12 WORST TABLE SAW MISTAKES!! And How To Avoid Them...(DON'T DO THESE THINGS! Kickback/Binding)

what are the worst table saw mistakes that you can make I've waited a long time to do this video because it's super important and it's in the tradition of my 11th circular saw mistakes video I'm slowly getting through the big three circular table miter and today we come to our large stationary Workhorse the table saw these are the mistakes that I think are most important to avoid along with some tips on proper usage I'm actually going to start with some you might not think about much and then finish with more common mistakes but really they're all equally important so be sure to watch till the end that's all coming up next on the honest Carpenter show the first thing I'll say right off the bat is that I think you should always use a push stick many saws come with them these days and there are numerous others on the market I'll cover their usage soon and talk about some of my favorites but for any rip width under a foot you really should use a push stick with that said let's get into the list mistake number one twisting the board this is a cardinal sin with any spinning blade and it applies to table saws as well even if people sometimes forget that why do they forget it because the table saw has a really good fence the rip fence sits parallel to the blade and guides the board on a straight path this limits friction on the blade so only the frontal teeth contact the board and they can cleanly cut a path or a curve through it but problems can still occur if the board gets twisted away from the fence when this happens friction increases against the rigid Blade the motor bogs down if friction builds up too much the blade May bind throwing the board back towards the operator it's like a catapult launching and it's very dangerous this is why you never want to twist the board while cutting you always want to use the fence and keep the board moving in a straight line now it seems pretty easy to keep a board against the fence but beginners and even sometimes Pros can actually run into problems with this for instance they might not have the Inside Edge fully flush with the fence at the start and they'll begin driving at an angle without realizing it this will leave slack at the fence and if they swing the board to compensate it may cause the blade to bind or they may be using a board with a ragged Edge against the fence that ragged Edge creates gaps which can make the board wiggle enough wiggle can also cause the blade to bind you always want to use the fence and make sure that your board has a clean straight edge to push against the fence this brings us to mistake number two cutting free hand freehand cutting is when you forego the use of the fence and just push the stock into the blade under hand guidance alone simply put don't do this it's such a terrible idea because it creates so many opportunities for twisting the blade it's not easy to guide a board straight in by hand and it catches friction on the table your hands May fight each other for control and it all gets harder as your remaining stock gets thinner in the end you might create a seesaw effect between your hands the board will twist and the blade will bind don't freehand cut use the fence or a miter gauge it makes everything about the kite cleaner safer and more effective mistake number three squeezing the cut working off the same principles we just mentioned you also want to avoid squeezing the cut around the blade and this is also possible even when you're using a fence it sometimes happens because you're applying too much force with your outside hand beginners may try to guide their stock by pushing it forward with one hand and pushing it towards the fence really hard with the other hand this may seem more secure to them but really it's overcompensating one your hand should never be very far forward on the stall it should always be well on your side of the blade and part of the reason is because it can create too much sideways pressure as the blade passes deeper into the stock the board loses rigidity so too much outside side pressure May squeeze the off cut onto the blade causing it to pinch the blade and bind so don't let your outside hand control too much you can keep both hands pushing forward but use only very light force from the outside hand towards the fence the inside hand should be the dominant force with the outside hand just helping it keep on track this will also keep you from twisting the board which is just as likely with this bad technique mistake number four ripping boards wider than they are long table saws are designed to make long straight rips they can be used for cross cutting but you can get into trouble more easily here what frequently happens is that a beginner has a board that's shaped like this and they want to make a cut across the narrow Dimension like this so they'll dial their fence to the right width and start going through the cut procedure they may do most things right but still have a pretty high chance of messing up the cut dangerously why because this sideways shape is very unstable going through a table saw it's only supported at one end and you'll have a hard time keeping them narrow Edge pinned against the fence the issue is mostly friction the long offcut will act like an anchor pulling the piece diagonally so you overcompensate by pushing that end forward which again is hard to regulate you'll get that seesawing effect between the two hands as a result both twisting and blade squeezing are likely it's just a very unstable way to cut on the table saw if you're going to cut a shape like this maybe use a circular saw or miter saw instead or if you only have a table saw make a cross-cut jig for it like this simple one my buddy Steve Ramsey made but be wary of cutting like this on the fence mistake number five Levering this is a fairly innocent mistake but still one to be avoided Levering occurs when you fail to keep a board flat on the table saw while making your cut it's very easy to do this at the start if your piece is long or heavy you may accidentally let the weight of the back tip the front up like a lever you'll begin feeding it into the blade while it's off the table surface this is dangerous is because the wood might then lower suddenly onto the blade causing a lot of friction and then kick back make sure you're keeping the front of your stock flat on the table give it a little up and down wiggle to feel for flush contact pin it down lightly with the finger then slowly drive forward to initiate the cut you need the surface stability all the way through the kite which brings us to mistake number six failure to catch the outfeed this is basically the opposite of Levering outfeed refers to the far end of the board that has passed over the blade and is exiting the back of the tool the end of the board no longer has the full support of the table so as more stock passes over the weight of that end increases pulling it downward as a result your end of the board gets levered upward pulling it off the blade and table this is really dangerous because it's possibly going to try to pull you forward towards the blade as you try to control the piece you may lose your balance and fall onto the blade or more likely put your hand down on the blade to catch yourself can you imagine what a table saw blade is going to do to your hand when when you push down on it with all your weight it's horrifying so be sure to support your outfeed have a second person be there to gently catch it from behind or create a platform that the outfeed can rest on like what I did with my Mobile station here but if you're cutting something long or heavy just be sure to have support back there and that brings us to mistake number seven pulling small pieces from the back that last issue tempts many people to go around to the back side of the saw and pull pieces through from that side but this can be very dangerous you should never grab the far side of a piece with your hand anywhere near the blade if you get Blade binding your hand will get pulled into the blade in the blink of an eye this is how world famous climber Tommy Caldwell lost his finger and it almost always happens when you try to pull a really short piece from that side because your hand has to get so much closer to the blade now I'll admit that Pros in the field do pull from the back in certain situations but only with very long stock and very carefully I'll talk about it in a video soon but it's really controversial and you should not make it happen of it especially with smaller boards mistake number eight is even worse drop cutting a drop cut is a cut that starts in the field of a board rather than the end you can make drop Cuts with a lot of tools you might have seen me do it on this channel with circular saws and jigsaws but you should never do it with a table saw drop cutting here will require you to do dumb things like Levering down onto the blade from the front which I just talked about as a bad idea or even worse trying to lower a board onto the blade with your hands on both ends whichever case the odds of getting bored ejection are very high because friction increases as you come down onto the blade if your hand is behind it as mentioned it's going to get dragged forward very quickly on top of that it's almost impossible to see your cut mark because it's on the bottom so guiding the board down precisely will be really hard just don't do it make your drop Cuts with a circular saw or a jigsaw and I'll do designated videos on that later that ties in with take number 10 Reaching over the saw even if you've made a cut safely there's still a lot of Temptation to reach over the saw to grab the offcut people do it because it's fast but really it's so dumb if you reach over a spinning blade there's a chance you might lose your balance and once again put your hand down to catch yourself or some article of clothing might get caught in a blade which is why you shouldn't wear loose clothing around a tool anyways or you might drop the piece onto the blade and it'll get kicked right into your gut I've seen video of this happening I know it's possible so don't reach over the saw for any reason while it's running if you have to push the stock through and just let it fall onto something soft on the far side that's so much better than reaching or grabbing from the back mistake number 11 ripping narrow widths some people want to create a very narrow piece less than a half inch wide so they'll bring their fence all the way over to the blade and start making passes and while you can technically do this it can also be very dangerous for one your push stick may not have room to get through this pass and even if it does it may bring something you're holding into contact with the blade that's bad news push that can get ripped out of your hand violently and even shatter you're better off making that particular width the off cut out at the far end of the board it's harder to do a lot of rips that way quickly but it's safer there are tricks and ways of getting around this and again I will talk about them later but at the very least if you're going to do this be very careful go slowly try to keep your hands away from the blade and don't squeeze the cut with pressure it's easy to do that and finally mistake number 12 standing directly behind your stock when you're feeding most boards through you don't want to stand directly behind them if they get ejected they're coming straight for your body instead you want to stand slightly to the side so these boards will go by you harmlessly this is really important with smaller lighter pieces because they can really go flying but you can reach just a little sideways with your arm to send them through with a push stick that'll keep you safe also don't cut too fast that just builds up friction push at an even steady rate and listen for the motor bogging down this all just becomes habit and you'll start keeping yourself safe by Instinct and finally as a bonus tip don't set your blade too high doing that just exposes more teeth you only need the top of the blade about a quarter to a half inch above your stock mistakes are much less profound at this blade height those are my top 12 table saw mistakes I hope they were helpful please let me know what you thought about the video down in the comments I'll link some table saws blades and push sticks down below so check those out if you're interested and I'm also writing books for kids these days the dungeon World Books they're available on Amazon too so check those out as well it's a great way to support the channel as always thanks for watching be sure to check back soon for more videos coming up and please consider subscribing and hitting that Bell button to turn on notifications that way you'll know the moment we post something I'm Ethan James with the honest Carpenter I'll see you next time foreign [Music]

Channel: The Honest Carpenter

Views: 914,920

Keywords: table saw, table saw injury, table saw kickback accident, table saw safety video, table saw mistakes, table saw safety training video, table saw accidents video, table saw safety, table saw advice, how to use a table saw, kickback saw, woodworking for beginners, woodworking tips, carpentry tips and tricks, carpentry 101, carpentry basics, carpentry skills, the honest carpenter, rip fence for table saw

Id: gN_w0OD6oIs

Length: 11min 46sec (706 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 20 2022