Q:

I’ve heard a lot of discussion lately regarding tablesaw safety. Are European tablesaws and combination machines safer?

B.J. Connelly, Nashua, NH

A:

At one time, European tablesaws were safer than North American saws—but we have finally caught up.

With more stringent safety regulations for the trades, Europe has long required a riving knife on saws. It is very effective at preventing kickback, and importantly, it is convenient—which means that users will keep it on the saw. For a long time, U.S.-style splitters were bulky and inconvenient, but that changed in 2008 when Underwriters Laboratories began to require that all new tablesaw designs have a riving knife, and that all old designs have them by 2014.

Many North American makers also have equipped saws with better dust collection shrouds and ports, so you can collect almost all the waste from this major producer of sawdust, a known carcinogen.

Take Fine Woodworking’s Tablesaw Safety Quiz!

Fine Woodworking Recommended Products

Festool Cleantec CT 26 E HEPA Dust Extractor

The clear winner here is Festool’s CT 48 Dust Extractor. It has amazing capacity relative to its size, and unmatched suction power. It packs in a number of subtle but very helpful design touches, like a clever foot brake and easy hose and cord storage.

Buy at Amazon

Rockler Dust Right 1250 CFM

You’ll need help to get this heavy unit onto its bracket, but if you’re looking for a central dust collector that won’t gobble floor space, this may be the unit for you.

Buy at Rockler

Rockler Dust Right 650 CFM

While all five of the smaller units will collect chips efficiently when deployed properly, the 3/4-hp Rockler was just a bit more powerful in our suction test.

Buy at Amazon