Shop Fox kit, but it doesn't look very impressive. I may have to piece one together. Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

[J. Clarke]

I have that same model of saw. The high point of Ridgid's table saw production in IMO and that of many others.

First, I don't see the guard, splitter, or miter gage--please tell me he got them.

That said, the safety bits that come as kits are in general pretty cheesy.

Featherboards, go with Kreg.

I used to use a set of home-made featherboards that I clamped down. I tried several brands of store-bought ones and rolling my own design before I finally got a Kreg that are so far a happy camper--seems that some others didn't have quite enough range of movement--whenever I went to make a cut they seemed to come up a little short--the Kreg will go past the blade a little on that saw. They won't work on the fence--the slot is too low for anything I know of to work. Pushblocks I can't advise--a set came with my jointer and they're still the duty blocks. I suspect they're the cheapest Delta could find. I have a GRR-Ripper and it's _really_ nice but so expensive that I don't use it unless I need one of its tricks. The GRR-Ripper folks have a cheaper model now ("GRR-Rip Block") that doesn't do all the tricks but is considerably nicer than the cheap ones--still may be more pricey than you want to go though.

My suggestion would be the Kreg featherboards, a set of cheap pushblocks (unless you want to splurge on the GRR-Rip stuff), and make him one of the bird-mouth sticks and whatever else you think he might need.

[krw]

I use the JessEm feather boards. They're very similar to the Kregs but have an extra set of adjustments. I bought them before Kreg copied them. ;-) The JessEm feather boards are about the same price as the Kregs. They also have, or at least had, a double set (two feather boards, side-by-side).

I made a taller sub-fence with a T-Slot, so I could use the feather boards on my fence.

I have one of those too. I don't use it much. I'd sure use it for a jointer, though.

I have a variety of push sticks and blocks. I've pretty much settled on a couple of them for 90% of what I do. It's kinda a personal thing. He'll probably have to try stuff until he figures out what works for him.

[Puckdropper]

"J. Clarke" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

*snip*

I hate the birds-mouth push sticks. I consider them unreasonably dangerous. Try this: Take a pencil or an ink pen and push down on the edge of a domino at a 45 degree angle (Like a birds mouth stick). (Or anything relatively the hardness and general shape of a piece of wood.) Notice what happens? The opposite end lifts, which would be the part of the wood on the upward bound teeth. Don't give kickback a place to start--use a shoe.

A shoe push stick is too simple and too easy to make to not have one. All you need to do is take a 2x4 about 6" long and a 1x2 about 3 1/2" long. Screw the 1x2 to the end of the 2x4 so the 1x2 extends 1/4-1/2" below the bottom edge of the 2x4. Done!

You can vary the design to fit your needs, some like to put handles (dowel rods will work) on them, longer ones may be useful as well.

I find this design works well for the bandsaw. Turn the push block on its side, and it can then be used to push the wood the rest of the way through the blade with your fingers safely out of the way.

Puckdropper

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

*snip*

*snip*

I have the Jessem model, and it does a good job. It can take a bit of time to set up, though, especially if I have to move to a drastically different configuration--like stacked vs unstacked. Once set up, I've never had a problem with them.

Puckdropper

[krw]

We've had this discussion before, here in SED. ;-) I prefer push sticks because my hands *never* go behind the front edge of the blade when it's spinning. If kickback is going to be a risk, I use featherboards.

[DerbyDad03]

I didn't ask, but I will.

I have the same feather boards. Love 'em.

I still have my first home made set. I use them as a hold down on the fence every now and then.

I have a pair of day-glow Orange, no-name push blocks. I don't recall where they came from, but they work. I just used one today to rip a piece of 1/8 hardboard.

I'm not a fan of of bird's mouth push sticks. I have a Kreg with a shoe. I feel much more secure with a shoe.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Keith Nuttle]

Here is a set somewhat like you are looking for. While I did not dig thoroughly, I believe you can find the rest of the stuff here

[DerbyDad03]

...snip...

Maybe I'm confused. I use this "push stick" by Kreg. I called that a shoe style, not a bird's mouth.

That said, the Kreg Push Stick does require your hand to go beyond the front of the blade.

Is Kreg using the wrong name for it's device?

(...and yes, I removed the magnet.)

[krw]

That's why I don't use them. It's just something I don't do (it's easier to remember a "never").

That's what Puck is calling a "shoe". His "bird's mouth push stick" looks like this:

I have an extra stick stuck to the side of my table[*] where I can reach it, if needed. I keep my usual stick on top of the fence.

[*] Right next to the DC remote.

[Spalted Walt]

+1

more rocket surgery

[J. Clarke]

I use the birds-mouth for the last few inches when I have a piece of stock that's too narrow for the pushblocks. My other option is the GRR-RIPPER with the narrow extension. Or if it's short enough just put it on the sled.

[J. Clarke]

FWIW those were the first ones I tried. Nothing wrong with them except on the Ridgid they didn't have quite enough adjustment. They now live on my router table.

[DerbyDad03]

I know what a bird's mouth stick looks like. That wasn't my question.

Let's re-cap...

You said: "I prefer push sticks because my hands *never* go behind the front edge of the blade when it's spinning."

I showed you a *push stick* that does require you to go beyond the front of the blade.

You replied: "That's why I don't use them."

If I'm not mistaken, it's not *push sticks* that you prefer/don't use, it's

*bird's mouth* push sticks that you prefer and *shoe style* push sticks that you don't use.

[Contrarian]

[Puckdropper]

DerbyDad03 wrote in news: [e-mail]:

As long as you've got sufficient vertical clearance, there's nothing wrong with your hand going beyond the front of the blade. If the wood disappears or the notch breaks, those shoe style pushers will let your hand continue safely out of harm's way.

FWIW, I've found the insert plate on the Ridgid TS to be just about the right size for a "hands out!" zone.

Puckdropper

[Leon]

And get hm a WWII blade.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I made a similar shaped push stick/shoe but the handle is place back more. I just copied the outline of a hand saw handle. In any case, I find it easier to use than the bird mouth style.

[Bob La Londe]

I have substantially that exact same saw. I've had it for 13-15 years give or take maybe longer. I have had no real problems with it in all that time. I found getting vertical perfectly set a little tricky at first, and if you do some cutting with the saw out of vertical you can get some saw dust in the stop area that will prevent it from going hard up on the stop until you blow it out. My only real complaint is that sometimes the lift mechanism on mine shifts over a little prevent easy lift and lock. I give it a gentle kick and its good again for months. Someday I'll fix that. Its been used heavily for months and then set idle for months, and never given me any real problems. I used it for a long time for severing aluminum flat bar to rough size for milling until I finally got a horizontal bandsaw for that.

It?s a good saw. For $120 its an absolute steal. I don't know what they cost today, but I seem to recall I got mine new on sale for around $450.

***

My son just bought this Rigid TS3650 on Let-Go for $120. Las Vegas area. Barely used.

He is just getting into woodworking and doing a pretty good job so far. He's asked me how to do a few things and more than once I told him that it would be easy if he had a TS. Well, now he does.

I told him that a TS can be one of the most versatile tool in his shop, but you gotta respect it and know how it can hurt you. I talked to him about doing some research before he starts using it.

I want to send him some safety accessories. Push sticks, push pads, feather boards, etc. Does anyone know of a good accessory kit that comes with the basics to help get him started working safely?

I looked on Amazon and there's a Shop Fox kit, but it doesn't look very impressive. I may have to piece one together. Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

[krw]

Because the one you showed does require ones hand to go past the blade.

Yes, the confusion was that the "shoe style" you showed was called a "push stick". I don't consider it a "stick".

Just the usual Usenet talking past each other.