In article , (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , (Malcolm Hoar)
wrote:

What is mystifying is how the projectile was launched in
the first place. I have a hard time believing a saw of any
kind would be able to transfer sufficient energy to the
molding. I don't think a saw or other tool accident would
have resulted in this "angle of attack" either.

Google "table saw kickback" and perhaps you won't have quite such a hard time
believing it. :-)

Tip speed of a 10" table saw blade is about 110 mph.
Motors in the type of table saw found on job sites are typically in the 0.75
to 1.5 HP range.

1 HP isn't a huge amount and a saw blade doesn't have a
huge mass. Kickback can certainly hurl a chunk of
wood across the room/shop. But it takes a lot of energy
to throw what looks to be a sizable piece of molding
across a construction site -- 7.5 feet vertical and
50ft plus horizontal, apparently.

The horsepower of the motor doesn't matter much in this
kind of scenario -- the stored energy in the spinning
blade is what matters. And I don't think that would be
sufficient. But that's why I asked for the OP's estimate
of the mass of that molding. I'm guessing it's at least
a couple of pounds.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
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