Table Saw Safety

[Digit]

My first thought was to remove the riving knife and cover for this operation, clamp the piece to the sliding carriage and use the table saw using mulitple passes,

The riving knife, crown guard support aside, is to prevent wood pinching the blade, unless the slot is a yard and a half deep it serves no purpose when slotting. I do as you suggest above and have done for many years.

Roy.

 

[JoeSheffer]

I keep a second riving knife for my saw for partial through cuts (...i remove the blade guard). I just got a second and cut it down so it was level with the saw. I got into a bad habit a few years ago of cutting stuff without a riving knife and experienced kick back first hand and got hit square in the stomach with a piece of timber.... and it caused lots of internal bleeding. It scared the dung out of me and i haven't cut anything since that day without atleast a riving knife.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I have just started using a table saw.

I found these two really informative




The second clip is very honest about how he used to be and how he is much safer now.

I would recommend some simple cuts with the mitre gauge to start with (set to 90 degrees nothing fancy) - just PAR timber, nice long pieces so you can keep your fingers well out of the way. I moved onto cutting some rebates which was nice as there were no offcuts sliding around to worry about.

Make sure you have good lighting. I picked a dark shadowy spot and needed extra led lights! Don't wear a hoodie - short sleeves if you can and respect the power of the saw.

Good luck

 

[artie]

I'm not going to give you any safety tips, much more experienced and fluent members here.

I just want to tell you that I have had two trips to casualty in the last twenty years, Both as a result of my improper use of a table saw.
Luckily not that serious in the grand scheme of things. I can still count to ten without taking off my boots.
Treat it with respect.

 

[MikeK]

Someone must be bored. This thread is nearly nine years old.