Joe Dusel’s Blog

Since this is my first post on this blog about woodworking, I want it to be something that is really important to me. I’ve been working wood since about 1985 starting with a radial arm saw, a drill, a router and a few other basic tools. Back then I knew nothing about woodworking, but I knew I liked working with wood. I had no idea about tool safety. I bought a radial arm saw and figured that I didn’t need to read the manual to use it. It looked pretty straightforward to me. I just moved the blade forward towards me with the power off, put the wood behind the blade, turned on the machine and then pushed the blade through the wood. No problem. It wasn’t until years later that I read articles about radial arm saw being dangerous because the blade could climb up on the wood and possibly injure the user. When I read that at first I couldn’t figure out what the heck they were talking about, but then I finally realized that I had been using the machine the wrong way all along! Maybe I should have read the manual – or not.

Since then I’ve been reading the manuals for my tools, and I’ve also read a lot of information on woodworking forums. The forums are a great source of information, but there is one type of posting I dread – the accident report. Almost every one of these stories is related to table saw mishaps, and they usually have about the same causes. Lots of us woodworkers have decided that the safety features that come with the saw are more trouble than they are worth. Some say their splitters aren’t designed well, so they take them off. Others say the guard is in the way and obscures their view of the cut, so they take them off. They may go a lifetime without a problem, but all that it takes is one moment of in-attention, a board that’s improperly dried, a piece of wood that’s a bit too narrow, and BAM! Then it’s off to the emergency room to see if they can re-attach whatever you whacked off.

So, here are my suggestions. Use your splitter, your guard and long push sticks whenever you are using the saw. Don’t assume that if you are doing a dado with the blade “covered” that you are safe. If the blade catches on the wood it’s going to kick it back, and if you are over the blades it’s going to get messy. If an operation on a machine seems a little scary, DON’T DO IT!

If you don’t want to do any of the things I suggest at least wear safety glasses so you won’t put an eye out with a flying finger.

Be safe,

Joe