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+-- Thread: Respect those table saws (2) (/showthread.php?tid=7325386)
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Respect those table saws (2) - Lumber Yard® - 11-20-2016
Met a man a couple weeks ago who responded to my CL ad for a bandsaw I had for sale. Via email he had told me that he wanted the saw and that he would purchase it of I could hold it for him. I told him, "no problem" and we set-up a time to make the transaction. In that part of the discussion he indicated that he recently had surgery and he would need quite a bit of help getting it loaded into his truck. Again, my response was, "no problem' but I hadn't really thought about it being an injury caused by woodworking that led him to go under the knife.
The older man showed up as scheduled with his wife to purchase the saw. He had a nice clean white bandage over his hand and at that point I started to put it together... dood got bit by something in the shop. We ended up discussing it and I could tell he was not really well versed on things... he sounded like he was probably a pretty experienced woodworker but he certainly didn't have all the safety jargon down. The short version of the story is that he was attempting to resaw a piece of walnut on the tablesaw when he experienced a kickback. The kickback was violent enough that it severed one of his fingers and destroyed the ligaments/tendons in one of his knuckles... surgery repaired things by fusing the bones at the knuckle joint. After it was all said and done it was $15,000 expense at the hospital.
The set-up on the tablesaw was that he had already made the first cut halfway through the lumber and had flipped it over to complete the resaw cut. He didn't really know what a "splitter" was but told me he couldn't use the guard because of the "non-through" cut. He also didn't really know what to call what had happened so, he described it and I explained that he experienced a "kickback". He chuckled and nodded his head like he understood why it would be called that. He made it sound like he had made similar cuts in the past on the tablesaw as he had never owned a bandsaw or any other tool that could make a similar style resaw cut. In the end, he had convinced his wife, that based on his research, resawing on a bandsaw would be much safer and cheaper than another trip to the hospital.
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - Handplanesandmore - 11-20-2016
A guy showed up at my son's place to do some trim work and we spoke as he nailed the moulding. I observed that his thumb and index finger were severed. A tablesaw accident happened to this him many years ago and he has had over 30 years of renovation experience under his belt. Just wish every saw sold to the tradespeople had the SawStop or equivalent technology.
Simon
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - Lumber Yard® - 11-20-2016
A Sawstop wouldn't have prevented this man's injury. The injury was caused by the projectile and not contact with the blade. A splitter would have probably prevented it ... but he was doing something that was better suited for a bandsaw.
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - Handplanesandmore - 11-20-2016
The riving knife in the SS or another other saws with such a feature would have prevented such accident...common to people who do resawing on the tablesaw. If resawing is to be done on the tablesaw, the safest way is to do it -- up to certain height (width?) with the riving knife and the Grr-ripper.
Simon
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - Lumber Yard® - 11-20-2016
Agreed... I understand your point and it reaffirms what I stated... a riving knife/ splitter on ANY tablesaw would have probably prevented the kickback ... the Sawstop flesh saving technology which you reference in your initial response would not have come into play in this specific incident.
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - Tapper - 11-20-2016
Are you certain that his hand/fingers never touched the blade? Sounds like a pretty severe injury for just a kickback. In some kickbacks (I've heard) your hand/fingers can be thrust into the blade. If that, in fact, did happen SS technology most certainly would've helped.
Doug
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - fixtureman - 11-20-2016
I had a kick back that required 11 stitches and a broken finger to my hand doc said I was lucky not to have nerve damage.
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - AHill - 11-21-2016
My first TS was a contractor's saw. Shortly after getting it, I experienced kickback. No injuries. I was standing off to the side, and the board got flung behind me and made a dent in my garage door. One of the first upgrades I made to that saw was to install a splitter on the throatplate.
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - Lumber Yard® - 11-21-2016
(11-20-2016, 03:09 PM)Tapper Wrote: Are you certain that his hand/fingers never touched the blade? Sounds like a pretty severe injury for just a kickback. In some kickbacks (I've heard) your hand/fingers can be thrust into the blade. If that, in fact, did happen SS technology most certainly would've helped.
Doug
All I know is what the man told me... he was clear that his hand never touched the blade. I really wasn't trying to make a SS thread. It was simply a PSA about safe practices, using the appropriate tools for the task and having that tool equipped with the appropriate safety devices. It's like what has been stated over and over on WN, the best safety device in any of our shops is probably the one between our ears.
RE: Respect those table saws (2) - daddo - 11-22-2016
And did you sell him a bandsaw and explain that it can take ALL the fingers in a heartbeat and without bogging down if he screws up?
