Safety!

[jackellis]

I've recently started visiting Sawmill Creek. Today there were two posts from woodworkers who had been injured in the last 24 hours while using their table saws. One was a kickback and the other was a relatively minor cut. The kickback victim was not using a splitter. The cut was due in part to not using a guard.

A sobering reminder that bad stuff can happen to any of us.

[SARGE..g-47]

Yep.. both were due to not using a splitter I do believe even though other elements as losing concentration were involved. Some won't use any type splitter as it is too difficult to take off and put on and it takes too long to do it. My question would be what is the difficulty and what is so valuable with one's time to take 30 seconds to add something that is beneficial to safety?

But.. with all said and done... it is none of my business if one uses one or not other than myself. But.. for those that have pulled your stock guards off and would like at least a simple splitter as Biesemeyer makes.. but don't want to fork out the big bucks $$.. make one.

Here is a picture I posted at SMC of two I made in about 30 minutes Saturday morning. Made from a 12" Johnson framing square which is around $3 at Home Depot. A Bosch barrel grip jig-saw.. a file.. a drill and a can or red spray paint. Goes on and comes off in under 30 seconds. Click on the picture to enlarge.

One I use for 45* long rip angle cuts as my shield cannot be used. The other is for non-though cuts as long as the cut is deeper than 3/16" as that's how tall it sits on the table after installing. The other picture is my standard set-up which stays on the saw unless a special cut as mentioned is done.

Cheaper than the Biesemeyer by a long shot but does the same thing.

[LinuxRandal]

The Sharkguard is a wonderful thing. But with the odd hours I work, and the fact I can't afford to be without my fingers, it is the reason I use my EZ more, once more of the stuff became available.

[poolhound]

Here is a picture I posted at SMC of two I made in about 30 minutes Saturday morning. Made from a 12" Johnson framing square which is around $3 at Home Depot. A Bosch barrel grip jig-saw.. a file.. a drill and a can or red spray paint. Goes on and comes off in under 30 seconds. Click on the picture to enlarge.

One I use for 45* long rip angle cuts as my shield cannot be used. The other is for non-though cuts as long as the cut is deeper than 3/16" as that's how tall it sits on the table after installing. The other picture is my standard set-up which stays on the saw unless a special cut as mentioned is done.

Cheaper than the Biesemeyer by a long shot but does the same thing.

Sarge. You may have posted about your setup before but I dont recall. What is the thing that looks like a complex featherboard arrangement or maybe its a thin rip jig, or something else completely?

Also the thing on your fence full of holes. I was guessing that its just a hold down, is that it or does it serve some other purpose?

[SARGE..g-47]

Sarge. You may have posted about your setup before but I dont recall. What is the thing that looks like a complex featherboard arrangement or maybe its a thin rip jig, or something else completely?

Also the thing on your fence full of holes. I was guessing that its just a hold down, is that it or does it serve some other purpose?

The complex feather-board looking thing is my standard issue "ole Sarge spring-board" which is like a feather-board but is easier to distrubute holding power more evenly IMO. That one looks complex because I designed it to fold down when not needed. I added a miter slot on the left end of the table to allow 3/8" hex bolts in that holds the SB down. It slides forward and rear for about 22" which supports up to 22" of stock to the left of blade.

When not in use ripping, etc.. I slide the SB extreme left.. undo the wooden latch on top and it folds down on the side of the TS with only the lead 4" on the table. That saves having to remove the Star knob attached to the 3/8" hex bolts to remove it completely. So.. the complicated stuff on top is a shade-tree solution to hinging the SB to fold down but yet be rigid when in use to deliver hold.

That is a hold-down you see on the "short fence". I use a "short fence" to create a free zone past the point the stock is finally severed. By doing so a piece of tension wood cannot open violently to the right toward the fence and touch it.. then rebound back into the dangerous rear rising teeth to create kick-back. The short fence is held onto the face of the long fence with two 3/8" holes drilled in top and a pair Rockler Universal Clamps.

The hold down is attached also with the RUC's. I drilled holes every inch which allows the hold down to be moved fore and aft as needed. If you notice the hold-down there is an additional piece of 3/4" stock glued to the fence side just beyond the exit of the short fence. That piece butts up to the long fence for support but does not invade the "free zone" a it sits above the FZ.

That's pretty much it.. any further questions Jon.. simply ask. I added two pics that will show the SB fully (I think as I can hardly see detail in my photo box until I post them and it may be the wrong picture) along with another SB I use to support long 45* degree rip cuts when the shield has to be taken off. It supports the stock left but hides the blade teeth as I move the sacrificial face into the blade before locking it down to accept stock..

Whew.. that was a bunch of typing..