Table Saw Incident
A quick note on safety: It is very important! Woodworking is not the safest thing to do all day everyday. In just about every step of the construction process there is a chance to smash, cut, slice, and grind your fingers. I plan on building custom furniture for a very long time, and I plan on dying with all ten fingers and with every piece of those ten fingers still attached.
The reason I mention the safety thing is because there was a bit of a scare at work today. Sometimes wood does weird things when you cut into it. When I cut into one such board the cut-off side curved back into the saw blade, essentially sandwiching the blade between the cut-off side and the side I was planning on keeping. The blade whined under the increased pressure, the wood smoked as the friction built up, and my mind raced wildly as I tried not to panic.
It is amazing how fast your mind can think when it is stressed. In a split second I had three distinct thoughts:
1. I saw myself in my mind scolding myself for being so careless. The table saw is an incredibly useful tool for cutting wood. It is also an incredibly useful tool for hurtling wood through the air and for cutting through flesh.
2. I felt the blade heat up, swear I saw it wobble, saw smoke as the friction increase, and wondered how the heck I was going to extricate myself from the mess I was in.
3. I vowed to install two safety features as soon as this ordeal was over.
I knew that I couldn’t let go of the board for fear that the blade would catch it, bounce it up, and send wood and metal flying everywhere, yet I needed to turn off the saw! I held the blade as steady as possible and yelled to a coworker to turn it off, which he was able to do.
Once the blade had stopped, I thanked God for not teaching me a lesson the hard way, and assessed the damage. The blade was scalding hot from the friction, dull as a butter knife, and probably to warped to be used again. The board was burned and showing exactly where said incident took place.
As noted above, I decided after the little scare that I had, that it was time to install a few safety features on our 30+ year old table saw. The first and, in many woodworker’s opinions, the most critical safety feature on a table saw is the riving knife. A riving knife is a piece of metal, the same thickness as the blade, that sits directly behind the blade. It does one job and it does it pretty dang well, and that is to prevent the material that is passing through the blade from clamping down on the blade itself. The riving knife ends up being the thing that gets squeezed if a board was to tweak during cutting, which allows the blade to continue spinning away, unimpeded and uneventful.
This is the homemade riving knife I had made or our Rockwell Unisaw. I was unable to located the original owners manual anywhere in the office or the shop, but I was able to find a digital copy of the original owners manual for this saw on OWWM.com and discovered that this saw originally came with a riving knife way back when! Unfortunately for me, it was probably lost 20 years ago or so. I called a local tool retailer and asked them if they could order me a replacement one. The guy on the other line said he could but it was going to cost me about half as much as a brand new saw! That’s like $500! Alright, on to plan B! I walked to the shop next door where they manufacture the Ridge Runner, and asked them if they could help me out. Well, lo and behold, one hour later I had a homemade riving knife in my hand, cut from scrap steel, costing a total of $0! There is no beating that!
Here is a picture of the installed riving knife.
Here is a shot of what it looks like while a board is being cut. The riving knife prevents the board from clamping down on the blade, therefore preventing kickback and injury.
The second safety feature I installed, or more appropriately, had installed for me, was an emergency off button for the table saw. Many woodworkers hang a board down in front of the on/off buttons that, when kicked, hits the off button and turns the saw off. I didn’t like that, so I had a large round button installed close to the ground that is easily kicked if the user needs to shut of the saw for any reason.
So from now on, you should never see anymore table saw related close calls on this blog!
September 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Hi,
I found your blog, and I have a question for you. My boyfriend just had a terribly injury on Friday, is still in the hospital on Sunday. He had some fingers hit the blade, and almost lost a finger. Do you know anyone that has been through reattachment and aftermath? I just was wondering what to expect, since I’m the one to take care of him. Everything is so up in the air right now. Thanks, and thanks for your blog.
kim
September 25th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hello Kim,
Fortunately I have not had any severe injuries involving my body and a power tool, just a few close calls, so I do not have any knowledge about the aftermath of a serious injury and issues associated with reattachment. But I did post your question up on two woodworking forums and I hope someone out there will be able to give you some answers.
Good luck with everything.
Jared
Here are the two links to the forums:
http://thewoodwhisperer.com/townsquare/index.php?topic=468.0
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/4793
December 15th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I also have an older saw like yours and would like to find out more information about the dimensions and what it is made of. Also can the shop remake one for me and how much. I am new to woodworking and have had problems when using my table saw. This should help
Thanks
Don