99% of Beginner's Don't Know These Table Saw Mistakes to Avoid!

no saw stop no problem I'm going to share 13 mistakes you should avoid when using the table saw to avoid injury then I'll share with you five tools that I think you should have for the table saw to make it safer and more efficient and then I'll share some personal protective equipment everyone should have but very few ever tell you about especially the one let's go do not mistake this as a anti- Sal stop I think they are absolutely amazing machines if you like them and they're in your budget actually recommend them I have a saw stop I think they're fantastic machines both in build quality and safety however not everyone wants a saw stop for a few reasons a just based on principle they don't like saw stop okay two they're outside a lot of people's budgets because they are much more expensive than other type saws and then D some people just like other brands like Harvey or Grizzly or Powermatic or DeWalt or Milwaukee so not everyone just wants that saw stop brand but all table saws should be operated with safety no matter if you have that techn olog on there that stops that blade or not let me show you did I say 13 I meant 14 first thing you should do is remove any oversized or loose fitting clothing especially that has sleeves or if you're wearing a hoodie that has those strings those things got to come off if you're going to be around spinning blades I've seen some very gnarly accidents especially at a miter saw because of a loose fitting sleeve same thing goes with the table saw or if you wear bracelets I I like wearing bracelets but I try to take those off or I do take those off if I'm going to be working around these spinning blades it's just not worth the risk after you make sure you don't have any loose fitting clothing what you need to do is set up the table saw correctly so that it's going to cut straight and accurate because if you don't it can cause some Kickback issues and other things so what I like to do is make sure that the slot these slots on your table saw no matter if you have one or two just make sure that the one of the slots is aligned with that blade and I just use a combination square and you can see here I just make sure that the it touches exactly the same or has the exact same Gap all the way across it's not rocket science but as long as that right there looks perfectly I say perfect as long as that looks really really close that means this blade is square to the slot next thing you need to do is make sure that this fence is also aligned to the slots if they're not there should be some adjustments you can make to your table saw to adjust the table to the blade almost all saws have it you'll have to check your manual or just Google the manual online and find it at the manufacturer's website but you want to make sure those two things are lined up and if you're making 90° Cuts ensure that this blade is actually 90° because a lot of times even if the indicator over there shows it's on zero that doesn't mean it's actually at zero just double check that make sure everything's lined up then you can start making your Cuts next thing you want to do is make sure that you set this blade correctly you don't want that blade sticking way up there's no reason for it to be well past the wood about I don't know e 38 of an inch Max over the blade typically you want those gullets or the cutouts of that blade to be right at or just above the piece that helps clear the wood out and stuff but you there's no reason to have it an inch two three inches above it all that does is introduce more chance for your hand to contact that blade and I would much rather if an accident's going to happen I would much rather the blade just be barely sticking above the wood and it cut into me versus an inch and a half above where it cuts off Parts like we don't want that so just make sure you set that blade height correctly and speaking of blades you want to make sure that your blades are sharp if you're using dull blades and you're having a whole lot of trouble pushing that wood through you're going to cause yourself more trouble because if it's having trouble cutting the wood it's more likely you're going to wind up with a bad cuts and also it's going to be binding and not want to cut more chance for Kickback so a good blade is key next up all modern table saws have ring knives in other words that piece of metal that's right behind the blade that needs to be there at a minimum have that on there that prevents the wood from pinching after it gets cut pinching wood is bad it's going to be a kickback or a very high chance of a kickback and we're trying to avoid that at all cost so make sure you have your ring knife installed well all table saws you buy today will also have a blade guard if it's possible to use the blade guard it's highly recommended to use it I am as guilty as anyone full disclosure of not having my blade guard on I have no excuse the blade guard should be there if you're using your table saw there's times when you can't use it if you're using a Crosscut sled or some other things the blade guard also has a ring knife built in so you don't have to worry about you know if the ring knife is there so it's already there plus there's a guard over the top of the blade that will just help you keep your hands away from the blade should an accident happen also a lot of your blade guards have anti- Kickback Paws and they're just these little spring-loaded arms they they have little teeth on them and what that's going to do is if that board tries to go back that way those teeth will dig in ande help prevent that Kickback so it's a good idea to have the blade guard if you can next you want to avoid bowed and or Twisted wood when you're trying to cut it on the taable saww it needs to be flat in other words just not twisting or bowed up on the table saw like you see here this piece of walnuts rocking back and forth that's going to cause some major issues if you try to cut that because what's going to happen is you're going to start out and it's going to be like say on the top left side where the blade is contacting it when you push it through and it twists the other way that's puts too much pressure on the blade and the between the wood just caus a kickback that's what's going to happen you're going to have a bad Kickback there so you need to try to make sure they're all flat properly milled and with that bow Lumber like this Tu before here if you're pushing it through and it's touching the fence on the back side and then on the front side it's bowing out bad news another Kickback opportunity there same thing as if it's the opposite way you just want to make sure that you don't try to cut a straight line on bow wood it just doesn't work one way to Joint those boards I've got a jointing jig video I'll drop in the description but you can rip one edge of that with the jointing jig like this it works really well you get one flat side then you can use the flat side against the fence and you're good to go for Edge join next thing you want to do is make sure you start your cut off correctly for one you never ever make a freehanded cut without the fence just don't no no you're not allowed to do that you do not do that now what you want to do is set the fence proper whatever thickness you want to cut this board it's called a rip cut you're going to rip that that width whatever you got the fence set at make sure it is laying flat on your table saw when it contacts the blade also make sure that you're not starting crooked either to the left or to the right of the fence it needs to be flat against the fence flat against the table then make the cut no other way don't do it any other way this just safest way to do it now since we're making the cut you want to be aware of where you're standing you never ever ever ever stand directly between the blade and the fence in this line because that's where the kickb back's going to happen if it's going to happen the width of this board so if you're cutting this board and Kickback does happen you need to be to the left to the left left come on stand to the left of the blade push it through you can stand to the right of the blade but then you can't really see what's going on cuz the fence is kind of in the way and you can't keep an eye on and make sure that that board's flat against the fence you want to make absolutely sure you're on the left and push it through and if Kickback happens it flies past you and not into you actually had a very bad Kickback happened to me that uh could have been worse than it was so I had a very old table saw it's called like a Delta Shopmaster the fence didn't Square to the blade remember tip number one or two there it wasn't Square to the blade and I was trying to cut a piece of crooked Tu before what happened was it bound up and kicked back and it hit me right on the hipbone on the right side and caused a mass massive bruise not only that it hurt like crazy uh so that was the major most major Kickback I've ever had and that made me very aware of how fast that can happen and there's nothing you can do about it when it happens so just be cautious of that make sure you're standing off to the side so if it does kick back it doesn't hit you or anyone behind you now when you start cutting the wood you're going to need a push stick but you don't necessarily start with a push stick if the board's long enough and let me to show you take this board this is only about maybe 18inch board if I start to cut with this board and I use the push stick too early it literally just makes it kick up on the front if that blade is spinning this this ain't good this ain't good at all because if it gets too much it's going to throw it back so you make sure what I do is I'll keep my hand back here on this table I'll push it until we get to where the Leverage is on the table or most of the board is on the table then I'll grab the push stick and then we'll push and there is a better place to put this push stick you don't want to be over here by the fence on wider boards because what that does it actually works again leverage you're pushing on this corner it's going to cause it to kick out at the top even if slightly so what you want to make sure you're doing is I like to push closer to the blade here not at the blade but more to the left or left of center I guess you would say and that's going to push most of the pressure will be pushing up against that fence you can make your cut safely this is where I think a lot of people get in serious trouble with the table saw and this is where a lot of injuries happen that I've seen with videos and what people have told me when you're making your cut you've already established how you're pushing with a push stick and you get to this point the cut is done right you're through the wood you've made your cut two things that people do that cause the injuries with table Sals one they reach and grab the offcut piece that on the left side of the blade there's really no need to do that if it's there you can use the push stick to reach around and push it to the left P or push it on through get it out of the way or turn the table saw off and then touch it but a lot of people reach and grab that off cut the second thing people do is if they don't have any outfeed support on the back you see this board is just going to fall over and most people don't want that board to fall over because it's going to get damaged like that so what a lot of people do a lot I've seen it in tons and tons of videos on YouTube with injuries and without injuries but they'll reach across the blade and grab that board and pick it up this is a recipe for disaster for one if if you don't pick it up correctly it can kick back but also your hand is so close to that blade your wrist is so close to that blade you don't want to cut this wrist in that direction with that blade bad news if it cuts deep enough and cuts at the right spot about 90 seconds you're going to black out and if nobody body finds you about 3 minutes you're not going to be with us no more so it's a very serious and we'll talk about that more later in the safety equipment but make sure you don't reach around or across over top of that blade it's just bad news now it's talking about reaching over the blade there's and keeping that piece from falling off that's why you see so many people with outfeed tables behind their table saw me included I have mine slightly lower than my table saw top so that when I do make that cut and I do get to the point to where it's going to tip over it'll just land on the table and that's what the outfeed table is for now not everybody has space for an outfeed table I have a tool that I'm going to show you later that will help you fix that too so if you don't have space for an outfeed table or if you don't have the budget right now for one or anything like that but outf tables are great you can get roller stands fairly cheap like $20 for a roller stand and that'll help a little bit keep especially if you got it spaced just right but outf tables or some type of out speed support will keep you from having to reach over that and care about that board you're just going to push through the cut don't worry about it next thing I highly recommend strongly recommend if your table saw has it available some manufacturers like saw stop have them available and some you can buy third party on Amazon Etsy Etc or zero clearance inserts I actually bought some from my old Delta table saw on Etsy made out of MDF and so a lot of people are making these for third parties but what that does is it keeps the small pieces like if you're ripping thin strips and things from getting jammed down in between the blade or falling down in there and it's going to make a cleaner cut on your table saw and I think they make them much safer as well because it's not letting that small piece fall down in there and then become a projectile when it gets caught by the blade so I really recommend zero clearance if there's available for your table saw so just search on Etsy Andor Amazon or any other manufacturers website and see if they have them available I have seen this cut on YouTube more times than I can count and it makes me so nervous and almost like oh it's just it makes my anxiety go Skyhigh when I see it I see a lot of people making smaller Cuts thinner Cuts like this and they'll they'll have their hand on the fence and then they'll push the board by right here even if it's only a couple of inches man it makes me so nervous because there's no reason to do that there's too many other options here one you can use a push stick which was optimal if the cut is too thin and you can't get a push stick in there then you shouldn't be cutting it against the fence like that there's a better option when we get into the tools you can use I'll show you that but don't absolutely don't use your fingers here I don't like seeing if it's three or 4 Ines wide and you're making this cut with your hand on the fence it's just to it's just not worth it there's too much opportunity and chance you're going to get a kick back and if it kicks back it's highly likely it's just going to pull your hand towards the blade and if your hand hits the blade and you don't have the safety technology bad news it's going to be a bad day it's going to be bad months if it cuts in your hand if you're trying to make thin Cuts Like This against between there's only like a/ inch between the blade and the fence there's no way to push that through safely yeah you can use the gripper I like it we'll talk about it later but the better option is to flip it around and cut that off cut on the left side of the blade using something like this thin rip jig I really like this jig it's very inexpensive and you can make repeatable Cuts with that thin slices so if you need an 8 in every time it'll just batch those out for you and then it keeps you from getting things bound up against the fence and you can push the stock through safely all right one final tip before I get into the tools I highly recommend you get for a table saw the the the main tip that I'll share with you about being safe with the table saw is if it doesn't feel right in the gut don't make the cut I just made that up right then y'all I did that's got to be a shirt it's got to come on if it don't feel right in the gut don't make the cut it's just if you have a gut feeling that that's not going to work out or that you're feeling a little hinky about it I've been there I've also been there and made the cut and caused my I broke my thumb trying to cut a tiny piece on a MIT saw and I knew I shouldn't do it right before I did it just stop just stop there's no reason there's nothing pressing there it's not a life and death situation if you make this cut so just stop back up rethink say is there a safer way to do this and then make and figure it out and make the cut it don't feel right in the gut don't make the cut all right now the first tool I think you should get for your table saw that will make things safer and easier on you I think a featherboard now there's a bunch of different makers of feather Boards out there I've tried a bunch of them my favorites the bow featherboard I like them a lot they have some that have this gray insert some the black insert doesn't really matter what color it is they work exactly the same so all of these fit in a standard teeth slot you tighten them down and as you notice whenever I'm pushing those boards through those little teeth on there or feathers rather will Bend forward toward the blade if something bound up and it started to kick back these lock into place and help prevent kick back will they stop at 100% no but will they help and slow it down absolutely and another great feature is because it's pushing pressure toward the fence it keeps the stock against the fence and makes your Cuts more accurate that's what I really like about them now one thing about setting these up always set a featherboard up a horizontal feather board up before the blade in other words you never put it at the blade or behind the blade because then you're just putting pressure on the blade and behind the blade causing pinching which causes a kickback so just before the blade is where you use these feather boards horizontally I think you need to seriously consider getting some push sticks for your table saw you say well my my table saw come with a push stick this thing is not a good push stick I I made a whole video talking about why but basically after if these things are especially if they're subjected to heat and cold heat and cold they get brittle and if they get brittle and it hits that blade they can literally shatter and I've had multiple people on that video comment and say that happened to me and when they shatter sharp pieces of plastic come back and hit your hand there's actually a video here I'll show you that shows what happens like it it could it could get serious it really could and so I really don't like these T these type of push sticks I think there's better options available and these are the three I like and you don't even have to buy push sticks you can make your own there's several different like you can look around the internet there's tons of different versions available this is a popular version this is a version that my friend makes at all red Woodworks and he he's got free plans available for this I'll drop a link down there in the description if you want to get those free Plants very simple to make this keeps your hand way away from the blade and uh keeps pressure down on the bottoms got a little foot push it's a really nice little design so if you want to check that out and get free plans for this versus buying one I I use this quite regularly but I also love having the regular push stick from bow as well as the micro jig push block I think having a good variety is always a good option again I like the bow push sticks they have a foam insert so if it gets cut or whatever as far as a long push stick this is the ones I use my favorite push block is the gripper it's the micro jig gripper if you've watched YouTube you've seen these things around I bought this one years ago and I use it all the time I love this thing really good especially if you have to go over the blade making some of those shorter Cuts like we talked about earlier it has a little ledge that will drop down so you can get up on this thicker stock and be able to help balance that out it's just a really good well-made push block and I've seen a lot of knockoffs especially recently on the market I don't recommend those just spend the amount of money whatever this is currently it it's worth it whatever it is I think this is one of the best push blocks on the market and again I'll link to everything I'll talk about in the description this is my favorite they have a Gripp or goto as well it's uh basically you don't move anything everything's already set but I actually prefer the gripper the original the OG if you cut a lot of plywood this thing is awesome this is the jessum stock guids I built this little jig actually my friend over at red Woodworks told me about it and sent me the measurements and I made it off of his measurements you're just using two mag switches and if you have like a a saw stop style table saw with this type of fence it will literally lock into place with these uh magnets it has rollers that are angled toward your fence so it's pushing the stock toward the fence and they only roll one way so it does help prevent that Kickback as well and they adjust to basically any size stock you can use this on hard woods thicker Woods plywoods anything like that it's just a well-made tool and if you put it on go ahead and put it on a jig like this it hangs up out of the way it's never in your way now if you need that outfeed support and you don't have an outfeed table like we talked about earlier because you don't want that board falling off the back you don't want to have to reach over and grab things one of the best tools I saw in 2023 by far was the bow extender fence comes in three sizes I think the 46 in still sold out but the 36 in is a really good option as well it keeps the boards from falling off the back because it has out feed support or you can can use it for in speed support and you can also attach feather boards to it for vertical pressure down to keep those boards from popping up this is a genius genius level piece of equipment for your saw and it'll clamp to any of your fences that you already have so if you have a job site saw it'll work on that if you have a cabinet style saw like this one it'll work on that so it's a very Universal saw and you can use it on your band saw as well so it's kind of a dual purpose fence it's one of the best Innovations of last year also I think if you're cutting a lot of small parts and things like that and you just need very good accuracy for cross cutting in other words cutting across the grain I think you should build a cross cut sled doesn't matter whose you use I have one on my channel I like it because it's mine it has safer handles and all that stuff it's really good for cutting small parts and getting very accurate Cuts there's tons of them available on YouTube as well I'll link to mine in the description but all you have to do is search table saw sled on YouTube You'll see dozens and dozens of videos those are absolute a must have for table saws in my opinion now if you don't have a Crosscut sled a lot of people especially when I first started I was very intimidated to try to make one so I didn't make one for a long time because it was just it would just looked like it was a insurmountable Mountain that I would never climb but a good miter gauge is also a great option and this is the v27 from incra it's not that expensive as far as miter gauges go some of these things can get up $3 $400 this one I think's like7 or so dollar give or take but you can get good accurate results with this because the ones that come with the table saw are usually trash unless you buy Harvey they those usually come with a really good one I'm not associated with Harvey they have nice minor gauges but this one is also a really good option so you can put a fo a faux fence on there to extend this out if you want to and then also it's just very accurate and for what it does so you can get good cross Cuts with this if you don't want to build a sled speaking of repeatable cuts as far as cross cut goes if you have this miter gauge and or any miter gauge and you're going to need to make 2in Cuts here you cut in 2in pieces over and over and over and over whatever the size is doesn't really really matter a lot of beginners will come over and set their fence on 2 in and then they will start making those cuts the problem is you're going to cause some Kickback here because what's going to happen is this piece is going to get bound up in here you're pushing on this piece this piece is going to come shooting back you should never do that so a better option is you can use anything as a stop block but these are really good and they're very inexpensive you use them all the time they're perfectly Square all the way around so you can use them as a square it's called a one two three setup block it is exactly 1 in thick by 3 in tall by 2 in wide exactly you can Bank on it it's close to exact as we need in the wood shop all you have to do is say we're making 2 in Cuts we're just going to move our fence over to 4 in we're going to move this as our stop block so when we push this piece of wood up against it it's going to stop there now I can make my cut there's free space here it's not going to kick back I can move that out of the way with a push stick push it on through and then come back with the next cut and make it again that's 2 in every single time or 1 in or however you want to put those but they they they're heavy enough they stay in place you can also clamp them in place if you wanted to but they stay in place because they're nice heavy metal and so it's just a good option to have as far as keeping yourself safe your personal self safe at the table saw there's a few things that a lot of people recommend and one that nobody recommends that I do first and foremost safety glasses these are 3M brand safety glasses I like them because they stretch around my big old Noggin and they don't fog up which is key here in a minute also a lot of people recommend hearing protection it's always a good idea to have hearing protection of some kind just make sure it's like OSHA certified OSHA approved Etc that way it actually blocks out the right amount of decb this is an RZ mask there's a new M3 model I have it one over in the Box this is the M2 model that I use all the time M3 is new and improved it's even better I just have this one here they're nice they fit they're velcro back and they have replaceable filters inside these are great to keep that fine dust out of your lungs should have some of these last but certainly not least I think every every woodworker should have a turnic it because like we talked about earlier I've said this before in videos if you cut a major artery you have about 90 seconds is depending on bloodflow before you black out and then in when within three minutes or so you you've bled out and you're going to not be here with us and we want you here with us you matter to us you matter to me so get a proper name brand cat turn now I'll link to the ones in the description that I recommend that are like real there's a bunch of knockoffs out there and the reason you don't want a knockoff is when you put this on you start tightening it down if it breaks you might as well not even bought it because it's what it's forced to cut off the blood circulation um and they always say high or die put it up as high as you can tighten it up on the leg on the arm never put it around your neck it should go without saying but sometimes you have to say things and I highly recommend buying two why well I have three in here I have one at the toolbox behind you I have one at the miter station one in here and then I have an extra one so four that you practice with you don't want to practice with the one that you may need because you're you don't want to like loosen it up and make it not work right or even put strain on it where it can be damaged and not work or break so you can buy I'm not going to tell you to buy a fake one buy four three two whatever you're going to do minimum two use one to practice with and then use one I leave mine on the table saw you may have seen them in the videos it stays at the table saw make sure it's properly stays now how do you put these on well I'm going to let a professional show you there's a link in the description below that shows you how to properly do it I've shared that video several times that's what you do you do what he says and then practice practice practice we talking about practice man if you're out here boarding you're thinking of a new project or you're trying to think stuff make sure you're practicing with these because muscle memory will kick in when a when an accident happens the last thing you want to do is try to figure out how to use it when you need it you should already know again I'm a huge proponent of saw stop I think they're amazing technology they're extremely safe I like them I do I think that if it's in your budget you should probably really consider them just based on the safety however based on the reasons I stated before you may not want this may not be in your budget you may just have you know it's against your principles as a as a woodworker to even support that company so it's really up to you on what you buy I think it's your decision there are some new legislation that's coming down that's trying to force safety into every table saw could possibly raise the prices there's a whole video on that you should check out right there click in that box get you the big old virtual fist pump also if you go watch that video drop a comment down there and let us know what you think about that proposed rule thank you for watching

Channel: 731 Woodworks

Views: 976,711

Keywords: woodworking tips and tricks, woodworking tips, woodworking tricks, woodworking hacks, table saw tips and tricks, table saw tips, woodworking safety, table saw safety, how to cut wood on a table saw, how to cut wood safely on a table saw, safety tips for woodworking, woodworking 101, woodworking for beginners, beginner woodworking tips

Id: LLvXrmLLvKs

Length: 26min 43sec (1603 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 04 2024