everyone makes mistakes i know i've made my share sometimes those mistakes have come from inexperience some are the result of being a hurry and not thinking things through and some mistakes are simply born out of stupidity okay jaime [Music] [Applause] i can't help stupid people but i can help you by sharing some of the biggest table saw mistakes i've witnessed over the years some of which are pretty common and i bet you've done them yourself and didn't even know how lucky you were to not be injured each of these examples have the potential to send you to the emergency room so pay close attention and let's get started overconfidence is a good place to begin because this can cause us to do many of the things that follow in this video when we've gotten away with doing something careless a few times we start to think we're immune to the danger or that it's been overstated not too long ago i saw a large woodworking channel on youtube demonstrating how to cut a tenon by putting a narrow board on end like this and moving it past the blade with his fingers alone i can't tell you how stupid that is if anything goes wrong if the work piece rotates slightly if it tips if it pinches or catches even a little bit your fingers are going to be gone before you even feel the blade touch you the thing is i read through that video's comment section and i saw a lot of viewers defending such a reckless practice with the all too common refrain of he's a pro he does this all the time he knows his skill level and his limitations clearly he doesn't because no amount of skill in the world will save you when the inevitable finally happens just because you've gotten away with doing something careless in the past even if it's many times doesn't mean you will the next time you try i've met a lot of nine fingered woodworkers over the years across the country at woodworking shows and such and most of them weren't inexperienced weekend warriors who were injured out of ignorance they were pros many with decades of experience who never thought it would happen to them overconfidence is perhaps the most dangerous table saw accessory you can have an example of overconfidence is how a lot of people think they won't be cut by a table saw if they just keep their eye on the blade and don't touch it with their fingers so you see them placing their fingers really close to the blade like this when making narrow rip cuts for example what they don't realize is that you don't have to put your finger into the blade intentionally to lose a finger a table saw can pull a nearby hand into that blade faster than you could ever react to keep it away we'll talk more about how it can do that shortly but for now let me just say that it is imperative that you keep your hands sufficiently away from the blade so if something does go wrong it can't be pulled into the danger zone that means using some type of pusher for all narrow rips how narrow well as a general rule if you can spread your fingers and touch the fence with your pinky and the blade with your thumb then you should make that cut with a pusher so keep one nearby at all times and use it for these narrow ribs because just one quick cut can lead to one long day in the emergency room it's one thing to use a pusher it's another to use it properly engaging it too early before the work piece is sufficiently supported on top of the saw can cause the end of the board to lift upwards and that can drop back down on top of the blade and potentially kick back towards you likewise using a push stick that's way off center like right over here by the fence that can cause a work piece to twist particularly a small work piece and that could put pressure against the side of the blade and potentially cause a kickback as well so learn to use your pusher at the right time when the work piece is fully supported on top of the saw and centered as best as you can as you complete your cut table saws are designed to cut wood after it's been milled straight and flat they're not designed to cut boards that may be warped or cupped or boat if a board is not flat it can easily shift during the cut especially as it's being ripped into two pieces this can lead to a violent kickback and potentially a serious injury so if you must cut a rough board it is better to do it on a bandsaw a table saw requires a flat surface to lay on top of the table and a straight edge to run against the fence a table saws fence is made for ripping it is not made for cross cutting if you try to run the narrow end of a long work piece against the fence you'll find it very difficult to keep that board from tilting during the cut and this can cause a kickback but how narrow is too narrow well as a general rule if the distance between the blade and the fence is greater than the length of the edge that you're putting against the fence then you should treat this as a cross cut and use a sled or a miter gauge to guide and steady your work piece as you make your cut i call this a general rule because large work pieces may be easier to keep steady with the fence alone for example i might cross cut a full sheet of plywood at 50 inches even though only 48 inches of the end of the sheet is against the fence so use common sense if you really have to try hard to keep the work piece steady then it is not a candidate for cutting with the rip fence when making a cross cut with a miter gauge it can seem really handy to use your rip fence as an index for example if i want to cut five inches off the end of this board i might be tempted to set my rip fence to five inches on the scale lock it in place put the end of my board against the rip fence as an index and then use the miter gauge to steady it as i make the cut with the two together the problem is this offcut can turn as it comes loose from the board and as it does it can become wedged between the fence and the blade and kick back at you you have to keep the rip fence far enough away from the blade to allow for any potential movement as this offcut comes loose if you really want to use the rip fence as an index attach some sort of stop block well ahead of the blade so that you can reference off that before you proceed forward to make your cut if this stop block is of a known thickness such as an inch and a half then you can just add that number to the scale on your fence an exception to this rule is when you're making a non through cut such as when cutting tenons or lap joints where all the material that the blade is removing is turned into dust so there's no loose offcut that can be caught this one is simple don't reach over the blade to retrieve an off cut until the blade has come to a complete stop i've seen more table saw injuries caused by ignoring this rule than perhaps any other if you don't have the patience to wait before you reach you're too rushed and you shouldn't be working with the table saw in the first place another simple but often ignored rule is to keep your body 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