Brian Henderson wrote:


They're anti-kickback pawls, intended to grab the wood you're pushing
through the saw and keep it from shooting back at you. By grabbing
your sled, they're doing exactly what they're intended to do, keep
things from going back toward the user.

Good, now I have a name for them. Thanks

1. Fashion something that will allow me to pull these teeth up and hold
them out of position when the sled is on the table. On crosscuts, I
don't know if this presents any safety problems or not. Please bear
with my ignorance. I don't know if kickback is an issue with crosscuts.
In any event, I could see using the sled for short ripping too.

If you're using a sled, then the pawls are just getting in the way
anyhow. It is difficult with a crosscut sled to get kickback since
the sled itself is keeping the material from being pushed back toward
the user.

Ok, that's good to know. And reassuring.


3. Remove the guard assembly completely when I use the sled. I don't
like this one for a couple of reasons. First, it's a pain to remove and
reattach the entire thing. Second, and most important, I'd have no
guard at all. My thumb is still sore from an accident I had running the
saw in "normal" mode.

I'm not sure how your guard is set up that allows you to push a
crosscut sled through it with the guard engaged anyhow. Usually only
over-arm or over-head guards will allow that, most of them will only
tilt up, but would hit the rear fence of the sled and stop it from
sliding forward to complete the cut.

I didn't describe my sled completely. I don't have a rear fence on the
sled, something that I'd not even considered until I started thinking
more about this issue, and did some research on the web. It looks like
I may be redesigning or rebuilding that sled.

My saw is old, and I doubt that it was a particularly good one in the
beginning. The guard assembly, including the anti-kickback pawls, is
attached to the frame with two bolts that frankly are a PITA to remove
and put back on again. Better quality saws may allow the whole thing to
swing up and out of the way but mine doesn't.

As charlie said, knowledge is power, and I'm beginning to think that
this saw might be more trouble than it's worth. However, I can't afford
a new one ATM, so I'm going to fiddle with it and see if I can hinge
the assembly or at least make removal and reattachment an easier task.

Thanks for your reply.

Tanus