"Leon" wrote in message
...
How did you rip the other piece to
4" wide? I don't understand why you felt that cut was safe but this
one is freaking you out.


Ripping a narrow board and cutting to length a short piece of wood are two
different matters. He simply used the wrong procedure to shorten the
piece of wood. Any time the wood is almost as wide as it is long and use
the fence you run the increased risk of the piece binding, for what ever
reason, and being thrown back at you. The guard "will not" prevent this,
guards "do not" prevent kick back when short pieces are being cut.

If it's safe to do so, there is reason to prefer to use the setup that's
already dialed in and locked on the saw. There is a point where it's too
skinny, too short, or the unguided cutoff is too long. 5"x4" with a 1"
cutoff doesn't ring my alarm bells. Somewhere in between is the realm of
self-fulfulling prophecies. It won't bind if it's well controlled and held
firmly to the fence. If it doesn't bind, it won't kink into the blade and
kickback. If you can control it well enough with a pushstick, use the
pushstick. I think you'll agree that the hand has better grip, feedback, and
control than the stick. If that weren't the case, we would all use a pusher
even on 30" or wider rips.