My "Dear" brother sent me an email this morning with the subject "You
were Lucky" and a picture of a badly mutilated left hand. With the
middle and little finger badly damaged, and the finger between gone.

I called to find out what happen and he said it was a friend near his
lake cottage. His friend had the accident on a table saw. Seeing the
picture he must have been cutting on the right side of the blade, and
got his hand in it as he made a cross grain cut.


"You were lucky" refereed to my accident about 9 years ago. I had set up
the table saw to rip a piece of trim. I usually set an out feed feather
board with slight tension to keep the board against the fence in the
final ` couple inches of the cut.

I don't know what I was thinking as I set the out feed board to the
width of the piece I was cutting, not to the width of the board I was
ripping. In readjusting the out feed I got my fingers in the blade.
Fortunately it is my practice to expose the blade a little more that an
1/8" above the board being cut, so I only cut the skin on end of one
finger, and brushed another.

I made a STUPID mistake, but I was lucky.

PLEASE THINK THROUGH YOUR TABLE SAW SET UPS. Once the set up is
complete, go through the motions of the cut with the saw turned off.
Consider all of the things that can possibly go wrong. Keep people and
yourself from directly in front or in back of the blade. Make sure there
are no obstructions for the board to hit as it passes through the saw.
Is there room for at the end of the saw to accommodate the piece being
ripped? Is there obstructions that are going to be hit on the sides as
the cut is being made?

DON'T GET COMPLACENT WITH YOUR SAW

Make sure any possible distraction are controlled like people and
animals coming in your shop.

It is difficult to do some things with out fingers, a hand. or worse

SO BE CAREFUL