6 common things you might be doing wrong with your table saw

Avoid these common tablesaw mistakes to get better, safer cuts.

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[caelanmorris]

Hi Steve,
I am 12 years old from Australia, you were the person who inspired me to start woodworking. I stumbled upon you about a year ago when I saw you purple bench video i realised that I could make that too. Ever since I have set up a shop on the side of my house in an area 9ft by 30ft. I have a 80 dollar table saw and 60 dollar mitre saw and I have made some beautiful pieces to go in my house and my garden. I mostly use pallet wood as in Australia timber can be quite expensive for a kid that does not earn any money. Right now I am in 8th grade taking wood shop class to try and improve my skills as I woodworker. I would like to thank you for inspiring me to get off my butt and make something with my hands. Many people say that I am crazy using a table saw, mitresaw and router at my age, but after watching your series of how to use power tools safely and effectively I am confident to use these tools to make great things with them. I very much agree that you can make amazing things with very cheap tools. I am very thankful for the videos you produce that inspire people like me to get off my butt and do something.
Thanks

[callum]

I can offer some insight into professional practice with table saws. As mentioned safe cutting requires force in three directions. Forward through the blade, downwards against the table and finally pressure to register it to the fence. A mistake many people make is to set their blade low, only slightly higher than the thickness of wood they are cutting. I understand their thinking is that if there's less blade protruding then there's less chance of contacting it. However, consider this... If your blade is only set just high enough to make a through cut then your blade will exert force in a horizontal direction. Firstly that means you're now pushing harder to slide your work through the blade but more importantly you're missing out on a huge safety benefit of setting the blade at 75-100% of it's height. When you set your blade high it will exert force vertically onto your work piece, it's enough force that you do not have to assist the blade to keep the work flat on the table. This is an enormous safety benefit. Kickback is when you're going to get hurt, and if you set the blade low to make your cuts the work will want to lift off the table, and you will get kick back. That's why people use two push sticks, when in reality if you set the fence high you can effortlessly and precisely slide your work through the blade with a single push stick focusing only on keeping your work registered to the fence. This is exceptionally important when making rip cuts. Now you can use your free left hand in a stationary position set behind the blade to apply light pressure against the fence. It will be much more controlled and much less effort than using two push sticks and setting the blade low. One beneficial side effect of these practices is that now you don't have to lower and raise your blade to cut different thicknesses, you just cut wood, nice and simple.

Everyone really should use blade guards too, then there's seriously no reason to even consider lowering the blade. People will disagree but I've never met a professional that sets their blade low to cut, if you try it I'm sure you will experience increased control and you will immediately feel safer.

Thanks for the videos Steve, always something to learn from someone else and I only made this comment because I genuinely feel it can help other people and I notice this practice is very common in the woodworking community.

[catlady]

I like this guy; clear, concise, no loud intro, not goofy and not too serious. Nice shop too. SUBSCRIBED! 👍

[alexdawson]

Appreciate you, guy. I'll take tips from a man with a bit of gray and all ten fingers any day. I'm not a woodworker but remember reading if you set up a workshop, you should use incandescent lighting along with fluorescent tubes. Using fluorescent lighting only can cause a table saw's blade to appear frozen due to strobing. Say you're wearing ear protection so you can't hear the motor, but you see a fleck of wood stuck in the blade. You go to pick it off and your finger goes flying. Same for a spinning lathe, maybe a bench grinder, etc. Thanks again. I suscribed. Alex in Montana

[theimpulse]

I was raised by a single mom who is a bit of a hippie so in my 30's I'm really playing catch up on learning a lot of the stuff most little boys learned from their dads and grandpas. Videos like this help so much. Thanks!

[hopeking]

I don’t own a table saw, I don’t wood work, nor do i ever plan to. I’m just here 3 am living life.

[lmcc]

I used my grrripper for the first time today making some sketchy cuts on pallet braces. It was uneventful. ...so it did a great job!

[manuelgarrido]

Been doing woodworking for a few years...using many wrong "ways"...lucky to have had no mishaps....thank you. This was excellent. Should prevent lots of injuries.

[wilhelmtaylor]

A suggestion: don't let the gripper ride against the rip fence but leave a little gap between them. That way you make sure the wood is what's against the fence for an accurate cut.

[artisanco]

I feel like you forgot a really important safety issue I see often.
It amazes me how often I see people reach past the blade and try to pull there workpiece instead of pushing it all the way through. Usually narrow strips that can still cause kick back with your hands o the wrong side of the blade.
Thanks for helping and trying to keep us all safer.

[cm]

I am always over cautious maybe even nervous when using my table saw. I got tired of replacing saws after burning up these modern cheap ones so I managed to get my hands on an older Rockwell model 12. Awesome and very solid saw powered by a 220 volt motor that alone out weighs most saws out there. But in my mind it is a very powerful tool and can cause very severe injuries if something goes wrong. So always good to watch videos and keep my safety knowledge right on top

[ankushsharma]

I love ur videos alot. I am new in wood working and ur videos helped me alot and make me love more to this field of woodworking. Thank you sooo mch and great doing.

[markbonham]

Thanks for the tips Steve. As a impulsive person I like to keep myself in check with safety tips so if I'm doing something I haven't done in quite a while like use a table saw I will turn on your videos on safety and give a quick watch and all is well! Thanks for the fast, simple and well explained reminders!

[jonathanlambeth]

Great video. I have a small quibble about the design of the push stick though. The angled handle and sharp internal angle create the possibility of the handle breaking if it's made out of weaker material. I'd say the handle needs to be more upright and that the corner needs a radius. For extra safety, always build it out of plywood, never solid wood.

[codyaimes]

I just wanted to leave a thanks, I got a micro jig grr-ripper about a year ago because of your videos and it's improved my confidence with the table saw.

[eloscuro]

I still have a pushblock that I made back in the 1990's. It is one of the nicest ones I have every used. Took about a minute to make. All I did was take a scrap 2x4 and rip about 1/4" off, stopping after the cut about a foot, and cutting the waste off with a hand saw. The finished pushblock is a little more than a foot long and cutting off the waste leave a toe at the back. Very comfortable to hold and holds the wood in all 3 directions securely.

[MRrwmac]

Steve, as you know I won a set of Grippers and have been using them ever since! If I hadn’t won them I was going to buy them. Thanks!
A bit expensive but worth the cost for safety and confidence on the table saw and router table!
Great tips in this video!

[tomhollins]

This info was EXACTLY what I needed. I just setup and calibrated my saw for some upcoming cuts and was trying to figure out how to use it. Never used one before. Thanks.

[thomask]

Happy Sunday! My brand new 1973 Craftsman table saw came with a really nice long-handled wrench. The instructions recommended gently wedging a piece of scrap wood between the blade teeth (NOT on the side of the blade) and the insert-opening to hold the blade still while tightening or loosening the arbor nut. I have an old piece of rough-sawn oak that has been the saw's lifelong constant companion just for this purpose. It has served me well for 45 or so years and yes, I am a living woodworking fossil. I love that saw and it has seen a LOT of blade changeouts but zero injuries. Having a longer wrench than the one you show in the video would be a definite advantage. You are absolutely correct about over torquing that nut. BTW, Kudos on your positive and kind comments on the Micro Jig. I enjoyed your witty advertising. I would love to be a fly on the wall near the Ramsey family breakfast table when you are brainstorming about the next video! Best Wishes! Tom

[asifannur]

thank you sir for the tips,
As beginners, we should find a lot of information about work safety using a table saw,
because work accidents do not know when it happened to ourselves,
and this tips can save us from the danger of accidents using a table saw