DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:

wrote:

for most straightforward ripping operations, you want the blade between
your body and the fence so that as you push the wood through you
naturally push it against the fence. you want your primary arm closer
to in line with the blade, so that the rest of your body is farther
from being in line with the blade. so if you are right handed, you want
to stand to the left of the blade, with the fence to the right of the
blade.

special saw operations can vary, and if you're left handed flip
everything...

George E. Cawthon wrote:

I must be dim

weeeeell.... now there's a provocative statement. so I googled you. I
don't think you are dim, and you clearly are not an asshole, and you
post to help people. so I'll see what I can do.

but I don't understand that. When
you rip, you want to push on the part of the wood
that is between the fence and the blade, correct?

well, you want to keep the part of the wood between the blade and the
fence tight against the fence, if that is what you mean.

And you do not want to stand behind that part,
correct?

you want to position your body where it will be out of line of a
kickback. that is, not in line with the blade.

So if you stick you right hand straight
out (like a push), you can push the appropriate
part of the only by having the fence to the left
of the blade.

not sure I follow you here. your sentence seems to have a word or two
missing....

but, think about it like this. you are pushing the wood through the
blade. if you have the blade on the other side of the fence from your
body, you have to pull the wood against the fence. pushing to feed
while pulling against the fence is more awkward than pushing to feed
while pushing against the fence. the first is a push/pull operation,
while the second is a push/push operation.

if table saws had been invented by classical japanese woodworkers,
we'd probably be pulling the wood through. heck, it might be way better
that way. but that isn't this thread....

Otherwise you are reaching across
the blade at the end of the cut.

before the blade, you only have one piece of wood. after the blade you
have two pieces of wood. the one between the blade and the fence is the
one you are controlling. the one away from the fence (cutoff) is left
to fall away. do not reach over the blade. if the workpiece is too
narrow to handle safely use a push stick.

I am (trying to) describe how _I_ do it. it works for me. I have been
cutting up wood on table saws for a while now, and have developed and
been taught methods that work for me and generally feel safe to me. if
you do it differently, get good results and have a good safety record
at it, _I_ sure 'aint gonna be the one to tell you that _you_ are doing
it *wrong*...

I appreciate you statement, but I just don't
understand where a right handed person puts there
hands/push sticks if you have the fence to the
right of the blade. And yes, I left out "wood,"
i.e., ". . .push the appropriate part of the wood
.. . ."

Let's say I'm making a 6" wide rip. I put my left
hand forward and my right hand is at the rear of
the wood pushing. Both hands actually push the
wood against the fence, or if I really worry about
a kickback I stand with my body entirely left of
the fence so my hand more or less pull the wood by
friction toward the fence.

If I had the fence to the right, I would still
want to control the movement of the wood into the
saw with my right hand which means my left hand
would be forward a bit and my right hand at the
back. That would be awkward for me. The only
non-awkward way would be to have my right hand
forward and my left hand back, pushing the wood
into the blade. I've been using a table saw a lot
for only the past 15 years; but helped may dad
with long pieces and sheets starting more than 30
years before that.

So, my question is where specifically do you place
your hands. For convenience, assume a 10" board
3 feet long you want an 8" wide by 3' long piece.

Oops, I just thought, maybe we have a left/right
designation problem since I've seen that people
don't always agree on which end of the saw is the
front. Left and right of the saw to me, is
determined by facing the saw as you would push
wood into the blade.