Bench saw fence position when ripping

[flanajb]

I was just reading a post that stated that if you are ripping and you have your side fence past the back of the blade then you are also cutting on the back edge of the saw. I can sort of see the logic, but am not sold by the idea.

So I just wanted to ask whether there are any general rules as to how you position your ripping fence in relation to the front / back of the saw blade ?

Thanks

 

[moz]

That is correct advice. You are not supposed to have the fence extended more than about an inch beyond the leading edge of the blade. Together with a riving knife, this greatly reduces the likelihood of kickback due to timber movement. Once the timber has been cut, it no longer needs guiding so the fence becomes a problem rather than a help when the resulting workpiece can very often start to change shape. Apart from being safer, it's also more accurate for the same reason.

John

 

[Paul Chapman]

Some more useful information here http://www.amgron.clara.net/sawbenchfences97.html

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[flanajb]

That is correct advice. You are not supposed to have the fence extended more than about an inch beyond the leading edge of the blade. Together with a riving knife, this greatly reduces the likelihood of kickback due to timber movement. Once the timber has been cut, it no longer needs guiding so the fence becomes a problem rather than a help when the resulting workpiece can very often start to change shape. Apart from being safer, it's also more accurate for the same reason.

John

I can see the logic as if the timber moves you will indeed be putting more strain on the blade.

Thanks for the explanation

 

[Chems]

My sip saw has a full length fence and I much prefer it over the previous shorter fence as you get so much support for the piece to reference against.

I was cutting some oak the other week that was trying to bind onto the blade but it was just getting stuck on the riving knife. So I really think the riving knife is enough on its own to do the job.

 

[RogerS]

But the thing is, Chems, that after the wood has been cut there is no need to reference it against anything.

If you find wood binding on the riving knife then it means that you are (as I'm sure you know) releasing internal tensions in the wood. My preference is to insert a thin wedge to keep the two pieces apart to stop any binding. This in turn means that the wood passes through the blade with the minimum of effort ..which in turn means safer cutting.

 

[Paul Chapman]

My sip saw has a full length fence and I much prefer it over the previous shorter fence as you get so much support for the piece to reference against.

I was cutting some oak the other week that was trying to bind onto the blade but it was just getting stuck on the riving knife. So I really think the riving knife is enough on its own to do the job.

Well, I think you've just been lucky. If I were you, I'd keep a spare pair of trousers in the workshop for when you do get kickback - the wood will fly by so fast it will scare the dung out of you :shock: :shock:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Chems]

As long as it fires past me

 

[woodbloke]

As long as it fires past me

...provided you're not standing in the line of fire :wink: But you knew that...I hope - Rob

 

[Chems]

I always stand to the side, the rail for the sliding carriage acts as a nice barrier to stop you coming around as well.

 

[joiner_sim]

If it starts to bind very shortly into the rip, I find bringing the timber back and re-cutting gives a better cut the second time around.

 

[Paul Chapman]

As long as it fires past me

I don't know whether you've ever seen a bad case of kick-back but it really is very serious. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that, in a worst case scenario, it could kill you or you could suffer a serious injury such as losing an eye. The wood travels much faster than you can react.

You can, as you suggest, stand slightly to one side in an attempt to avoid injury but I think I would rather use a short fence so that the kick-back didn't happen in the first place.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Digit]

Like you said Paul, most of us have never seen real kickback.
With a two foot blade and hefty timbers the threat of serious injury is very real, and as you say, the speed is astounding!

Roy.

 

[Chems]

I've had my saw fire little offcuts that have got back to the blade and boy do they go!

 

[Jeremys]

for anyone that hasnt see a kickback, this link shows an example...the guy is doing pretty much everything to provoke it, not a demo I would like to do!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910584/table_saw_kickback_demonstration/


Jeremy

 

[joiner_sim]

I seen a machine fire out a piece of wood a few years ago and it hit the guy using it at such a speed it made him fall to the floor.

I was using a drum sander this week also and the piece I was working with was only short and I knew the risk so stood to the side, it was a good job because one of the pieces did come firing back out at a speed that would have hurt!

 

[Steve Maskery]

That is an excellent demo. Note also that, even if the operator were standing to the left of the blade, in that particular case (with the relatively wide board) he would still get hit.

Use a short fence for ripping.

S

 

[Carlow52]

My late grandfather, who introduced me to table saws, spindle moulders, planers and p/ts, had a few simple general rules which I offer for reflection on.


Never stand behind the work-piece.

Never pass your hand(s) over the blade

Never work on a piece shorter than half the length of the table ( ie from front of table to centre of blade) [ on the p/t it was the top table he used as the measure, not the thicknesser table ]

For the table saw fence, which had no measurement system for setting the width, when ripping he had a piece of oak screwed to the side of the fence that only went just up to the center of the blade.

This came off when cutting rebates with the wobble saw setup.

The set on the blades was always as wide as or wider than the riving knife.

 

[Digit]

A sensible man.

Roy.

 

[Richard Findley]

When I was at college they taught us that the fence should only be as far forward as the hook of the blade when ripping and well back when cross cutting.

Richard