Dull Men's Club

I'm fucking terrified of this thing.

Good. A healthy respect for the tool will help keep all your digits in tact. Just exercise proper safety precautions every time and you'll be alright. I've got at least one push stick with a notch in it as a constant reminder of why you never put your fingers near the blade.

I got my first real table saw

Bought it at the local home store

Played it 'til my fingers bled

Go for it, slow. As a small but determined girl I split quite a number of large-ish boards with a monstrosity of a table saw from the 80s to make beams of the desired width for a tiny house. The important thing is always go slowly. Prepare well. Where is each piece and cutoff going to be at each time of the process. Where are your fingers going to be. Play this through in your mind, only then start cutting. If you cut large pieces build some kind of support they can be pushed onto, falling or hanging heavy pieces are always a bad idea - I also had some wheels screwed onto a support for easier moving of the large stuff. I guess the danger is what makes woodworking so meditative. Lose your attention, lose a finger.

I'm a cabinet installer, and I use a table saw every day. Do not put your hand anywhere near the saw blade when it is running. Use push sticks and never pull a part through from the back of the saw. If the cuts are getting harder to make, put a new sharp blade. Dull saw blades are the most dangerous and cause most kickbacks. You're smart to respect the dangers but with care and attention you can use them without much risk.

You got ten chances, you can master it by attempt three for sure!

If you haven't already, I suggest investing in a good full-face respirator with replaceable cartridges. Something like this:

The half face ones also work well. But melamine dust is nasty. You really don't want to be breathing that in!

What you want is a 'push stick.' There are a lot of different form-factors, but this one reminds you why:

I moderate woodworking@lemmy.ca. Please join us there.

Table saws are dangerous tools. Healthy caution and a big amount of respect is warranted. A circular saw of any type can maim you in ways doctors can't fix, and the table saw by its nature is most likely to do so.

Do me a big personal favor and always wear your safety glasses and hearing protection. Believe you me, the fun stops when you're halfway through ripping a board and your eyes reflexively shut because you got sawdust in them. Also: table saws never have anything interesting or useful to say. Don't listen to them.

Okay that last part is me trying to be humorous, actually do listen to the saw, if you hear strange noises it can be indicative of problems. You can hear those through approved earmuffs or plugs.

Something I would do: practice hitting the off button. Get to know where it is, by feel. With your hand and your knee. You're unlikely to put your fingers through the blade during an otherwise safe cut; it can happen, but that's an intuitive problem. Push sticks solve that problem. I've cut myself on the push stick thousands of times with table saws. Doesn't hurt at all. Push sticks are If you can touch the blade with your thumb and the fence with your pinky, use a push stick or push block. Also, get or make a featherboard and learn how to use it. Another useful device for keeping the fingies attached.

The unintuitive problem is kickbacks. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7sRrC2Jpp4 If a piece of wood is trapped between the fence and the blade, and isn't well constrained by the fence, it'll pivot, dig into the back, rising edge of the blade, tension builds up, and then it gets thrown backward. If you're holding onto that board when it kicks back, it can take your hand back through the blade with it. This is why they tell you not to use the fence and miter gauge together: The severed piece is now loose and unconstrained between the fence and the blade near the far edge of the blade, it almost certainly will kick back.

~~"Don't crosscut with the rip fence."~~ I hate that phraseology, I'm gonna cross it out, because I've seen an injury caused by it. I enjoyed it a lot at the time because it was my high school bully that hurt himself, but I still learned this lesson: He was manufacturing rectangles of plywood 3.5 inches wide by 2 feet long. He ripped strips of plywood 3.5 inches wide, and then set the fence to 2 feet to cut them to length. I warned him to set up a stop block. He goes off on me about how it's plywood, there's no real grain direction so "crosscut" and "rip" don't mean anything. I go back to what I was doing, not five minutes later I hear his saw strain, I hear a bang, I turn around to see him doubled over hugging a piece of plywood. It has nothing to do with the grain, it has to do with the shape. That same kickback could happen if you're cutting acrylic, which is an amorphous solid.

Don't use the rip fence unless you have AT LEAST 12 inches of contact between the fence and the board/sheet. If you can't do that, you may need to use a sled or a panel cutter instead of the fence.

Start out with basic operations, do a crosscut with the miter gauge, hold the board and the miter gauge with both hands, feed it gently. Then try some rips.

Oh, one final thing about ripping: The edge of the board or sheet that touches the fence must be rather straight, you don't want to put an apprentice's jigsaw job against the fence because the board might not be well constrained, it may pivot and kick back. There are ways to straighten that edge if needed, learn them.

Don’t be terrified. Just think before every cut, how the wood will move and where you put your fingers. Get used to not stand behind the saw, you will soon do it automatically. And never do “just a quick cut before I’m done for today”. Those are the most dangerous ones.

Adding a few bits here:

1. see that plastic cover over the blade? It will get annoying and you’ll want to remove it. Don’t. That’s like removing the seatbelt from your car. There should only be 2 times where it would be necessary. The first and most common is if the cut you are making requires it (you aren’t sawing all the way through the wood/the work piece cannot fit between the table and the guard). Remember to put it back after. The second is if you’re replacing it with a better one. (Typically seeking better dust collection or a “floating” guard). Usually at that point, it might be good to consider if you’re asking too much for the current saw; there’s no lack of companies and products offering solutions to make your tablesaw “better”.

2. See the red blade insert? Treat that as your no finger zone. It’s a big area yes, but an accident in that area can equal no fingers.

Over time you’ll develop a “healthy respect” for the tool where you will be able to operate it confidently, while also being aware of what it could do if you let your resolve waiver. The same is true with chainsaws and any other tool.

I’m going to give you 3 resources that really helped me get the most out of mine.

The first two are videos that cover some techniques on zeroing your blade. (Note, mine is belt drive and hangs off the back so it’s slightly different, but a majority of what they cover is for ALL table saws).

Stumpy Nubs - Aligning table saw : This is the only reference I’ve seen outside some much older resources that cover adjusting the table at 45*. This REALLY helps move it from very good to great in my experience.

Workshop Companion - Table Saw Tuning : This is FANTASTIC as the history of the old table saw he’s working on is interesting, and he really explains the why’s behind each adjustment. He has a short about tool vibration where you can see and hear how smoothly you can get an average saw to run. The loudest part on mine is the relay engaging the electric motor now.

Yes, you can get by without spending a weekend tuning and swearing at yourself for wasting your time (theres a period where it absolutely sucks until you’re done), but once you’ve gotten it done and done right, all your cuts will benefit. You’ll have a much more enjoyable time in the shop overall.

The last is a book called The Accurate Tablesaw by Ian J Kirby. This book covers not only some of the topics above, but more on safety and technique. I’ve gotten more out of this book than most other woodworking books I’ve found.

I know the above is a lot (more than I was expecting…) but I DO hope this helps some as you continue your journey. Remember to have fun with it! And reach out if you ever need an ear to bounce ideas off of. I’ll try to not be so long winded next time…!

A healthy fear of the table saw is what has kept me safe all these years. Fear it, respect it when you use it.

I appreciate all the comments here validating OP's trepidation around the table saw. Dull men are cautious, and dull men are way more likely to have all ten fingers.

When I bought my table saw, I grabbed some scrap wood and just did some cuts to practice being safe around the blade. Didn’t bother with measuring, just did the cuts to get the feel for the tool

High four, dude! Congrats!!

(keep the sausages clear of that blade…)

Ok, I saw your saw and now can go to see other things. Try not to cut off anything important from your body.

Wait, why such a sharp and interesting machine on the Dull Men's Club?

Let that terror become healthy respect for the danger and start building shit.

;)

If you're cutting really dense or thick boards, like you said melamine, then you'll want to find a way to "attach" the saw legs to the floor. That style of table saw WILL move when you are pushing baords through it.

Stay safe brother, have fun rippin!

I actually prefer the circular saw + jig combo for heavier/denser boards.

Nice saw, don’t cut your fingers off.

I had the same situation but chickened out and got a track saw. From what I can tell, be aware, be prepared and have the confidence and respect needed to not end up in the ER or worse. You’ll be fine.

Cool bike on the background

I don’t think I’ve ever met a more vicious tool in the home shop than a radial arm saw or table saw. They just want to take a bite out of you, either via the blade itself or kicking some piece of material back hard and fast enough to take a piece of you with it. A table router is second to that.

Cool workshop