DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
I just purchased my first table saw this weekend and I'm trying to get
a better handle on how to most effectively (and safely) use it. I need
to rip some 2" wide pieces of 3/4" plywood and I'm trying to figure out
the best way to do it where I don't end up wasting a bunch of wood.
Say the plywood is 4' x 4' and I want to cut (4) 2" x 4' strips from
it. It would seem the most accurate way to do this would be to set the
rip fence (which is to the right of the blade) 2" from the blade and
then run the board with the majority of the board to the left of the
blade. My concern is that I'm asking for kickback with the waste side
being so much larger than the piece I'm trying to create. On the other
hand, I've never heard of someone (but I'm new so this doesn't mean
much) putting the waste on the fence side. What's the proper way to
make these cuts?

As a newbie I went down this path and I heartily recommend not cutting
sheetgoods on the table saw. Clamp a straightedge to the goods and use
a good circular saw instead. I realise that you can cut sheetgoods with
a tablesaw and many here do it regularly with no issues but it's not
one of the simpler operations for a newbie to do safely.

Do an Amazon search for TruGrip, I have the 4ft, and 8ft guides and
the sawbase and by using these I can do very accurate, safe cuts on
sheetgoods. Good luck