# Table saw kickback



## mgb (Oct 31, 2008)

Here's an eye opener if you aren't using a splitter/riving knife, like me.


http://youtu.be/u7sRrC2Jpp4

I've had the odd kickback over 10 years, makes you wonder how close you've come without knowing it.


----------



## pizalm (Mar 27, 2009)

I had a small piece of plywood kickback this week. I was thinking about something else felt the tiniest shift from the fence and got hit. 

I wish the riving knife had the ability to flip up and down quickly instead of being bolted and shimmed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

mgb said:


> Here's an eye opener if you aren't using a splitter/riving knife, like me.
> 
> 
> http://youtu.be/u7sRrC2Jpp4
> ...



Dam that was close


----------



## Easy Gibson (Dec 3, 2010)

Only time I've ever gotten kickback I totally deserved it.

Table saws give me the creeps. hah Respect the tool or it won't respect you. Still though, creeps.


----------



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

I've had my 12" TS grab a board and shoot it across the room and through a door...


----------



## brhokel606 (Mar 7, 2014)

Damn, I need to put the kinfe back on.

I had a kickback in the spring, had a HO watching me rip 6' pieces for custom trim work for him. I had a roller set up on the back and was doing fine but HO had to stand at back of saw and grabbed board just as it was exiting the blade. I had told him I didnt need help but should have just yelled at him to stay away. 

Anyway, the saw grabbed that f'ing board (HO pushed laterally causing wood to be grabbed by the blade) and threw it straight back at me, end of board hit the top of my hand on knuckles. Mother Fvcker, thought it was broken immediately and looked right at the HO and screamed "why the fvck would you grab it?" He turned around and walked right into the house without saying a word. I shut off saw, regathered myself and began cutting more alone.

Hand was only bruised, HO apologized later and never helped again! My stupid fault for no knife and lettting HO be around. Tough to kick them out when you are trying to keep a good relationship. But I had never had a kickback before because tablesaws kind of scare the chit out of me and you have really paid attention. Never want that to happen again either.


----------



## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

I almost always use the riving knife on my saw. The gaurd, not so much, but the riving knife is so easy to use, and really makes a big difference.


----------



## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

I can not watch that video completely after ripping open my finger on a kickback. Tore it open from the tip all the way to the base and peeled most of it away. 

It was on the hand away from the blade, I remember the bang, the impact on my other hand, and it feeling very warm. No pain just tons of blood.


----------



## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

HOLY SMOKES! When the guy showed how close his hand got to the blade I couldn't take it anymore. I had to stop the video.


----------



## Rio (Oct 13, 2009)

The first thing I was taught when I was framing was 'throw away the guard on the table saw, it just gets in the way'. This is what I was taught with the skilswaw also but we just pinned them up. 

As time went by I kept thinking there might be a good reason to have them and if there was an accident I'd be the one who was paying the price. Anywhoo, I started using the guard on the skilsaw, learned how to work with it, but not on the table saw. Seeing that naked blade spinning really started to get on my nerves and I finally looked around and found the guard on the current table saw I have where I'd put it out with random construction items. I was amazed at how easily it went on, and also how well it works, never want to work without it again.


----------



## Roofcheck (Dec 27, 2011)

Just wow. Thats a visual that can only be understood if watched.


----------



## brain2106 (Sep 21, 2014)

mgb said:


> Here's an eye opener if you aren't using a splitter/riving knife, like me.
> 
> 
> http://youtu.be/u7sRrC2Jpp4
> ...


Wow. That was close.


----------



## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

mgb said:


> Here's an eye opener if you aren't using a splitter/riving knife, like me.
> 
> 
> http://youtu.be/u7sRrC2Jpp4
> ...


That's the one I thought it was. 

IMO, that guy is an idiot. I bet he also had a crap stain in his pants because he did not expect those results. 

He was trying to show what happens when there is a kick back, but he almost lost a good part of his hand, when a couple sticks could have shown us the same results with the board. 

I run a 5hp direct drive saw with a 16" blade for all my ripping tasks. 
It is missing the riving knife, had one from the factory in 1928. I need to get my machinist on that task sometime soon. I never hand feed it though, it has a holz-her stock feeder.

I have another 5hp dd saw with a 14" blade that I do cut off and variety work on, rolling left table.

Sorry, that was long winded. My point being, 

know your saw, have it set up well, commit to the cuts, use proper blade/saw for the task at hand. 

I also prefer push sticks over those rubber bottom plastic push blocks.

If you want a great commercially available push block set up, look at the griper line. 

As you were.


----------



## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

Yup, I've seen that video before. Bad move.

Yet he did illustrate something else that some may not be fully aware of. Anybody here worked with small material (short pieces) on a miter saw? It's easier than some may realize to get a hand pulled into the blade while they exercise "bad form" and trim really short material, especially when they don't have a sacrificial fence piece behind it. I had a finger tip surgically "reinstalled" to prove it. If I ever have to work with short stuff, I hold it such that if it get's pulled out of my fingers, they don't go along for the ride. (But I try not to work with short stuff to begin with)


----------



## parkers5150 (Dec 5, 2008)

Just when I was good and relaxed...God Dambit!!! now I gotta make another drink!!!!!


----------



## brickhook (May 8, 2012)

I have two table saws in the shop. And every time I turn one on, I think about all the old , 8 fingered carpenters I was around when I was a kid.


----------



## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

I should post a video of me cutting a stack of 4' logs and branches with a chain saw. The cut branch pieces get grabbed all the time and go whizzing past my head (wearing a helmet with mask). Funny thing is I don't take those kinds of chances with a TS.


----------



## Alldayrj (Oct 9, 2014)

brhokel606 said:


> Damn, I need to put the kinfe back on.
> 
> I had a kickback in the spring, had a HO watching me rip 6' pieces for custom trim work for him. I had a roller set up on the back and was doing fine but HO had to stand at back of saw and grabbed board just as it was exiting the blade. I had told him I didnt need help but should have just yelled at him to stay away.
> 
> ...


You got lucky as hell. I know a guy who lost 2.5 fingers from a kickback. Not from the blade, the flying wood knocked his fngers off!!!

Also had a chop saw throw a short piece up and around the blade and thrn hammer it down onto the back of my hand. Luckily i was wearing gloves but it still drew blood. 

Stay sharp guys!


----------



## brhokel606 (Mar 7, 2014)

Alldayrj said:


> You got lucky as hell. I know a guy who lost 2.5 fingers from a kickback. Not from the blade, the flying wood knocked his fngers off!!!
> 
> Also had a chop saw throw a short piece up and around the blade and thrn hammer it down onto the back of my hand. Luckily i was wearing gloves but it still drew blood.
> 
> Stay sharp guys!


Thanks, I was very lucky. Had an incident on the miter saw too, had my right hand guy right beside me, he was in afganistan a year ago, he saw some chit and is no stranger to injuries. I was cutting a small piece, literally told him "this is the most dnagerous cut you can make" and 30 seconds later, WHAM! 

The small piece caught the blade, threw my left hand into the fence and the wood smashed my middle finger. The blade barely touched my skin, small cut (so lucky, should have cut it off) but crushed my finger from first knuckle down. My right hand man says "holy ****, you just cut you're finger off, let me see it" as I was holding it not wanting to look at it. He then says, "wait, I can't and turns around" waits a second turns back around and again says " let me see it". Immediately turns around again and says "I can't ". 

All his first aid training he has had and he couldn't take it, it was the only funny part. I ended up heating up a nail and shoving it in the nail bed as it was swelling really bad. It wasn't bleeding from the cut in the right spot. I relieved the pressure in a couple of areas, bandaged it and went back to work. The end of that finger still bothers me, has good scaring like I took it clean off and had lots of scar tissue in it. A few times I used a scalpel to cut out scar tissue, because if I put pressure on the finger lifting something it hurt.

I can laugh about it now, especially my partner's reaction but I am darn lucky. Should've been much worse.


----------



## tccoggs (Dec 17, 2008)

Can't stress enough that one of the best safety tips for TS use is that of a proper outfeed table. I see guys with job site saws pressing down hard in the from of the board to keep it from tipping up as they move it through the saw. If your pressing down with your hand and you slip, you are sure to lose multiple fingers.

Also always set the proper blade height for the material thickness.

We had a mereen Johnson 75hp gang rip when I worked in a mill shop. Golden rule, never stand behind or in front of the workpiece. There was a 3 inch hole in the block wall in front if the saw that was 24 feet away from the saw that I would use to illustrate this to new hires. Sounded like a gunshot when that happened and I was in the other room at the time.


----------



## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

That guy went to the shop & forgot to use the most important tool he owns. Sets on top of his shoulders. A riving knife can't fix that.

Having an understanding of what can go wrong & what causes it to go wrong is vitally important. Somehow, I've managed to keep all 10 digits for over 30 years of running a saw. I've had some nasty close calls & have studied hard what when wrong & learned from everyone of them.

I hated my high school shop teacher when he wouldnt let me start using power tools before getting 100% on the saftey rules test. Today, I'm eternally grateful he was such a hardass. Made a lasting impression on how quickly bad things can happen with power tools.


----------



## jimwalter (Apr 7, 2012)

Thanks for all the info, a real eye opener.


----------



## PerfectCntng (Jan 13, 2015)

Damn! that guy dosent deserve to even possess a table saw. I would confiscate all his power tools for doing something so stupid! Seems like he has had zero basic training.


----------

