Shopsmith Forums

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (kids, ask your grandpa what that means) I will again mention splitter and riving knife as essential elements of "being more careful" when ripping. The anti-kickback pawls on the upper guard help too. My old 500 was lacking splitter/guard for years but after my 3rd kickback I finally got a clue. Luckily I never got hit but before I learned my lesson the tally was two shop windows and one piece of shop wall drywall. Wood can move unpredictably and if case hardened stock closes around the back side of a spinning blade it will kickback, end of the story. We can't always tell by looking at a piece of wood whether it will do that or not, so we insert a splitter in the kerf and add some anti-kickback dogs for good measure. Not because we don't know how to run a tablesaw but for reasons similar to why we have auto airbags...just in case.

paulsgreenbarn wrote:.I don't have an upper guard or riving knife. It didn't have had one when I bought it..

For now I'll try harder to be more careful.

thanks for your input.

My two cents worth is they are ALL dangerous. I don't use my SS too often for table saw operations because I have a radial arm and contractors table saw for ripping. But they are all dangerous. Anything with a spinning blade is dangerous - especially so with the inexperienced or the ill-equipped. SS is no better or worse than my Craftsmen or Ryobi saws. The most dangerous thing in the woodshop is the human mind not concentrating on the work and dangers at hand.

WmZiggy wrote:My two cents worth is they are ALL dangerous. I don't use my SS too often for table saw operations because I have a radial arm and contractors table saw for ripping. But they are all dangerous. Anything with a spinning blade is dangerous - especially so with the inexperienced or the ill-equipped. SS is no better or worse than my Craftsmen or Ryobi saws. The most dangerous thing in the woodshop is the human mind not concentrating on the work and dangers at hand.

Exacadackaly!

ChrisNeilan wrote:Exacadackaly!

I agree. Enough said on the topic.