Just thought I’d share two recent purchases I’ve been very happy with for what it may be worth to other amateur wood butchers like myself.  I have a Powermatic 64 contractors saw and was tired of the stock guard as it is opaque and just generally less elegant than I would like.  It works fine, but I decided to try for better.  I bought:

1.  An HTC Brett Guard – which now comes with a splitter, pawls, and a 2″ dust collection hook up as part of the plex box.  Its a well made guard and perfect for my purposes as 75% of my table sawing is ripping.  It’s also easy to remove if I want to use my cross cut sled.

2.  Grip Tite Featherboard – this thing is great – holds tight – better than other standard featherboards I’ve used or made.  I can slow in the middle of a rip (say to reach for a push stick) and not have any burning that can happen in woods like cherry if you slow or vary your feed rate.  The fin also essentailly prevents the stick from moving anyway other than forward – i.e., helps limit or prevent kickback somewhat.

Just personal experience with two new to me products – as always, your mileage may vary.