Push Stick

[MickCheese]

Does TDC really mean Top Dead Center & is it related to Blades only??

Yes, that is what it means but I think most people will know the term from engines when the piston is at the top of it's stroke.

Mick

 

[Tenon]

Does TDC really mean Top Dead Center & is it related to Blades only??

Yes, it is an engineering term usually applied to reciprocating engines but in Steve's explanation he wanted to point out where the saw fence should end in relation to the circumference of the saw blade to reduce/avoid kickback.

Simon

 

[Peter Sefton]

I believe Steve Maskery is on the right line, when ripping the fence should be drawn back, traditionally the rip fence would be curved to mimic the shape of the saw blade and the fence would be set to just behind the down cutting gullet of the saw blade. The HSE recommend “When a fence is used it should be positioned with no more than an 18mm overlap of the blade to reduce the risk of ejection”. The reason for this is as Karl pointed out, once timber has been ripped it should be able to fall away from the saw and not get trapped between the fence and the up cutting teeth, you may get away with it in small section of stable timber but when cutting sawn plank stock which is often twisted and being rip cut for the first time the amount of tension released by cutting can cause major movement and twisting of the stock if this happens on a powerful rip saw you will not want it trapped between the saw and fence.

A traditional dimension saw would usually have the fence set to the centre of the saw blade and a panel saw may have the fence further forward for cutting large panels or for when using a power feed.

You may find this link to the HSE useful to clarify what Steve and I are talking about, the video covers the main points.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/woodworking/ripsaw.htm

I hold regular wood machining courses to show safe, productive and accurate use of all classic woodworking machines.

http://www.peterseftonfurnitureschool.c ... t_courses/

Cheers Peter

 

[kirkpoore1]

Getting back to the original topic, I make push sticks like this:

(1)

I'm not saying you can't put your hand into the blade if something goes wrong, but it's certainly a whole lot harder. They work great. I make mine out of scrap OSB, with routed edges to keep it from chewing up my hands.

Kirk
(1) Photo shamelessly stolen from Bob Vaughan on the OWWM.org list, since I stole the design from him too...

 

[mack9110000]

Getting back to the original topic, I make push sticks like this:

(1)


(1) Photo shamelessly stolen from Bob Vaughan on the OWWM.org list, since I stole the design from him too...

:lol: :lol: :lol:
mack