Saw Kickback Causes Death

Running a custom wood shop for 20 years I've seen and had a few kick back incidents. One that really illustrates the power and danger: A guy was ripping some ½" square by about 12" long hardwood strips on a table saw. He was using a stick to push the pieces past the blade but it slipped off one of them turning it into a bullet. I say bullet because it blew a hole clear through 6 sheets of ½" veneered particleboard that were stacked on an a-frame, behind the operator. Had he or anyone else been in the way it would have been horrific.
 
I remember in jr high wood shop class, second year students were allowed to use the table saw and jointer, finally. I already had some experience, having a couple of carpenters in the family, but this one was on the teacher. The table saw, a nice Delta cabinet saw, was lined up with the double doors on the outside wall so stock could be brought in for all our projects. He was ripping a long piece of 2 x when it pinched and he didn't have the anti-kickback pawls in place, so of course it ejected the 2 x with a great deal of force. As I recall it was a 5 hp saw, and the 2 x went through one of the double doors. Even though it left a ragged hole, he refused to replace it because it was a reminder of the consequences of running a saw without the safety features engaged. It was a nice piece of black walnut. We retrieved it and finished ripping it, WITH the pawls down. It didn't pinch cutting from the other end.
 
Speaking of push sticks... I don't use one. They are generally too wide, and don't give you any control except down.
Instead, I use an icepick.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...ick&sprefix=Icepick,aps,212&crid=K4LEMOJH5ZRW

The point lets me keep the wood tight down AND against the fence, and it's thin enough to rip a 3/16 slice with no problem. And the tip is so small, that even if the blade got it, I don't think it would do any damage.
 
@Nels Nelson thanks for posting that.

It is very hard to read; that kid passed way too young.
My two sons will soon be that age, and I don't think I could handle it.

However, it is a good reminder for everyone to play and work safe.

I remember one supervisor I had in a private machine shop I worked at during high-school, he had a large scar across his face.
It was rumoured to be a lathe accident....he never talked about it.

-brino
 
This brings to mind a demonstration at a tool expo in Harrisburg Pa back in the '70's. One booth was selling some "new" style anti-kickback devise. They had a film showing a table saw kicking back a 2x right through a concrete wall that they built several feet behind the infeed side of the saw.
When I first got my mill, I was milling out a AR lower and didn't the vise as tight as I thought. The lower and jig flew across my garage, careening off the mill, wall and ceiling. That really got my attention.
 
I was cutting some 1/4" ply about twenty years ago and it climbed the blade and kicked back right into my chest, really hard. Just about knock the wind out of me. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Soon after that, I saw some nice magnetic hold downs at the traveling Wood Show and bought a pair. I always take the time to set them up along with a feather board when ripping thin or small pieces. I also bought a few blank blade cover plates. The standard one is designed to have clearance to tip the blade and that leaves to little support for cutting smaller pieces that tend to get sucked in. So I made a "zero clearance" 90*and I also made a few for various angle cuts. And a couple for my adjustable dado blade.
 
I've got two....

In the late 70's, when I was building my house, my uncle was using my table saw and made the mistake of leaving the waste between the saw blade and the fence..... the roughly 1.5 X 3.5 X 4 inch piece of wood ricocheted off of his sternum, knocking the wind out of him, and thenbounced off knocking a hole in the sheetrock ceiling.... no serious injuries, but a lesson learned.....

About the same time, one of the grinder operators, running a 24" X 120" Mattison grinder snagged a 1/4 X 12 X 12 plate off the bottom of a egg crate shaped part (bad weld) and sent it about 100 feet down the shop floor and through a third story window, hitting the back side of the company sign with enough force to dent it.....
 
I have heard of a sawyer over this side of the pond some years back who was killed with a kick back from a large circular saw , If that can happen to a skilled operator with many years of experience, It worries me to think on what can happen to many home handy persons who are not aware of how a simple lack of attention to safety can be fatal, I in my workshop have a little Dremel, A very useful tool indeed, sometimes I have had recourse to using it to cut through a small bolt in an area which one could not reach, This was to save damaging a fairly sensitive mechanism, by racking it to death bytrying to undo a set of frozen on nuts
folk use their Dremels without eye protection, That gives me the creeps, Even a bursting abrasive disc on these little machines can gouge out an eye in a nanosecond, You do not see the debris coming towards you, and if you could you could do nothing about it in the time scale. eYE PROTECTION EVERY TIME.
 
Saw kickbacks happen in the blink of an aye, and a human being cannot react quick enough to stop it or get out of the way. While trimming out a house, my buddy was ripping a 1"x2" x 8' long, piece of cherry in two on the table saw. He wasn't using a push stick, so when his hand got real close to the blade, he let it go, to walk around to the back side of the saw, to pull it the rest of the way through. He had done this many times before. Just as he touched the stick, it caught a tooth on the blade, splitting the remaining wood, and shot the 3/4"x3/4" piece, that was between the blade and the fence, like a javelin.... it went right through a double glazed window, and ended up spearing into the ground a foot deep, about 30 feet away from the house.

Brian :)
 
I am a retired carpenter, and after 45 years in the trade have found that 2 types of people get cut/hurt from a saw including kickbacks. Young guys, because they don't have the experience on what can happen, and old timers because they have used the tools their whole life and nothing ever happened before. Sad story, always be careful!
 
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