blade guard safety

[tazz]

A friend and I were sawing poplar this weekend and at one point he pushed on the guard to back the saw head up and wham, the blade cut through the guard but it did stop it. I had just finished a cut and the blade was still rotating, he was wearing leather gloves that saved his hand. The glove is history. I use a MX34 by Norwood and the guards are plastic, probably not a good design, but regardless of the material they should never be pushed on when the saw is in use!

[paul case]

i catch myself doing that sometimes but only when the blade is off and stopped . my guards are heavy steel . your friend was lucky sounds to me like.   pc

[Chuck White]

It would probably be wise to disengage the blade before returning the saw-head for the next cut.

There's nothing to hold the blade in place if you happen to bump against a piece of bark or something on the way back, but if the blade is disengaged, it most likely will not be pushed off of the blade wheels.

I know in my Wood-Mizer operators manual it says disengage the blade as soon as the blade clears the far end of the log.

Never get too close to the moving blade.

Your friend was very lucky! ;)