Shopsmith Forums

I don't know where, when or why I got this but I thought it might be something to share.

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On a cautionary note, the drawings in this article show the featherboard overlapping the saw blade. This could cause you to get hurt by allowing the offcut to be pushed into the blade at the end of the rip cut and thereby causing it, the offcut, to be launched at you. The featherboard should be placed in front of (before) the saw blade so that the wood clears the featherboard before the cut is completed.

pennview wrote:On a cautionary note, the drawings in this article show the featherboard overlapping the saw blade. This could cause you to get hurt by allowing the offcut to be pushed into the blade at the end of the rip cut and thereby causing it, the offcut, to be launched at you. The featherboard should be placed in front of (before) the saw blade so that the wood clears the featherboard before the cut is completed.

If you are saying that the featherboard should be moved an inch or two back toward the operator, I would not disagree. However, I am not seeing this exactly as you do. The featherboard is on the infeed side of the blade and at no time puts pressure on the cut off.

A featherboard passed on the output side of the blade is an absolute NO-NO. This is where the riving knife takes over.

What is important, by my way of seeing this, is that you be comfortable with a set up. If you are not comfortable, don't do it. Being apprehensive when using power tools is in itself a safety issue.

I wonder if Shopsmith ever got any licensing fees from other vendors for this patent, or did the other manufacturers just wait until Shopsmith's patent ran out before jumping on the bandwagon?

Gary

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I would imagine that the manufacture that Shopsmith used to build these had a contract that would give them the right to continue to use their existing molds after the patent expired or if Shopsmith ceased to exist.

I think that is very common issue and is normally included in most manufacturing contracts.

All they had to do then was find someone interested in selling them if they didn't do it themselves.

In the photos shown in this article, the "offcut" refers to the piece of wood to the to the left of the saw blade that remains when the rip cut is finished. The featherboard appears to overlap the saw blade by a small amount and if you were to set up a saw with the featherboard overlapping the saw blade in this fashion, when you finish the cut, the trailing end of the offcut will be pushed back into the blade and result in a possible kick back of the offcut.

I expect that most woodworkers understand that the featherboard should be placed before the blade, but I'd hate to see someone get hurt because the didn't know the proper procedure and simply assumed that what was shown in the photo was the way to do it.

pennview wrote:In the photos shown in this article, the "offcut" refers to the piece of wood to the to the left of the saw blade that remains when the rip cut is finished. The featherboard appears to overlap the saw blade by a small amount and if you were to set up a saw with the featherboard overlapping the saw blade in this fashion, when you finish the cut, the trailing end of the offcut will be pushed back into the blade and result in a possible kick back of the offcut.

I expect that most woodworkers understand that the featherboard should be placed before the blade, but I'd hate to see someone get hurt because the didn't know the proper procedure and simply assumed that what was shown in the photo was the way to do it.

You are correct! With the featherboard set where it is, there is a greater chance of kickback. That loose piece (left of the blade) is tight against the blade because of the featherboard. Furthermore, if not using a splitter (riving knife), chances for a kickback are even greater.

If cutting light weight (small) pieces this way, the hazards are still greater. Large pieces are a little less likely to be picked up by the back of the blade.