Tablesaw Feeding

[MajorPanic]

Since a hand injury quite a few years ago I use feather boards quite a lot now.

They should be positioned within a few mm of the front edge of the blade to give maximum pressure for the longest time timber is being cut. This gives the saw operator the opportunity to concentrate on a constant feed rate parallel with the saw blade but without the danger of your hand coming in contact with the blade. eg; push sticks. What you are NOT doing is trying to push in 2 directions at once. (against the fence & forward)

[E. maculata]

Featherboards or pressure roller would be the go for you Adam, if you feel uncomfortable using the saw this way, stop turn the saw off and play with fence side, stance head tilt and so forth. Basically find a technique that you are comfortable with and go from there, i've worked with dozens of benchmen, a few of them real honest to goodness sawyers, & the only real common denominator is unless facing up the timber, we never stand in direct line with the flitch, even my 8 year old daughter knows that. (actually she's a great little tailor-out) but then apparently so was her Mum by her teen years.

[MurrayD99]

OK, I'll be bold. I have never had a kickback in my life and I know my father never did either. That's about 75 years using table saws. Both of us would stand in a position to control the stock and that means on the right of the blade between the blade and the fence, using the left hand to move the offcut out of the way. This mightn't be safe according to OSHA but I reckon you can get into a lot of trouble standing too far off to one side. I guess I'll be attacked by the saw next time I use it now....

[redwood]

OK, I'll be bold. I have never had a kickback in my life and I know my father never did either. That's about 75 years using table saws. Both of us would stand in a position to control the stock and that means on the right of the blade between the blade and the fence, using the left hand to move the offcut out of the way. This mightn't be safe according to OSHA but I reckon you can get into a lot of trouble standing too far off to one side. I guess I'll be attacked by the saw next time I use it now....

Same, never had a kick back in 20 years, add that to murray and his dad and its 95 years with out a kickback, and i do it the same way except im on the left, and start to think fat push stick with stock under 50mm width.

[MurrayD99]

..... and start to think fat push stick with stock under 50mm width.

Right, absolutely.... the push stick hangs off the saw so there is no excuse for not using it. You know, bandsaws worry me more than table saws... and skilsaws, I think, are just plain nasty - probably related to tiger snakes, not that we have anything like that here in Godzone..

[Hugh Reid]

I don't think i heard you properly Redwood, 20mm??????, Check your ruler, you're headin for trouble.
Linelefty - there's a book by Ian Kirby that's well worth the money
The Accurate Tablesaw (pretty sure, but it's deffinately Kirby)
He's big on safety, stance, keeping fingers, stuff like that.
Sometimes two pushsticks are good, sometimes one. Just don't stand directly behind it, and don't put flesh anywhere near blade.
20 mm , F--- Me, that's a worry
Hugh

[MurrayD99]

...20 mm , F--- Me, that's a worry
Hugh

Er... 20 years, 50 m/m were the figures..... 20m/m would be "dicing"....

[Rusty]

Hey, Lefty;
Not sure how to advise a southpaw on this- what's comfortable for me probably isn't for you. It seems you have all the do's and don'ts pretty well sussed, perhaps it's time to make a few cuts and see what feels right?

My basics:
-stand offside, not inline with the stock;
-feed long pieces with both hands until pushsticks/tailing out necessary; get assistance if possible;
-blade low on all operations (subject to review);
-never look along line of spinning blade without safety glasses;
-saw always off when adjusting fence.

Practice body awareness- know where both hands are at all times; stand straight with even weight distribution (Echnidna's foot placement is a good tip), and keep the area around your saw free from obstructions and tripping hazards. Stick to light beer, and NEVER, EVER HURRY.

Have a go. You'll be right.

Regards
Rusty.

[keith53]

Scenario 1.

Standing to left of blade, left hand puts pressure towards the fence, right hand feeds timber.

This is how I do it and I haven't had any problems to date. Also, just remember to have your push stick handy so you can maintain the progress of the cut without stopping. If you stop during the cut, you risk getting friction burns on the workpiece by having the wood in the one place too long.

Cheers,
Keith

[LineLefty]

Thanks for the replies all.

I made a few more cuts last night and, being a lefty, I just cant get comfortable with Scenario 1. If stand on the left, the my non-dominant right hand is reaching over the blade when I push the stock through.

It seems much more natural for me to use a featherboard (I paid $15 bucks for one from timbecon and the mitreslot locks are atrociuos), stand behind the fence and feed with my left hand.

That means my right hand isnt being used so if I chop one off, I've got a spare.

Seriously though, I also made a sturdee push block (link to come) which seems the bees nees for short stuff.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=8047

[redwood]

Er... 20 years, 50 m/m were the figures..... 20m/m would be "dicing"....

Well actualy Murry, i have no problem having my fingers 20mm from the blade. iv been doing it that wat ever since i can remember and still have all my digits.

Im totaly confortable where the blade is compared to my fingers and totaly aware of the type of timber being pushed through if i need to be more cautious. case hardend timber will jam and you can tell pretty quick if your ripping some, flat sawn can twist so im always thinking of that, its horses for courses.

if im pushing ply through im even im still comfortable with my fingers 10-15mm from the blade. Im in the have your gullet just clearing the timber camp, so their isnt much exposed blade for me to worry about.

the reference to 50mm was anything over in width im also (shock horror to all you reading it) comfortable with pushing my hand inbetween the blade and fence. as i said 20 years n still 10 fingers. but when the timber width gets to 50 and below i use my push stick. moral for me is not to be scared at all, but respect what is in front of you.

I wont even begin to tell you all how i use my cross cut sled:eek: ill freak yous out

EDIT-- I agree with silent. my way is for ME and i wouldnt advocate that method to anyone especialy inexperienced woodworkers. Keep 100mm away like everyone has said and when you gain experience then you will know your limits

[silentC]

I'm similar to you there Redwood. Fairly comfortable with that kind of proximity in certain situations. However, I wouldn't normally be advocating it, or even discussing it in a thread posted by someone new to tablesaws. Best rule of thumb is to keep at least 100mm away at all times, using push sticks, shoes and feather boards.

[Wongo]

Adam, I see a woodwork who is lack of confidence here. You’ve done your research. You have a tablesaw. You have a piece of wood in your hand. You work out the comfortable way for you to cut it. If you still worry then maybe you should work on your confidence rather than finding “the right way”.

It is not that hard. All you need are respect for the machine, common sense and confidence. C’mon lets starting pushing.

[MurrayD99]

I'm similar to you there Redwood. Fairly comfortable with that kind of proximity in certain situations..........

I think we all "know" what to do when we set about cutting various widths, without necessarily being able to tell anyone exactly what that is.... as mentioned, we probably don't want to confess some of our working practices too loudly either. I know I get nervous when I bring the fence up close to the blade and there is not much room for error - like, less than 75 - 100 m/m - a push stick comes to mind/hand. Other times, yes, I get a bit close and I don't lose sleep. Perhaps for these reasons, I did not feel comfortable with the guard and pawls supplied with the big blue saw. To me, they created a complex, cluttered environment and I thought the risk to my hands higher than the protection.

[rrich]

Adam,
I never really thought much about it until I attended some basic wood wroking classes at the local community college.

The instructor, in his late thirties, has been woodworking since the age of 9. He was most adamant about using his technique in school. Since using his technique, I tend to agree with his methods and rules.

Always watch the stock where it is in contact with the fence. Keep the stock in tight contact with the fence.

There is a red zone of 15 CM around the blade. In the red zone, no fingers! No fingers on stock, no fingers on table, no fingers in the red zone what so ever.

Use push sticks if contact with the stock is necessary in the red zone.

Duties of the left hand are to push the stock into the fence and into the table. The left hand starts at the edge of the table and applies pressure to the stock but does not enter the red zone. The left hand stops at the red zone but continues to apply pressure down into the table and to the right towards the fence. (If splinters are a problem, wrap the thumb and index finger with adhesive (plaster?) tape.) The middle part of the fingers (between the top two knuckles) are always flat on the table.

The duties of the right hand are to feed the stock through the cut and use a push stick. When feeding stock through the saw, the fingers are never spread out. The position of the fingers of the right hand is more like a spider. When pushing stock the thumb is positioned behind the index and middle finger. In theory, your index finger will get to the saw blade before the thumb HOWEVER you can see the blade and index finger where the thumb may be hidden from view and could easily go into the blade unseen.

The stock is ALWAYS fed through and past the blade. NEVER, NEVER EVER draw stock backwards through the blade.

Push sticks that allow a downward pressure while feeding the stock through the saw are the best. The best position for a push stick is as close to the cut as possible. This prevents the tendancy to push the stock around to the left, away from the fence during the cut.

No helpers! Do NOT allow any one to help you on the out feed side of the table saw. Usually the helper will cause the stock to pinch the blade. The the saw will throw the stock back into the face of the operator. a.k.a. A Kick Back.

If you have a splitter for the saw, USE IT. If you don't have a splitter, get one, install it and use it.

I'm sure that there are other rules that I forgot to include here.