Avoiding kickback starts with an understanding of how the material may act when being cut, and recognizing situations where the risk of kickback is higher. In this video I go over the more common instances and what to look for. While the use of a splitter or riving knife can help to prevent some types of kickback, I think it's better to be educated and know how to make your cut to avoid it in the first place. You can help support the work I do in making these videos: Plans for sale: www.ibuildit.ca/plans.html Support this channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=865843&ty=h Did you know I have other TH-cam channels? My main channel: th-cam.com/users/jpheisz My home reno channel: th-cam.com/users/IBuildItHome My "Scrap bin" channel: th-cam.com/users/IBuildItScrapBin Website: www.ibuildit.ca/ Facebook: facebook.com/I-Build-It-258048014240900/ Instagram: instagram.com/i_build_it.ca/
I'm totally understanding this. I made a table saw with a circular upside down. it works better than the one I recently bought which in all honesty is CRAP!. the one I made works better because I took the time to make sure everything was square where as cheap tablesaw made in their hundreds ain't perfect. alignment is major factor for kickback.
John, what impresses me most (aside from your humor during a video like this) is that you don't come across as a condescending know-it-all, but rather as a skilled professional who is sharing a vast wealth of experience. Thanks for your efforts! You've probably saved a dozen fingers by showing what CAN happen.
I have been use Ung a table saw for 50 years. I got a kickback yesterday and I have eight stitches to prove it. Great video. Thank you for reminding me about what I simply forgot.
I am new to table saw cuts.... I started ripping a 2x4 the other day and I heard that change in tone from the saw that you mentioned... I instinctively shut the saw down. I was unaware of that knot issue creating stresses like that, and looked for videos describing that. Yours is the first that I have seen that talks about the internal structure of wood and how it can affect the cuts. Thanks for making this!
Thankyou for actually going over WHAT makes things safe vs unsafe! So many people who are against riving knives, Saw Stop, etc just say, "It's safer to not depend on those things but actually have experience using your saw correctly"... but never actually explain how to GET that experience without the experience of losing body parts. And it's hard to find such information among the noise of safety videos that only go as far as 'make sure your riving knife is in place, use a guard, wear PPE, don't touch the blade, unplug the saw'. Thanks much!
This was an amazing video, there are a plethora of videos saying "use a riving knife" "use a blade guard" "use a ... Something" very few educate on wood itself. Thanks from an otherwise clueless newbie woodworker!!
Good Demonstration John. In Germany it`s law, that a Saw must have a riving knife. But many hobby woodworker don`t understand the function of the riving knife and the safety advices that come with the machines. We see those Homeworker often in our ER.
JOHN, thanks for this. Just bought my 1st table saw, still in the box. I will make sure it's set up correctly and make practice cuts to get comfortable with it. I watch all your channels but this is my 1st comment.
Very good points. I truly respect my table saw and "my fingers". As I get older I'm much more conscious of the dangers and always think of safety when using my power tools. Understanding the methods of creating hazards and avoiding them via your videos is utmost helpful. ...... New subject ..... My favorite video of yours, basement plumbing in tight quarters behind the wall mishaps and honest release of frustrations was like watching myself in a mirror. Big difference is I do not know what I'm doing 😳.
Had a kickback cutting plywood this morning. Similar to what you described. Using info I learned here, I will avoid that problem in the future !!! Thanks. Your the best!
Great video John. I had a very rustic and curved top diy table saw, with inaccurate parallel alignment of fence and blade, and well, fractured my right thumb on 18th March this year, and like you said, haven't "felt like returning to a table saw again", even though I made a fresh, albeit still rustic diy table saw top. I dread if my thumb gets whacked again. Just an observation, John. You've shown that even a stop block on a crosscut sled can cause kickback bcoz there's again "a pinch between the blade & the stop block". I saw a video recently where a loose piece of wood would be placed between the stop block and the stock to be cut, wherein the loose piece would be removed just before making the cut. Now I get it that this was to address just that issue about the pinch that the stop block can create. I think it's an easy answer to the problem. Don't you think?
Your knowledge and sharing it is a great help. Thank you. I’m a big fan of large emergency stop switches that can be shut off with a knee bump. Watching the pinch stall of the blade is scary.
I was looking to buy an older table saw because you can get them relatively cheap for how nice they used to be if that makes sense but I opted just buying a new one that has all the safety bells and whistles just for piece of mind. I had never used a table saw with a riving knife before and I must say I like it a lot.
I feel like I'm back in high school in shop class. Loved my teacher. Starting a business soon and I really feel like your videos are clear. Thank you for putting yourself at risk to teach me.
Man did you just scare the hell out of me. I kept thinking "No, no no! Please don't do this demo!" There is another TH-cam video where a guy actually causes kickback and the piece of board goes shooting off into a piece of canvas like a bullet. I agree, NEVER make this kind of cut unless you are using a crosscut sled, riving knife, or better yet, just cut it on your handy dandy circular saw first. Sure beats ruining your day. Great video. Thanks.
Thank you for today's video. You are the first person I've heard that ever spoke about using a wedge. Makes perfect sense. I had a kickback using my circular saw because the material wasn't supported properly. Luckily, I was out of the flight path. Now I know why. ❤🌅🌵
Good info! It's so much easier learning something new like this when you actually get to see the what ifs. My stomach flipped the same time your heart stopped.
John thanks for the vid. I make boxes and resaw on my table saw. I started with a beautiful wood that cuts like butter. I would cut 7" high pieces with two passes and it worked beautify. Then I got cocky and decided to resaw some Koa. The first piece through kicked back and I got the top of my finger. My wife said I should go for stitches. "Look at it" nothing to stitch up. It doesn't cut you, it just rips it away. Bandsaw!
This video is great especially for beginners. I made my first tablesaw myself by mounting a circular saw upside down through a board. It was accurate and I loved it but I new nothing about woodwork and had never heard of kickback. The first kickback I ever had scared the shit out of me, the saw went bang and the wood only just missed my face. I was very lucky. I hope this video avoids others having to learn the hard way.
I did what you were showing around 6:42 with a piece of ply that was 2x3 about 8 years ago and yep, I pinched it. sent it flat back on the table and into my abdomen. Scared the shite out of my and my intestines were on fire for for a good 20 minutes, almost went to the hospital thinking I ruptured something. Learned a lesson that day...
Nice video John, The first thing my high school shop teacher said to me was never use a rip fence for cross cutting. That was in 1981 and it seems like great advise now. I didn’t hear you mention it.
Excellent and sensible breakdown of what causes the most common types of kickback. A thorough understanding of the causes and human errors involved helps in working with the proper respect and foresight, rather than fear and risk-taking. Good job.
I'm getting my first, I call it my grown up table saw in a few days and this is so informative. I have kickback on my small bladerunner x2 and now I know why. The first time that happened it scared me so much I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Thank goodness they put safety features on that thing. Now I use it often, but found a need for a small table saw for wider and longer cuts. Thank you for posting this..helps me a great deal.
Absolutely a great video, thanks for taking the time to make this video, could you make a video explaining the best way to calibrate the saw so everything is parallel
Very good lesson. One can never point out enough the danger of kickback. If you spoil a piece of wood it is a pity. But when you get a kickback and seriously hurt you'll never need a piece of wood nor your table saw anymore.
It refreshing to see some realistic common task safety advice that is not “buy a sawstop and use the blade guard, and a microjig, and wear catchers gear”.
You are funny / entertaining!! It’s been a while since I’ve used my table saw but I picked up a new project and wanted a refresher course on the kickback, so thAnk you.
I jumped and instantly leaned back away from the screen when I saw that pinch, definitely got my adrenaline pumping. Had to go back & watch it again tho! Brilliant video, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience & for taking the time to explain (& show) how & why these things happen. Invaluable to a newbie like me.
Some good points John! Glad you stopped the one cut using the sled! The other one may not have been necessary just to show us. You reach for slim push sticks often enough, so why not add a DIY push block over on the side near your push stick? I won some grippers and use them religiously all the time now. My old push sticks and blocks are gone.
I’m thoroughly enjoying this series. If possible can you talk about the dangers/safety risks with a table saw set too high. Thanks for the detailed tutorial.
Thanks for making this video. I've always worried about your fingers getting close to the blade in your other videos. As usual, thanks for sharing your expertise!
I'm a noob and lucky my cheap ryobi table saw came with a riving knife. First thing i did with it is cut cheap 2x4s into halves and eighth inch strips, with the crappy stock fence that is only eighteen inches long and takes a miracle to get parallel.
Wow! The level of detail in these demos is just awesome and not to be found in others' work. Others may describe potential problems, but not demonstrate it. Hands down, that cross cut binding demo was the manliest thing i've seen outside of an Avengers movie :) The problem with just describing problems that may occur without demo'ing is ... people without alot of experience won't fully understand or recognize how/where binding will happen, how to recognize it and deal with it. Gonna put this one in my 'Warmup' playlist.
Great tips and controlled demonstration of what can go wrong for someone like me who only occasionally uses a table saw. Don't forget to wear your RUSH 2112 shirt on the 21st of December!
Had a situation with a 2x8 I cut into 3' lengths to then rip into 1 1/2" squares. The last half of that 2x8 bent slightly so much that when I tried to rip it it was binding every try. I eventually lowered the blade and took small cuts and it still bound up. I eventually got one square off of the section and the internal stress cracked the square off and popped the rest of the 2x across the shop. That remaining leftover from the 2x8, now about 2x5 1/2 is a permanent decoration in the shop and reminder to not attempt that again. Pretty amazing that 2x8 was and is still nearly perfectly flat, but has a inch turn to one direction. The offcut piece is also flat in one direction, but is bowed by about an inch in the middle.
I cut a bunch of 2" xps rigid foam board today with my new table saw (with riving knife and blade guard) , and when I was cutting some of the smaller pieces to fit between floor joists I was getting kick back on almost all the pieces. I noticed that the blade was getting coated with the xps and the back of the blade was pushing up on the foam piece. The kick back was so violent that I saw sparks?! I realized that the blade was much higher than it needed to be. I moved or down to where it just made it through the foam board and all the kickback had stopped. That, and I stopped pushing the board on both sides of the blade, and just pushed on the fence side. I am thinking the sparks were from the kickback guard (with the little spikes on it) hitting something. Really a terrifying experience. The foam is too flexible to easily keep from pinching as you mentioned with wood.
Just (yesterday) I took a piece of quarter ply to the gut, because of exactly like you describe- I pushed on both sides of the piece... I'll be making a sled this weekend.
Great video, great series. Thank you for sharing your years of experience, as a young hobbyist I really appreciate it and it's very very useful. I'd love for you to do the same kind of video/series for other tools as well, such as the band saw. Again, thank you :)
I align to the left miter slot because the right slot is not perfectly parallel to the left. I wonder if any saw has perfect miter slots, i doubt it unless its high end maybe. Great tips every saw owner should watch more than once.
I had this problem today. I was trying to cut a 9" piece of particle board and at the end it kicked it back. So, here I am watching more videos to avoid that. Luckily I had a stance that avoided it hitting me!
13:30 punched a hole in my hand last week using a price of scrap like that to move the off cut away from the blade. Accidentally touched into the blade with the scrap it kicked back like a sledge hammer into my palm. 8 stitches and a lot of surgical glue later my hand is back together. Don't muck around with a turning blade it's not worth it and stop working when your tired. 1 slip or miss judgement, even when your hand is away from the blade, can cost you quickly
Very interesting Info John. Your a brave man to attempt a kickback event to show the how and why, but examples might save some poor bunny a lot of hurt. Thanks.
What I've always been curious about is what kind of injury typically results from kickback? Are we talking pain only, like getting the wind knocked out of you? Or surface damage like a broken nose? Or internal damage like a severe concussion?
I’m fairly new to wood working and I wish I had seen your videos before I cut my first piece of wood. 90 % of what you discussed could happen did happen to me. Let’s not get into routers! I have been extremely lucky that they were all minor accidents and while I have cuts and bruises, I still have all my fingers. Thank you for the very educational videos.
Ladywood2 same with me my first time using a table saw cutting an 8x5 plywood horizontally, and about 3/4 of the way through the cut it kickbacked. Now im not confident to ever use it again.
I really enjoyed your video. Do engineered woods never stress relieve? Do more knots mean more risk? What is the benefit of NOT using a riving knife? I currently don't have the knife installed, but i plan on using it now.
Great series of videos, and I hope some of the people who have made negative comments, to re evaluate things, because some of these people are nuts. In my opinion why use chopsticks when your hands are like forks. Much greater control with forks. Lol
I'm enjoying these safety videos that you've been doing. I do have a question that you'll likely not address in this series. Are the super cheap (read garbage) table saws inherently more dangerous or simply less accurate? I have a Ryobi bottom of the barrel table saw that gets the job done but it's always in the back of my mind that this thing might be a disaster waiting to happen. I'd love to trash it, but its not in the cards quite yet.
Awesome video! Did not know that knots could influence kickback. One question I have is why can’t I use my miter gauge with my fence? It’s been a rule I’ve always followed to not use both, and if you do need to then to clamp a block to the fence before the blade. But Ive never studied why. If for example you have your fence to the right of the blade and your tied slot in the slot to the right of the blade, I could see where that would be a problem with getting jammed between the fence and the blade. But what if I use the miter gauge on the same side as the fence? Such that I have the miter gauge supporting the piece between the fence and the blade?
Thanks for the tips! Using the wedge came in handy for me about 30 minutes ago. I was cutting a long board that started to pinch the blade. I have a riving knife on my table saw and the out-feed end of the fence was slightly farther from the blade than the in-feed side but close to parallel. I just saw this video a couple of days ago so I remembered what you did. It worked and NO KICKBACK. THANKS AGAIN!
Thanks for a video on table saw risks where common sense rules instead of horror stories heard from a friend of a friend of a friend who has mysteriously died while cutting a 2x4
This is a great series on table saw operation, I'm sure you'll at least save a few pairs of underwear if not a few fingers. I got on Matthias' case earlier this morning for teaching people to poke at boards plenty wide enough to push by hand with 2 birds mouth type push sticks. He's endangering people with those videos, I hope that doesn't blow up in his face, literally.
Is there a general rule for which side of the blade the bulk of material should be during a cut? For instance, if you are ripping a 2” strip off of an 8” wide board, should you set your fence for 2” or 6” minus blade width?
Avoiding kickback starts with an understanding of how the material may act when being cut, and recognizing situations where the risk of kickback is higher. In this video I go over the more common instances and what to look for.
While the use of a splitter or riving knife can help to prevent some types of kickback, I think it's better to be educated and know how to make your cut to avoid it in the first place.
You can help support the work I do in making these videos:
Plans for sale: www.ibuildit.ca/plans.html
Support this channel on Patreon:
www.patreon.com/user?u=865843&ty=h
Did you know I have other TH-cam channels?
My main channel:
th-cam.com/users/jpheisz
My home reno channel:
th-cam.com/users/IBuildItHome
My "Scrap bin" channel:
th-cam.com/users/IBuildItScrapBin
Website: www.ibuildit.ca/
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you were right. i'm on the other side of the table, through a screen and half a globe away and still the effect is the same. new underpants needed.
I'm totally understanding this. I made a table saw with a circular upside down. it works better than the one I recently bought which in all honesty is CRAP!. the one I made works better because I took the time to make sure everything was square where as cheap tablesaw made in their hundreds ain't perfect. alignment is major factor for kickback.
I have a huge bruise on my stomach right now from a plywood kickback.
Lots of valuable info for table saw noobs like myself. Thanks for taking the time to make this John
77p0
Bought my first table saw and I am not afraid to admit that I am terrified of it. Thank you for this.
John, what impresses me most (aside from your humor during a video like this) is that you don't come across as a condescending know-it-all, but rather as a skilled professional who is sharing a vast wealth of experience. Thanks for your efforts! You've probably saved a dozen fingers by showing what CAN happen.
I have been use Ung a table saw for 50 years. I got a kickback yesterday and I have eight stitches to prove it. Great video. Thank you for reminding me about what I simply forgot.
"Ok, so I got my heart restarted" I laughed hysterically at that line, it made my day. Love all your content john
I am new to table saw cuts.... I started ripping a 2x4 the other day and I heard that change in tone from the saw that you mentioned... I instinctively shut the saw down. I was unaware of that knot issue creating stresses like that, and looked for videos describing that. Yours is the first that I have seen that talks about the internal structure of wood and how it can affect the cuts.
Thanks for making this!
great tips ,you just helped so many people from getting hurt . demonstrating a kickback, WHAT A GUY!!!!!!!
Thankyou for actually going over WHAT makes things safe vs unsafe! So many people who are against riving knives, Saw Stop, etc just say, "It's safer to not depend on those things but actually have experience using your saw correctly"... but never actually explain how to GET that experience without the experience of losing body parts. And it's hard to find such information among the noise of safety videos that only go as far as 'make sure your riving knife is in place, use a guard, wear PPE, don't touch the blade, unplug the saw'. Thanks much!
Exercising common sense is a good thing, and John has a way of highlighting things, that for some of us took a long time to figure out.
This was an amazing video, there are a plethora of videos saying "use a riving knife" "use a blade guard" "use a ... Something" very few educate on wood itself. Thanks from an otherwise clueless newbie woodworker!!
Good Demonstration John. In Germany it`s law, that a Saw must have a riving knife. But many hobby woodworker don`t understand the function of the riving knife and the safety advices that come with the machines. We see those Homeworker often in our ER.
Thank you. Invaluable advice from a guy who clearly knows what he's doing.
JOHN, thanks for this. Just bought my 1st table saw, still in the box. I will make sure it's set up correctly and make practice cuts to get comfortable with it. I watch all your channels but this is my 1st comment.
Very good points. I truly respect my table saw and "my fingers". As I get older I'm much more conscious of the dangers and always think of safety when using my power tools. Understanding the methods of creating hazards and avoiding them via your videos is utmost helpful.
...... New subject ..... My favorite video of yours, basement plumbing in tight quarters behind the wall mishaps and honest release of frustrations was like watching myself in a mirror. Big difference is I do not know what I'm doing 😳.
Thanks for this one. I've got an old saw with no splinter, so good stuff to understand
I think every person with a table saw should watch this. No other video talks about these details.
Thank you
Had a kickback cutting plywood this morning. Similar to what you described. Using info I learned here, I will avoid that problem in the future !!! Thanks. Your the best!
Great video John. I had a very rustic and curved top diy table saw, with inaccurate parallel alignment of fence and blade, and well, fractured my right thumb on 18th March this year, and like you said, haven't "felt like returning to a table saw again", even though I made a fresh, albeit still rustic diy table saw top. I dread if my thumb gets whacked again.
Just an observation, John. You've shown that even a stop block on a crosscut sled can cause kickback bcoz there's again "a pinch between the blade & the stop block". I saw a video recently where a loose piece of wood would be placed between the stop block and the stock to be cut, wherein the loose piece would be removed just before making the cut. Now I get it that this was to address just that issue about the pinch that the stop block can create. I think it's an easy answer to the problem. Don't you think?
Your knowledge and sharing it is a great help. Thank you.
I’m a big fan of large emergency stop switches that can be shut off with a knee bump. Watching the pinch stall of the blade is scary.
John is wearing a Rush 2112 shirt. Instant credibility! As usual, great video John. One of the main takeaways for me is, know the wood you are using.
Magic.... see my comment above:)
magicrobharv I saw that instantly. Awesome!
Even if your pushing the opposite, a kick back will move your hand towards the blade. Use caution
A riving knife avoids some of this kickbacks.I would never work without one in my tablesaw.
I was looking to buy an older table saw because you can get them relatively cheap for how nice they used to be if that makes sense but I opted just buying a new one that has all the safety bells and whistles just for piece of mind. I had never used a table saw with a riving knife before and I must say I like it a lot.
Gregory paolini
Thanks for putting this out. It helped me understand my heart attack kickback this weekend and I most certainly will avoid it going forward.
I feel like I'm back in high school in shop class. Loved my teacher. Starting a business soon and I really feel like your videos are clear. Thank you for putting yourself at risk to teach me.
Man did you just scare the hell out of me. I kept thinking "No, no no! Please don't do this demo!" There is another TH-cam video where a guy actually causes kickback and the piece of board goes shooting off into a piece of canvas like a bullet. I agree, NEVER make this kind of cut unless you are using a crosscut sled, riving knife, or better yet, just cut it on your handy dandy circular saw first. Sure beats ruining your day. Great video. Thanks.
I was mesmerized by the grain pattern on the cupboard behind you and all I could think was please don't kickback into it, love your channel.
Thank you for today's video. You are the first person I've heard that ever spoke about using a wedge. Makes perfect sense. I had a kickback using my circular saw because the material wasn't supported properly. Luckily, I was out of the flight path. Now I know why. ❤🌅🌵
Good info! It's so much easier learning something new like this when you actually get to see the what ifs. My stomach flipped the same time your heart stopped.
John thanks for the vid. I make boxes and resaw on my table saw. I started with a beautiful wood that cuts like butter.
I would cut 7" high pieces with two passes and it worked beautify. Then I got cocky and decided to resaw some Koa. The first piece through kicked back and I got the top of my finger. My wife said I should go for stitches. "Look at it" nothing to stitch up. It doesn't cut you, it just rips it away. Bandsaw!
This video is great especially for beginners. I made my first tablesaw myself by mounting a circular saw upside down through a board. It was accurate and I loved it but I new nothing about woodwork and had never heard of kickback. The first kickback I ever had scared the shit out of me, the saw went bang and the wood only just missed my face. I was very lucky. I hope this video avoids others having to learn the hard way.
I did what you were showing around 6:42 with a piece of ply that was 2x3 about 8 years ago and yep, I pinched it. sent it flat back on the table and into my abdomen. Scared the shite out of my and my intestines were on fire for for a good 20 minutes, almost went to the hospital thinking I ruptured something. Learned a lesson that day...
Nice video John, The first thing my high school shop teacher said to me was never use a rip fence for cross cutting. That was in 1981 and it seems like great advise now. I didn’t hear you mention it.
Excellent and sensible breakdown of what causes the most common types of kickback. A thorough understanding of the causes and human errors involved helps in working with the proper respect and foresight, rather than fear and risk-taking. Good job.
Your sharing the knowledge of the table saw is greatly appreciated. Thx, John!
It's a good thing I watched your video b 4 trying out my new Rigid Table Saw. I would've made a lot of the mistake you listed.
I'm getting my first, I call it my grown up table saw in a few days and this is so informative. I have kickback on my small bladerunner x2 and now I know why. The first time that happened it scared me so much I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Thank goodness they put safety features on that thing. Now I use it often, but found a need for a small table saw for wider and longer cuts. Thank you for posting this..helps me a great deal.
How do you get kickback on that? That's a jigsaw IIRC?
Absolutely a great video, thanks for taking the time to make this video, could you make a video explaining the best way to calibrate the saw so everything is parallel
Very good lesson. One can never point out enough the danger of kickback.
If you spoil a piece of wood it is a pity. But when you get a kickback and seriously hurt you'll never need a piece of wood nor your table saw anymore.
It refreshing to see some realistic common task safety advice that is not “buy a sawstop and use the blade guard, and a microjig, and wear catchers gear”.
thank you so much for your in-depth explanation of kick back. New to table saws and this was very helpful.
You are funny / entertaining!! It’s been a while since I’ve used my table saw but I picked up a new project and wanted a refresher course on the kickback, so thAnk you.
I jumped and instantly leaned back away from the screen when I saw that pinch, definitely got my adrenaline pumping. Had to go back & watch it again tho! Brilliant video, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience & for taking the time to explain (& show) how & why these things happen. Invaluable to a newbie like me.
Thanks for this very informed and useful video. Your insights into how to safely use a table saw are very valuable!
Good information. Thank you. I have experienced kickback and am appreciative of this very useful info.
Some good points John! Glad you stopped the one cut using the sled! The other one may not have been necessary just to show us. You reach for slim push sticks often enough, so why not add a DIY push block over on the side near your push stick?
I won some grippers and use them religiously all the time now. My old push sticks and blocks are gone.
I’m thoroughly enjoying this series. If possible can you talk about the dangers/safety risks with a table saw set too high. Thanks for the detailed tutorial.
Dramatic way to show the dangers of kickback. Thank you!
How this all is entertaining to me I have no idea except you are a truly entertaining instructor.
Thanks for making this video. I've always worried about your fingers getting close to the blade in your other videos. As usual, thanks for sharing your expertise!
Awesome tips John! I will be adapting these as I work with my saw (no riving knife). Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge.
I'm a noob and lucky my cheap ryobi table saw came with a riving knife. First thing i did with it is cut cheap 2x4s into halves and eighth inch strips, with the crappy stock fence that is only eighteen inches long and takes a miracle to get parallel.
Wow! The level of detail in these demos is just awesome and not to be found in others' work. Others may describe potential problems, but not demonstrate it. Hands down, that cross cut binding demo was the manliest thing i've seen outside of an Avengers movie :) The problem with just describing problems that may occur without demo'ing is ... people without alot of experience won't fully understand or recognize how/where binding will happen, how to recognize it and deal with it. Gonna put this one in my 'Warmup' playlist.
Back to basics! Good stuff... I'm bad for trying to remove cut off pieces with push stick... thanks for heads up.
Great video and I am learning how to use power tools and this is great help so I can avoid injury and damage.
Great tips and controlled demonstration of what can go wrong for someone like me who only occasionally uses a table saw. Don't forget to wear your RUSH 2112 shirt on the 21st of December!
Had a situation with a 2x8 I cut into 3' lengths to then rip into 1 1/2" squares. The last half of that 2x8 bent slightly so much that when I tried to rip it it was binding every try. I eventually lowered the blade and took small cuts and it still bound up. I eventually got one square off of the section and the internal stress cracked the square off and popped the rest of the 2x across the shop.
That remaining leftover from the 2x8, now about 2x5 1/2 is a permanent decoration in the shop and reminder to not attempt that again.
Pretty amazing that 2x8 was and is still nearly perfectly flat, but has a inch turn to one direction. The offcut piece is also flat in one direction, but is bowed by about an inch in the middle.
I cut a bunch of 2" xps rigid foam board today with my new table saw (with riving knife and blade guard) , and when I was cutting some of the smaller pieces to fit between floor joists I was getting kick back on almost all the pieces. I noticed that the blade was getting coated with the xps and the back of the blade was pushing up on the foam piece. The kick back was so violent that I saw sparks?! I realized that the blade was much higher than it needed to be. I moved or down to where it just made it through the foam board and all the kickback had stopped. That, and I stopped pushing the board on both sides of the blade, and just pushed on the fence side. I am thinking the sparks were from the kickback guard (with the little spikes on it) hitting something. Really a terrifying experience. The foam is too flexible to easily keep from pinching as you mentioned with wood.
Dude, you remind me of my junior high shop teacher....mild mannered and hilarious as hell
This has been one of the most informative and useful videos I've seen. Thank you.
Just (yesterday) I took a piece of quarter ply to the gut, because of exactly like you describe- I pushed on both sides of the piece... I'll be making a sled this weekend.
Great video, great series. Thank you for sharing your years of experience, as a young hobbyist I really appreciate it and it's very very useful. I'd love for you to do the same kind of video/series for other tools as well, such as the band saw.
Again, thank you :)
Most comprehensive look at tablesaw kickback I've seen so far on the youtube. Thanks for sharing!
I align to the left miter slot because the right slot is not perfectly parallel to the left. I wonder if any saw has perfect miter slots, i doubt it unless its high end maybe. Great tips every saw owner should watch more than once.
Just wanted to say I really like your videos and appreciate your channel. Thanks for all the great content my friend!
Great video I have learned a good amount from these kinds of videos
I had this problem today. I was trying to cut a 9" piece of particle board and at the end it kicked it back. So, here I am watching more videos to avoid that. Luckily I had a stance that avoided it hitting me!
Thank you. I did not understand about the internal stresses of wood releasing during a cut.
Hey John, good video. I'm sending to my son , who just got his first table saw.
13:30 punched a hole in my hand last week using a price of scrap like that to move the off cut away from the blade. Accidentally touched into the blade with the scrap it kicked back like a sledge hammer into my palm. 8 stitches and a lot of surgical glue later my hand is back together. Don't muck around with a turning blade it's not worth it and stop working when your tired. 1 slip or miss judgement, even when your hand is away from the blade, can cost you quickly
Sorry about your mishap. I too stop when tired.
That is a very wise advise. Stop when you are tired.
Watch Charles Neil's video about his hand. He was trying to get a job done and fell asleep at the table saw.
This happened to me today so I went to TH-cam to find why it happened. Thank you for your wisdom.
Very interesting Info John. Your a brave man to attempt a kickback event to show the how and why, but examples might save some poor bunny a lot of hurt. Thanks.
What I've always been curious about is what kind of injury typically results from kickback? Are we talking pain only, like getting the wind knocked out of you? Or surface damage like a broken nose? Or internal damage like a severe concussion?
You are a very brave man ! Hats off for you.
I’m fairly new to wood working and I wish I had seen your videos before I cut my first piece of wood. 90 % of what you discussed could happen did happen to me. Let’s not get into routers! I have been extremely lucky that they were all minor accidents and while I have cuts and bruises, I still have all my fingers. Thank you for the very educational videos.
Ladywood2 same with me my first time using a table saw cutting an 8x5 plywood horizontally, and about 3/4 of the way through the cut it kickbacked. Now im not confident to ever use it again.
Great shirt. Rush 2112. RIP Neil. Great video too.
Thanks John, excellent video with a lot of great advices.
Thanks for posting this video, scary as it was. This’ll make my work a lot safer. Very informative mate.
8:36 like a biker after an accident; first thing to to is check if your bike is ok. :D
Thanks for the video.
don't see how it's related to bikers though.
I really enjoyed your video. Do engineered woods never stress relieve? Do more knots mean more risk? What is the benefit of NOT using a riving knife? I currently don't have the knife installed, but i plan on using it now.
This was super helpful. Thank you.
Great series of videos, and I hope some of the people who have made negative comments, to re evaluate things, because some of these people are nuts. In my opinion why use chopsticks when your hands are like forks. Much greater control with forks. Lol
because getting hit with a piece of wood ain't shit... but losing a finger is.
Appreciate the tips. Always good to review how to work safely.
I'm enjoying these safety videos that you've been doing. I do have a question that you'll likely not address in this series. Are the super cheap (read garbage) table saws inherently more dangerous or simply less accurate? I have a Ryobi bottom of the barrel table saw that gets the job done but it's always in the back of my mind that this thing might be a disaster waiting to happen. I'd love to trash it, but its not in the cards quite yet.
The plywood pinch freaked me out. I jumped while lying in bed watching that. I got a adrenaline dump from that.
Excellent subject matter! I thank you Sir!
Thanks for the great safety tips, and I like the shirt.
Thank you, I enjoyed the video and learned some things too.
Thanks for the great video John. I learned a lot!
Great series! Seeing something like this series of videos about 15 - 20 years ago probably would've saved me a couple heavy bruises over the years.
Awesome video! Did not know that knots could influence kickback. One question I have is why can’t I use my miter gauge with my fence? It’s been a rule I’ve always followed to not use both, and if you do need to then to clamp a block to the fence before the blade. But Ive never studied why. If for example you have your fence to the right of the blade and your tied slot in the slot to the right of the blade, I could see where that would be a problem with getting jammed between the fence and the blade. But what if I use the miter gauge on the same side as the fence? Such that I have the miter gauge supporting the piece between the fence and the blade?
John, fantastic video!
Thanks for the tips!
Using the wedge came in handy for me about 30 minutes ago. I was cutting a long board that started to pinch the blade. I have a riving knife on my table saw and the out-feed end of the fence was slightly farther from the blade than the in-feed side but close to parallel. I just saw this video a couple of days ago so I remembered what you did. It worked and NO KICKBACK. THANKS AGAIN!
heart restarted indeed, I cant see you doing it on video :P thanks for sharing the wisdom
Great insight & very well demonstrated.
Great video ty for this, very well explained and executed, luv your content
Table saw god. So experienced and knowledge
Rush 2112 - Great album by a great band
Thanks for a video on table saw risks where common sense rules instead of horror stories heard from a friend of a friend of a friend who has mysteriously died while cutting a 2x4
This is a great series on table saw operation, I'm sure you'll at least save a few pairs of underwear if not a few fingers. I got on Matthias' case earlier this morning for teaching people to poke at boards plenty wide enough to push by hand with 2 birds mouth type push sticks. He's endangering people with those videos, I hope that doesn't blow up in his face, literally.
Is there a general rule for which side of the blade the bulk of material should be during a cut? For instance, if you are ripping a 2” strip off of an 8” wide board, should you set your fence for 2” or 6” minus blade width?
Great video John, very informative, do you have plans or a video of the mini table top sled you used
Excellent video. Thanks, John!