Fred wrote:

"LRod" wrote in message
...

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 09:18:13 -0700, David wrote:



think about this: which way is a piece propelled during a kickback?
Would you want to have a firm grasp on a board that is going to be
forcefully ejected towards the front of the saw, dragging your hand into
the blade because you have chosen unwisely to PULL a board through? DOH!

See my response to your other post.

Think yanking a tablecloth off a fully set table.

--



Besides if you have the blade guard on, the chances of a kickback is less
and if you're pulling from the back, the worse is you hands smashing into
the blade guard. I don't want to push the piece into the blade guard since I
don't have a clear vision under the guard. I guess we are assuming most of
us don't use blade gards which includes me as well.

I've been ripping long narrow (1/4" or less) this morning and pulling from
the back - seems to me it's safer to pull from the back than push into the
blade with only 1/4" or less clearance. But I could be wrong but lucky for
25 years.

As far as pulling from the back I see contractors do that all the time even
see them doing it on the home improvement shows. For long pieces I don't
think I've seen a contractor pushing it all the way and a some point he is
going to go around and pull it - it just seem like a natural process but
again could be wrong technique. I wonder has anyone seen Norm pulling from
the back? He doesn't use a blade guard either.


One of the FEW kickbacks I've had on my Unisaw came within the first day
or two of firing it up. The guard's plastic shield rested on the
workpiece at an angle due to the narrowness of the piece and forced it
to twist, resulting in a horrendous kickback. Right after that
incident, after I evaluated why it happened, I removed the offending
part. I rarely (not NEVER; just RARELY) use a splitter either. I can
see where the blade is, and I keep my precious fingers WELL away from
it. I use push blocks and push sticks.

Good technique prevents kickbacks except for the case of relieved
tension in a board that jambs it between the fence and blade.

I'm not suggestion that YOU go sans guard. Just reporting how I prefer
to run MY TS.

YMMV.


Dave