Router - vs -thumb --Mistakes to learn from?

[DRB]

Wow. Now I know why I read this site. Never had a major accident but this thread gives me renewed respect for all machinery.

I have never used a tablesaw with a proper guard until I bought my own tablesaw a couple of months ago. I'll be keeping the guard on. Thanks for the detailed explanation of kickback Woodshop.

 

[RPM]

Thanks Woodshop.....safety is indeed an attitude!

 

[Brmorgan]

I still keep the angle grinder disc that I accidentally ran into my leg when it kicked back. Luckily I was wearing my double-fronted Carhartt pants. It cut through the first layer and then exploded, I only ended up with a little nick in my leg. Those pants acted like bucking chaps, and really saved me. You've never seen someone drop their pants so fast though, I really thought I had a bad one. :monkey:

 

[RPM]

Tablesaw kickback

Hi Woodshop.....that is a nice sequence of photos. I wish I had taken photos of my router kickback. I've attached an article from finewoodworking that I remember seeing - it describes the sequence basically as you have. They have a string of action photos to illustrate the point and thought that it was informative just in case anyone was having a hard time visuallizing.

 

[woodshop]

I'm jealous, their crescent looks prettier than mine

Nice article, they explained things well, thanks for finding that for us. That blink of an eye part is dead on. Once the saw picks up the edge of that wood, that blade is moving so fast that it's all over in milliseconds... leaving you standing there (hopefully unhurt) wondering what just happened.

 

[treemandan]

Hi Woodshop.....that is a nice sequence of photos. I wish I had taken photos of my router kickback. I've attached an article from finewoodworking that I remember seeing - it describes the sequence basically as you have. They have a string of action photos to illustrate the point and thought that it was informative just in case anyone was having a hard time visuallizing.

Yeah, thanks. I am terrified of my table saw, terrified.

 

[woodshop]

Found another pic that shows the power of the table saw when it's throwing wood your direction. This was a piece of plywood about 2 ft square that got wedged between the sawblade and the fence, caught the back of the blade and was launched. Fortunately I was not standing directly behind the blade as I was reaching over the fence with my left hand, my body to the right of the fence. It was thrown from the saw with enough force however that when it hit the table top 15 feet away it broke up and embedded a piece of itself into the edge of that table top. Imagine what would have happened had that been my stomach, chest or face. Scary. The piece of plywood got wedged because it was too wide for it's length... and thus when I was pushing it through with the push stick, I pushed too much on the front right corner of it, causing the far left corner of it to rotate into the rear of that spinning sawblade. Once again, had I had the splitter in place, or had my saw had a riving knife built in, or had been more careful with how I pushed this size piece along my fence, this would have not happened. Water under the bridge.

 

[Backwoods]

This occurred the same way as woodshop described.
I knew it was binding and tried to ease the pressure off of it but it took off and slammed into the wall.

 

[BobL]

I cut aluminium (aka aluminum) fairly regularly with my 12" table saw. I use a regular 100 tooth blade and liberally apply wax to the line of the cut and the blade. I have been doing this for years without any problems. The worst thing that had happened was getting some Al swarf down the back of my shirt - man that stuff prickles!

Last summer I picked up what I though was Al and tried to cut it. I noticed immediately that it was harder than usual but I though, the blade must be just a bit blunt so I pushed harder and . . . . . .

Luckily for me the flying carbide teeth punched a 1/2" wide hole in bottom of my table saw cabinet. I keep that blade hanging up in my shed to remind me the respect all my machinery at all times!

That bit of ally turned out was duralium - it just a wee bit harder than I thought!

Since then I have also purchased a negtive Metal and composite cutting blade which has much wider teeth and even cuts the duralium without too much bother.