On 5/27/2012 11:10 AM, Swingman wrote:
On 5/26/2012 9:57 PM, Bill wrote:
I would NOT have expected that holding the insert down with a push stick
could lead to such dire consequences as occurred here.
No disrespect, but your expectation shows a lack of experience with using a
table saw (not something folks are born with, so don't take that personally). 
The approach used in this instance is absolutely guaranteed to have such "dire
consequences", exactly as it did.
IOW, this was NOT an accident, it was a guaranteed outcome with an almost 100%
chance of failure, catastrophic of otherwise.
What happened is an absolute indication of inexperience with a table saw or,
less likely, but more charitably, a momentary case of the stupids on the part
of the amputee.
Simply put, the only way safe for a two handed woodworker, working alone, to
accomplish this job is to use a _mechanical_ method that will apply a stable
and _consistent_ downward force on the insert that is greater than the upward
force of both the rotating blade teeth, and the elevating mechanism.
IOW it is not something you want to attempt to accomplish alone, with just two
available hands ... i.e, one turning the elevation crank, and the other
attempting to apply the necessary downward force in any manner, INCLUDING USING
A PUSH STICK OF ANY DESIGN.
Except for the upward force on the insert, Steve stated the other problem
clearly and concisely in a subsequent post:
On 5/26/2012 9:41 PM, Steve Turner wrote:
Really? You don't see anything dangerous about the blade coming up
through the center of a block of wood that has no real protection
from side-to-side or front-to-back movement?
For future reference, bookmark a link to this video showing precisely how to
accomplish this task safely and efficiently, _in detail_ :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eZ9QaOeUxM
For your future safety, you will want to pointedly ignore anything anyone has
said, or will say, to the contrary.
Thank you Karl. I may not be the BEST at explaining things, but hopefully with
the addition of your concise clarification, no other readers of this group will
be tempted to try the boneheaded method that caused my acquaintance to lose his
finger.
--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/