Table Saw Safety

Whether you are just starting out using a table saw or have used one for years, it's important to review safety basics before a serious accident happens. With the proliferation of table saws out there, accidents are rare but DO happen. Step back and refresh your memory and habits when it comes to operating your table saw every few months, and the table saw will give you years of service with no accidents.

Let's start with the OBVIOUS safety practices:

1) Always wear quality safety glasses that wrap around the sides of the eye. Wood splinters can bounce around and find their way into your eyeball. The smallest piece of wood propelled by your table saw can puncture your cornea.

2) Always wear form fitting clothes. Never work with open jacket or shirt cuffs as they may be pulled into the spinning blade. Never wear a necktie when near power equipment.

3) Never operate a table saw or other power equipment when tired or impaired in any manner.

Now for some Not so Obvious Practices

4) Make sure your floor area is clean and free of cut pieces and power chords. Tripping by a spinning power saw can be lethal.

5) Always use a sharp blade. Dull blades tend to tear through wood, and often catch the wood and kick it at the operator.

6) Buy the most powerful saw you can afford. A more powerful saw will continue to cut on its intended path and stall less. A stalling saw can throw wood at you, still at high velocity.

7) Clean your safety glassed frequently. Dusty glasses can impair vision, making your working conditions dangerous.

8) Clean the blade, especially the sides by the teeth with a solvent every few days. Sap from wood cutting can build a film on the blade and make the blade stick to the wood and throw it at you.

9) Do not remove safety features like the blade guard from the saw.

10) Always unplug the saw when making adjustments or changing blades. Saw power switches have been known to trip on when moving or shaking a saw with disastrous injuries.

11) Use a push stick when moving wood through the saw. Keep fingers at least 6 to 8 inches from the blade. When you use a push stick, use a stick with an underside step that keeps the wood down on the table. Assume that the push stick is your hand. Just because it is a piece of wood does not mean you can let it contact the blade. This promotes sloppy habits and a push stick that hits the blade may be flung from your hand, or worse yet pull your hand down into the blade.

12) Try to work with someone nearby in case you are injured. Keep a phone nearby and work alone only if you have no choice.

13. Make sure that the blade plate in the saw table is in good condition. If it is cracked, or parts are missing, have it replaced immediately.

14. When making angled cuts, orient the rip fence so that it is opposite the top side of the blade. You can keep wood from drifting up the blade with a push stick. If you place the rip fence on the low side of the blade, the wood can jam and get kicked back. In tight situations, you cannot safely push the wood through, even with a push stick.

15. Periodically check that the blade and rip fence are parallel. Even cheaper table saws have a provision for making minor adjustments to the blade alignment. If you have the blade and rip fence at converging angles, you can pinch the wood and have it thrown at you.

16. Add a bit of oil to the table grooves where your miter gauge slides through. The miter guide should slide smoothly. If you need to push it with force, you may abruptly slide it and slip into the spinning blade.

That's about it. One last recommendation: Always think about your cuts before hand and take your time. Haste makes waste and missing fingers!