Did something dumb today.

[sumday]

Gotta keep those brakes greased...

[firefighter ontheside]

Wow, it has been a while since anyone posted.  I've been too busy doing dumb things to have time to post about it.

Howard, I'm going to tell on you to my wife...the audiologist.

I've been busy making hardwood flooring in my shop the last 3.5 weeks.  I had a near miss with my table saw when my push stick came in contact with the blade.  My hand was no where near the blade, but it sure did give my hand a kick when the push stick touched it.  I've been using the table saw to cut the flooring  square on the ends.  It goes much faster than using the miter saw, but then I'm left with little chunks of wood next to the blade and I use the plastic push stick to push them away.

[WV Sawmiller]

FFOTS,

   Does she teach sign language? :D

   Be careful with those table saws. My left hand still hurts when I bump it and the arthritis is present there now after my incident with one and that was over a year and a half ago. :

[firefighter ontheside]

Her sign language is a little rusty, but she does know it.  
I bought a saw stop about 3 years ago, so dumb mistakes should only cost me money and not fingers.

[DennisK]

Get her some Jergens Lotion.  ;D

[sawguy21]

I'm shuddering, I left a finger tip on a table saw. :-\

[aigheadish]

Oh no! I hope you're alright @sawguy21

[sawguy21]

I did that many years ago and never forgot the lesson.

[Old Greenhorn]

I did that many years ago and never forgot the lesson.

Your a quick study, huh? I hope I can say the same.

[WDH]

An astute and knowledgeable person should get rid of the old finger/hand removing tablesaw and get a SawStop .  Life is short and you need all fingers and hands to best get through it. 

[YellowHammer]

Years go, when Sawstops were kind of new, we would have cutovers come in with mixed opinions, some not even liking them, some saying they were too expensive, and were unpredictable, and would trip accidentally, etc.

These days, things have changed.  I bet I get a customer every few months who comes in and tells a story of how the Sawstop tripped and saved them a drive to the hospital.  Only one person so far has said it even caused them to bleed, and that was just a few drops.  So although I don't have one, if I was going to buy a saw tomorrow, it would be one.  

I have solved the problem totally.  I don't even own a table saw anymore, I sold it about two years go.    

[Crusarius]

Not only are they safe but they truly are a very nice solid well built machine!!!

[sawwood]

  I have two radial arm saws and a one table saw. So far i have not come close to having
  been hurt. I am very careful when using them. the only saw i have that I am real careful with
  is my 12" miter saw.

[Resonator]

Radial arm saws have gone the way of the dinosaur, I think for safety reasons as much as anything. Compared to now when all you see are sliding compound miter saws with a full plastic blade guards, and blades that only run when your hand is on the trigger. When I started out in construction many years ago, radial arms caused more than one serious digit subtraction injury that I knew of. And guys trying to rip boards, then having them kickback and shoot wood through walls and windows.

[aigheadish]

I'd love to have a good ol' radial arm saw. I think it'd change the way I do things a lot but they are pretty sketchy. The only one I really remember seeing but never using was at my  buddy's mill. He (his dad) had about 20 feet on either side of it to, presumably, load and resaw giant boards. Looks pretty cool. Sadly, I missed out on when he sold all his equipment, it'd been sweet to get some of it.

No disrespect to those that get in trouble but I prefer to keep my digits out of the way!

Let's, from now on, as an entire website community, keep our bodies out of the way of spinny, cutty things! 

[sumday]

I absolutely do not miss the radial arm saws that were common on construction sites when I started as a teenager. If we're comparing them to dinosaurs they're the T-Rex , just as soon eat you as look at you...

[sawguy21]

My dad, a shop teacher, had one for years without mishap and it cut a lot of wood. It had a funky cam action motor  brake that failed early on, probably jammed, so he took it off although normally he was very safety conscious. It was a long time before I was allowed to use it unsupervised. He did wick a finger on the jointer though.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I have a 10" Craftsmen radial arm saw built into a table at the end of my lumber storage shed and it is a great tool. I salvage a lot of short boards off pieces I used to waste, cut my stickers to length, cut customer boards to fit inside their SUV and such. It is as handy as a pocket on a shirt. They are readily available around here on Craigslist and local trader papers. I have great respect for it and have never come close to getting hurt with it unlike that nasty table saw. And in all honesty it was totally my fault when I got hurt on it 18 months ago.

[Tom the Sawyer]

A long, long time ago (mid 60s), we had two shop teachers in my junior high school.  One was missing half a finger, and it wasn't the wood shop teacher.  Apparently presses can be dangerous too.

[Resonator]

Oh, I see old radial arm saws for sale cheap on CL all the time, but you don't see new ones for sale in the big box stores. Any saw is inherently dangerous, always up to the user to use caution.
Depending on the slab, I'll cut it to length with my Stihl chainsaw for a customer, or the skilsaw if it's not too thick or want a cleaner cut. My best repeat customer let me use his battery powered circular saw for some projects on his new house. I'd like to get one of those, as it was handy as a shirt pocket.

[sawwood]

 I have a 12" dewalt and a 10" sears radial arm saw. I would never try to rip on eather one.

 That is what a table saw is for. We use the radial arm to cut down lumber for customers or

 for our own wood working.

[WV Sawmiller]

Resonator,

   I bought a 6-1/2" battery powered circular saw at HF a month or so back and used it cutting up stickers and cutting the taper off edged boards and such and I have been well pleased with it.

[firefighter ontheside]

Originally I thought a sawstop was a waste of money for someone who was good with a saw and knew how to prevent injury.  Then when I started thinking I wanted a 3hp cabinet saw, I learned that the price of sawstop was inline with all the other 3hp saws.  It just made sense to get sawstop while upgrading.

[whiskers]

I have a 12" dewalt and a 10" sears radial arm saw. I would never try to rip on eather one.

That is what a table saw is for.  

wife knows the radial saws and harleys are first to go when i croak, proceeds toward a disney trip for the grandkids. 
if the saws and bikes are gone neither can injure someone here.  

[doc henderson]

the most dangerous pilots are under 100 hours or over 500.  to little experience or too much confidence.