*A splitter is
absolutely a great thing. *Guards? *I'm just not a fan.

I think most pro shops do eventually take off all the guards. I think
as a pro you do somehwat repetitive processes and become aware of safe
vs non-safe motions. Regardless, while your experience has been very
little blood, the national statistics are pretty clear and hundreds of
people loose digits and worse every year.

Here is a quote from a lawyer who takes saw injury cases.

"Every 9 minutes a person in the United States is injured using a
table saw. Ten people everyday suffer amputations. "

Every nine mimutes. Wow, I would not want to be that person or one of
those other 10 people. You think they would become more careful after
a while.

And then seriously another study by Science Daily says
"A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy
of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that
from 1990-2007, an estimated 565,670 non-occupational table saw-
related injuries were treated in US hospital emergency departments,
averaging 31,500 injuries per year."

Again note: "Non-occupational" I think pros are more careful.