On 24 Aug 2005 22:35:38 -0700, wrote:

big snip

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 think that pretty well sums it all up. How you do it has to be what
you feel comfortable with, and what your personal preferences are.

Back in the halcyon days of my Navy career ('58-'88) most of the bases
had, as part of their recreational facilities, a woodshop that could
be used for a small fee. Some were very well equipped, some only
minimally, but all had at least one Unisaw.

(As an aside, some of these shops were exceptionally well equipped
except for one thing. Not one of them had a jointer!)

There must have been some obscure Navy regulation in effect because
without exception all these Unisaws were set up as right tilt/fence
left/miter gauge right. On the few occasions that I changed this I
was usually chastized by the shop manager.

Now, I'm one of those guys thats mostly right handed but for others
I'm a lefty. Using a shovel, or swinging a baseball bat are
definitely left-handed operations for me.

This probably explains why I was always extremely uncomfortable using
those Unisaws as they were set up.

While caution is always the watchword, my comfort level goes way up
when using the left tilt/fence right setup compared to the opposite
configuration. To some degree I think this contributes to the overall
quality of whatever project is at hand.

As already stated so succinctly by Bridger let your experience and
your safety record be your guide, and if you're comfortable with what
you're doing then don't worry about how the rest of the world is doing
it.