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To all members . Please be aware that accidents can happen so fast as to make your head spin. Sunday I was in the shop , ripping plywood . As I reached to clear a piece I had ripped it kicked back and threw my thumb on the blade.
My Father always told me to only set the blade as high as you would want to get cut. Well I get to keep my thumb , I did nick the bone in my right thumb. I should have used a push stick
Do not get complacent if I can save one person from getting hurt this was worth it. Having the blade set where I did , while giving me a serious cut I still have my thumb and feeling as well as movement. I thank the good lord for that.
Thanks for your well wishes I hope this message makes you think when you turn on that machine.

OMG, I hope you heal quickly. I will certainly heed your warning.

Heal well and fast. I will take your admonition to heart.

Scariest tool in the shop in my opinion. I don't use my table saw unless absolutely necessary.
So glad it was not more serious John and thank you for the reminder to be oh so careful.

Yike! hopefully no tendons. Thank you for the reminder and I hope your thumb heals quickly. I have been so scared of a table saw I bought a sawstop table saw.

Interesting point on the height of the blade. A Swedish industrial insurance videos I saw teaches having the blade as tall as possible when ripping because it reduces kickback. With a low blade almost 1/2 of the energy of the blade is pushing the board back, with a high blade almost none of the energy is pushing the wood back. The video assumes a riving blade and a guard. Of course the tall blade makes the inadvertent pass through the blade with fingers much worse. I have seen videos showing that even a push stick does not save you from a fast kickback. That is why I now have the sawstop.

I am seriously thinking of the saw stop. I don't want to rely on the SS but these may save a finger and that makes it worth it.

I work on 2 tall ships and each one has a SawStop 3 HP. It is an excellent table saw, and it gives you great confidence when using it. Expensive, but if you are buying a new cabinet saw anyway, not so much.

Ed

Parenthetical comment:

I found that one bit of shop discipline helps me avoid injury: Don't work tired. I stop work at ten PM, and I won't work in a rush to finish. Had one adventure two years ago with a router, it gave me religion (as well as time out of the shop to consider what I did to make a problem for myself). I'll never make 'just one more cut' ever again!

this happened at 10am and kick back was the culprit One can never be too safe . I am lucky as I am not in much pain and I can feel and move . Tomorrow I see a hand specialist but expect good news. Will keep you posted

tippie53 wrote:I am seriously thinking of the saw stop. I don't want to rely on the SS but these may save a finger and that makes it worth it.

I've seen reports of injuries about equally severe as yours with Saw Stop. However, it would still be nice to know that's about as bad as it's likely to get.