Kickback

[Ed62]

Just wondering how many kickbacks you've experienced on the tablesaw (one, two, or many?), and how long you've been using a tablesaw. I have a feeling just about everyone here has had a few. I've probably had 3 or 4, and i've been using a tablesaw about 15 years. It's been a while since I've had one, and I'm not looking forward to more.

Ed

[wd4lc]

I believe I've been using the BT3100 (my first and only table saw) for about 5 years. I've had a couple/few kickbacks.

The first came early on when I was attempting to rip a 1x3 furring strip. It flew back and was a slight punch in the gut.

The major one happened when I was crosscutting a 2x4x8 piece of cedar. I was trying to cut off a 2' section. I do not have a table extension and I believe that the weight of the 6' section on the left side tilted the wood above the blade slightly in mid-cut. The table saw blade started to sound funky and before I knew it, the 2' section of 2"x4" (luckily) flew past me. I was amazed with how much force that thing was thrown.

There have been several times that I'll get bog downs but can usually stop the saw in time.

I have a slight anxiety about kickbacks which is why I couldn't get past the first few posts in another thread in this forum dealing with table saw incidents. There are also some youtube videos with people demonstrating kickbacks by purposely creating them. Yowza.

[LCHIEN]

since 2000. Had a couple of kickbacks, none in a long time.

[RodKirby]

Only had one in 50 years - unfortunately cost me the first joint of my right thumb But fortunately, I am left-handed

Cause - a nanosecond lack of concentration

[Cochese]

Two that count, had my saw almost two years. First one the piece walked up the back of the saw and hit me above my hip. The second one I saw that the cutoff was going to be caught between the blade and the fence and I knew the safest thing for me to do was just to do a 'let go, lunge left' maneuver. Piece hit the chain-link fence behind me harmlessly.

Still, the most unsafe thing I ever did was to try and cut a full sheet of plywood on a 10" Ryobi table saw (the cheapest one they ever made) that was sitting on a couple of sawhorses on the side of a hill. I bought my 21829 a couple weeks later.

[Ed62]

Only had one in 50 years - unfortunately cost me the first joint of my right thumb But fortunately, I am left-handed

Cause - a nanosecond lack of concentration

I was actually thinking of you just before I made the thread. How long has it been now? I'm guessing maybe over a year or so? Does your hand still bother you very much?

Ed

[Richard in Smithville]

In the last 12 years I have had two table saws. Before my BT3, I had an entry level bench top and that was the trouble. It gave me a couple of kick backs when miter cutting some thin pine. The vibration slipped the off cut back into the blade and threw it 15 feet to the wall behind me. One piece shattered so bad that I never really found all of it. Not a true kick back in the sense, but scary none the less. Never had kick back with my BT.

[cwsmith]

I think I've had my BT3100-1 since the clearance, which I believe was in 2005. I've ripped a lot of 1 x stock through it, mostly pine, but also some red oak. I've only had a few occasions to rip 2 x stock though. I have not yet had any kickbacks.... but I'm cautious, as I know it's bound to happen.

Personally (I've posted before about this), table saws make be VERY cautious and the very first thing I did on buying my BT, was to make a nice push stick!

Now, I've been using my RAS since 1973 and I built my deck with that (as well as many other projects) and I've done a lot of ripping, especially 2 x stock on it. I've had it bind and stall a couple of times, but I've never had a true "kick-back" as I always keep the pawls adjusted properly.

I am a firm believer (and practitioner) of ensuring that everything is properly aligned and that the blade is sharp and regularly cleaned. I don't fool myself about that, I know well the danger potential.

CWS

[wd4lc]

I think I've had my BT3100-1 since the clearance, which I believe was in 2005. I've ripped a lot of 1 x stock through it, mostly pine, but also some red oak. I've only had a few occasions to rip 2 x stock though. I have not yet had any kickbacks.... but I'm cautious, as I know it's bound to happen.

Personally (I've posted before about this), table saws make be VERY cautious and the very first thing I did on buying my BT, was to make a nice push stick!

Now, I've been using my RAS since 1973 and I built my deck with that (as well as many other projects) and I've done a lot of ripping, especially 2 x stock on it. I've had it bind and stall a couple of times, but I've never had a true "kick-back" as I always keep the pawls adjusted properly.

I am a firm believer (and practitioner) of ensuring that everything is properly aligned and that the blade is sharp and regularly cleaned. I don't fool myself about that, I know well the danger potential.

CWS

I've ripped probably around 100 each of 2"x4"x6' and 2"x4"x2' rough cut cedar. I, too, have never had a serious kickback. Several bog downs and a few push backs...all moments I don't enjoy. Always wished I had a better solution for that.

I ripped a short piece of 1x3 pine the other day. It really bogged down (more than usual for pine). After shutting it down mid-cut, I noticed that the cut portion was pinching around the riving knife and probably choking the blade. Is there a reason that the riving knife is actually more narrow than the kerf of the blade?

[LCHIEN]

A table saw can throw long pieces at you but true kickback occurs generally with pieces in the 2-3" square up to maybe 5" square. Can be any thickness.
Generally the piece on inspection has a row of curved tooth marks on the bottom. In this kind of kickback the the workpiece is back of the center of the blade so that part of the blade is rising. It lifts the short piece (remember this won't be more than 5" long) wedging it between the blade and the fence. which gives the blade better grip on the piece further lifting it until it goes fully up on the blade and over the top--- the deep tooth marks on the bottom occur now and the piece is really flung with a frisbee motion off the top of the blade where velocity is greatest, not off the side like a long piece kicked out.

Using a good hold down the full length of the cut past the blade will prevent this kind of kickback.

[cabinetman]

I've had more incidents than I can count. Using a table saw as often as I do and for many years puts the exposure possibility pretty high. But, many kickbacks aren't "throw 'em at ya" types. Occurrences can be just a catch. There are times by just feel or the sounds of cutting can be a tip. A powerful saw, under the right conditions can launch a full 4x8 sheet of 3/4" ply back at the operator, and take him off his feet.

There's some physiology to kickback dealing with blade height. Kickback is not just a backside of the blade phenomenon. A low blade has a very acute angle and the tendency to lift the stock at the point of entry, and the forces of the blade is toward the operator. OTOH, a high blade has a more downward force.

There's more to the advantage of a high blade. The length of the cut due to the more stand up angle provides for less friction between the blade and the stock than a low blade, that has a longer contact due to its angle. IOW, there is less heat. A high blade has more of an opportunity to clear chips and run cooler.

.

[cwsmith]

Good points. I'm not sure how "up-to-date" my technique is. I think I'm probably like a lot of us, in that I learned a particular way (rule-of-thumb) and have stayed with that. (That of course doesn't make it the right way or the more modern way of doing it, however! So I'm always open to learning.)

But, I've always adjusted the blade on the table saw and on the hand-held circular saw, so that the bottom of the gullet is either at, or slightly below (by a maximum of 1/8th-inch) the top edge (on a table saw) of the particular board you are cutting.... and that should be the absolute maximum of the blade depth setting.

Now my thinking has always been that at that depth, the teeth are most efficient; but, I do wonder about that, because it would seem (as the previous post alludes) that such setting would also present the best mechnical advantage for the saw to push back on the material.

Perhaps the other reason (perception, anyway) is with the blade at that low protrution from the stock, you're less likely to get cut with it.

(But then a cut is a cut in my cautious opinion, and I keep may fingers and hands as far away from that blade as possible.)

But "small pieces", I don't go anywhere near the table saw with those... I'm simply NOT comfortable with that tool. Thankfully, all my small pieces and absolutely all of my cross cuts are dedicated to the RAS.

That of course is my oldest stationary tool and the one that I am most comfortable with. But even then, "Caution" is SOP!

CWS

[billwmeyer]

When I did the trim for my office, I made a lot of small quarter round. I had several of those little pieces kick out. I was prepared for this, by standing to the side of the saw and using a Grrripper to push the stock through. I highly recommend the Grrripper I think the worst trouble I had was when I was ripping some native cedar to do my deck. I had 4 or 5 knots come loose when the blade hit them and threw them back at me. Again, I always stand as for to the side as I can so no problems, except maybe with the lawn mower when I couldn't find them in the grass.

Bill

[dbhost]

My first use of a table saw happened in 1984 when I was in high school. Prior to that my Dad wouldn't let me touch his saw, nor would the school... I had 2 kickbacks in high school...

From high school until 2008, I didn't have access to a table saw.

Since 2008 I have had 1 kickback, and it was cutting a relatively smallish piece under my Shark Guard using a push stick. The piece kicked, the push stick went down and kind of blocked the piece from coming back, so out tried going up the dust chute of the Shark Guard. Sounded like a gun shot...

A friend of mine has had 6 or 7 in the last 10 years...

I know well enough to stay clear of the path of the wood I am cutting...

[RodKirby]

I was actually thinking of you just before I made the thread. How long has it been now? I'm guessing maybe over a year or so? Does your hand still bother you very much?

Ed

April 25, 2009. No one ever seems to notice, including me

Amazing how you can adjust to "things".