JWLeaper":iwfpyh5s said:
my next purchase is going to be a small table saw (dw745 - cost and size). Where does one turn to learn how to use it safely.
Here's the thing that never seems to get mentioned on these discussions. Operating a table saw is a
skill, in fact it's every bit as skilful as cutting dovetails or laying a sunburst veneer. So what's reasonably safe for one person may not be remotely safe for someone else.
Personally I wouldn't stand behind a newbie when they're ripping even if they've got every safety device imaginable in place!
In fact there's a weird situation developing at the moment. I'm a full time cabinet maker with a large sliding table saw plus a decent sized bandsaw. Pretty much standard kit amongst professional makers. The odd thing is that I rarely do any ripping on the saw these days, and it's exactly the same for other furniture makers I talk to. Consequently we're losing the knack. But visit a small joinery workshop or a boat yard and they'll have a traditional table saw, and they'll be ripping timber all day long. Their saw skill levels are way higher than mine and consequently I'd trust them to safely execute cuts that would have me miring my trousers with dread.
But that's a subtlety that simply gets ignored on this forum, there's always loads of sucking of teeth and shaking of heads whenever safety gets raised, but the hard fact is that real world safety is quite an elastic concept.