Saw Kick Back

[mtaylor]

Ah.. the first link QAR... along with some of posts in the scratch area it just hit how to modify my fence.      I'm getting ready to cut a bunch of strips and I think that fence idea is a good one.

[Q A's Revenge]

Ah.. the first link QAR... along with some of posts in the scratch area it just hit how to modify my fence.      I'm getting ready to cut a bunch of strips and I think that fence idea is a good one.

Yes, it seems the biggest difference between British and American table saw use is with fence position. The Popular Woodworking article illustrates this nicely although admittedly in a tongue in cheek manner! The linked HSE document WIS16 is only five pages long but seems to cover all the basics nicely. I've certainly filed it away for reference.

[nobotch]

I have been searching information about kickback with small tablesaws and how serious it can be. Not having found reports of kickback acidents with 4" tablesaws of course does not mean such accidents did not happen, so I am still a bit concerned because I am going to own one of those Rolls Royce Byrnes saws, which I believe have no riving knife. [...]

 

Meanwhile I have found a very useful hint about the power of kick back on small table saw  - by first conicidence a Byrnes saw, and be second coincidence posted on this forum, here:

 

[...] When I first got my Jim saw. I was so excited I could not wait for the first cut. So I took it out to my workshop set it up. Yes I waxed the table top. And then I set about cutting a plank or 2. Out of reflex without thinking I stood to the side as I made my first cut. It was a good thing I did. Because my first plank got caught by the blade and flew across the room. It made contact with the widow and broke the inside pane of glass! Nice arrow! I am very glad that was not my chest.

So far so good. But there is more to kick back than just a piece of wood making its uncontrolled way through the shed. Kickback can even lead to make one's hand make contact with the blade.

 

I don't know if the following link to a "safety-video" already has been posted somewhere on modelshipworld.com, but as it may be an eye-opener to some I believe it would not hurt being posted more than once.

 

The guy who made the video missed a trip to the hospital only by a few millimeters, and admits unreservedly he was an idiot doing such an experiment:

 

 

 

All this makes me think that a riving knife is not only mandatory for full size table saws but also on small ones. Even if an custom addition carried out by a precision metal working shop will cost a grand it will still be cheaper than a chewed up or cut off digit. Hospital bills are expensive.

[Jaager]

Back to the original question:  if the stock is thin enough, why use a table saw at all?  Clamp the stock down with a straight edge ruler ( they are 6/12/18/24 inches) and use the edge of the ruler as a cutting guide and do the cut with a blade.  No curf loss.