I had an event in the shop a couple of weeks ago that got me thinking about the design of push sticks. Happy to say all body parts are attached and functioning. I even got immediate approval from the CFO/wife to purchase the jessem stock guide for the tablesaw.
I was ripping a ¾ inch thick piece of hard maple when my push stick hit the blade and got kicked back at me. I was watching the board I was ripping to make sure it stayed flush against the fence and didn’t realize the push stick had shifted toward the blade. The push stick was designed based on those seen on this website. So, when it hit the blade my hand was above it. I came within a couple of mm of my hand hitting the blade.
I’ve since made an elongated push stick where my hand is still in front of the blade when the board clears the other end. So far it has worked well. No lack of control that I can discern. Is there a flaw in this design that I’m not seeing? Why would it ever be a good idea for your hand to go past a spinning blade when ripping?
Replies
I try to keep my hands in front of the blade while ripping. I use a featherboard to hold work tight to the fence and often another featherboard to hold the work tight to the table. They control the workpiece and the pushstick is just to push it through. I like to stay as far from the blade as practical. I had a friend injured by a table saw, fortunately he only lost some flexibility in one finger but it could have been much much worse.
I prefer something like this:
https://images.app.goo.gl/ZTmYYD5cmRfPeM1G8
It's easy to make, effective in pushing the work through the cut as well as holding it down against the table to help keep the work piece from riding up over the blade. The ones I make are not that elaborate or refined, but they do the same thing.
I have a couple of designs.
My preference for most use is the bird mouth as it keeps hands well away, is light and effective.
For smaller stock, especially where there is a need for a planned cut into the pusher, I use this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h4OJHhSH8A It's really good, and I make mine a bit taller so I can cut off the 'heel' when it gets too flimsy and re-cut another on the band saw.
A TS kickback occurs when the force from the blade is acting towards the user or upwards from the table rather than downwards to the table. Presumably, then, for your hand to have been at risk, you're pushing the workpiece right past the back of the blade, with your hand between blade and fence, before stopping the saw?
This is commonly seen on Youtube vids, along with the other hand acting as an against-the-fence hold-down and coming far too close to the blade as the cut is completed.
I never do this. As soon as the blade has completed the cut (back of the completely-cut workpiece just gone past the front of the blade) I stop the saw. And I never use my hand as a hold-down to keep the workpiece against the fence. A feather board is a much safer option.
My suspicion is that many US table saws still have no blade brake, persuading the user with more than one cut to do to leave the saw running for the next cut; and also persuading the user to push the workpiece right past the blade before stopping the saw so the workpiece can be "safely" picked up off the table, as its cleared the back of the still-spinning blade.
But I'm guessing. Perhaps you could describe the event in more detail?
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Living in the UK, I have a table saw that follows the European tradition and design. This involves a blade brake that stops the blade rotating in less than 2 seconds after the stop button is pressed (so no waiting for spin-down before retrieving the workpiece); a permanently-there blade-following riving knife and blade guard; a fence that has a face that goes only to the centre of the blade (meaning that there's no chance of the fence jamming the workpiece into the back of the blade; hold-downs to keep the workpiece against the fence and also on the table.
I use a push stick that's appropriate for the workpiece.
Wide pieces are pushed with a device like that illustrated by the previous poster. This allows the pusher to go past the front of the blade but its always a long way away from the blade.
Narrow pieces are pushed with a "classical" narrow push stick with a notch at the pushing end. Only the first few millimetres of that stick go past the front of the blade (so my hand is always way back from the blade) after which the cut is completed so the saw is stopped. Any touch of push stick nose to blade just cuts that nose but, because it can only touch a downward-travelling front-of-blade, there can't be a kickback.
Although there are various opinions about it, I generally cut any and every workpiece with the blade set high. This means that the front of the blade is travelling more down than back, greatly reducing the chance of the top of the blade catching the workpiece and throwing it back at the user. If the blade guard is always on and the hold-downs in place, a lot of blade sticking out above a thinner workpiece is not an issue.
YouTube vid dangers.
Here's three urls that come up as the first three items with the search term: "Using table saws safely".
https://youtu.be/5ADbrYJtDP8
https://youtu.be/YNqyocLRnSU
https://youtu.be/tKtE0sTFi8g
Are they kidding!? Every vid contains procedures that offer huge risks. Some are mentioned in the previous post but there's two more: using a push stick to hold the work against the fence; having no stop of any kind on the various cross-cutting gubbins such as a mitre fence.
Hands are going near the always unguarded blade ("So you can see"; or "my choice"). The side-pushing push stick is just asking for a slip and a follow on of your hand into the blade. No stop on a mitre or other cross-cut fence means the workpiece can slide sideway, another cause of kickback.
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All sorts of real safety procedures and the gubbins to support them are available. But the power of tradition, eh? Even with 80,000 TS "accidents" each year in the US alone, TS users keep on inviting disaster. (Although sawstop might have stopped a few fingers getting cut off - but not so much the kickbacks).
If the push stick slipping was part of the situation (and as described it likely was) then adding a piece of PSA backed sand paper to the "active" surface of the push sticks greatly adds to their stability. I generally use around 180 grit or so and find that it helps tremendously in holding work pieces in place.
When I got back into woodworking after years of hiatus I decided I was going to fix some of the reasons I left, too much dust, toxic chemicals in the catalyzed lacquer and conversion varnish I sprayed, and safety issues. So now I have great dust collection, use water-based finishes, and I bought a SawStop TS and the Jessum you’re getting. It’s a great safety feature, but has an issue. The anti-kickback wheels and slight angle keeping stock against the fence work as advertised, but it also means the wheels and frame are in the way of pushing narrower boards through the saw by hand or with a typical push stick. You need a push stick that will ride on the table under the wheels and frame. I still feel much safer than without it or just using feather boards, but it adds a little inconvenience. I’m glad I have it.
I'm glad you were not seriously injured. I also consider myself a very cautious and thoughtful wookworker, but still....
My mistake, which came very close to causing some major right hand injuries, occurred while I thought I was being cautious and using a push stick for a normal rip cut. My mistake was that I had gotten in the habit of just grabbing some handy small and narrow piece of recently cut board to use for a push stick. As luck would have it, one time I grabbed a stick that had been previously cut at a 45 degree angle, and that angled end just happened to be the end in my right palm during the next rip cut. It is obvioius in hindsight that the stick must have hit the blade just past the blade axle, becaue the sharper end of my impromptu push stick jumped back and got jammed into my palm.
The local doctor was able to stitch things back together, but he did mention that he could see the tendons as he worked.
I love using feather boards (especially the magnetic variety) and other hold downs and hold sideways devices. And, I made a few dedicated puch handles with gently rounded curves where my hand rests, similar to those that are shown in FWW. There are painted bright red and hang on the side of my table saw, where I always see them and use them... religeously.