Now that's a kickback!

[Humanbackhoe]

Agreed.

[DCM]

where were you pushing on the panel? The reason I ask is I had a kickback on a panel about that size & the reason it bicked back was my bad - I was pushing close to the fence which made it rotate enough to press the bd into the back of the blade - up & away - right into my gut...

Glad you escaped injury.
David

[Humanbackhoe]

Actually, I was using a push stick in the center of the board, but, fundamentally, this was a doomed cut set up.

[Rick Christopherson]

Humanbackhoe said:

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The cut was a 22 1/2* bevel with an obvious bevel/fence set up mistake. So, I"m asking, in your estimation, would the splitter have cancelled out the set up problem?

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I am sorry for sounding like a broken record, but the cause of this type of kickback is almost always the same, and it is not because you were beveling with the blade tilted toward the fence.

• First and foremost, it is because your blade height was kept too low, especially for a bevel rip.
• Secondly, you were using a push-stick on a wide rip. By doing this, you did not maintain complete control of the workpiece and permitted it to begin rotation into the blade.
• The tilting blade did not cause the problem, it actually tried to stop the kickback!! Unfortunately, this is the reason why the kickback was so intense, because it fully committed the blade to cut the full depth of the stock without being able to ride up over the top.

If you had not been using a push stick on such a wide rip, the tilted blade would actually have slowed this down enough at the beginning to regain control and get the leading edge of the board back into the fence. Without the direct feedback of having your hand on the stock, you didn't have a chance to stop it from happening.

[Rick Christopherson]

By the way, it is a misconception that a blade tilted into the fence causes more kickbacks than a blade tilted away from the fence. It is actually the total opposite.

You are more likely to get a kickback when the blade is tilted away from the fence, but the resulting kickback will not be as violent--but a kickback nevertheless.

A right-tilted blade helps reduce the chance of getting a kickback, but if you let one propagate to the point of a full kickback, it will be extremely violent, as we have seen here.

[Humanbackhoe]

Thanks for the response, Rick, the gullet trough was at the height of the top of the board, if this is too low, how much higher should the blade height have been? I have been using the Grip-tites and was relying on them too much, hence the push stick on a short wide board. All of my processes are currently under review and I appreciate the input.

[Jim Tincher]

Do you have a picture of the push stick?

[Lumber Yard®]

Rick,
Once the board on a trapped bevel cut starts to rise on the back side it is gone because the the long part of the material is thrust into the short distance of the blade. You are correct that the blade probably helps reducing it getting started but once it starts it is so, violent there isn't a whole lot the user can do to stop it. Conversely a kick back on the opposite side of the blade might get started easier but it is also much easier to stop.

So, in summary I agree with you but still feel that bevel cuts are much safer if they are tilted away from the fence.

[Humanbackhoe]

I can get one for you. It is a common plastic handled one with a 3/4" notch, about 10" long. It is not the one that lays on top of the board with a little heel that engages it.

[Puffin]

The push stick is a large part of the problem. I haven't had kickback since I started using a push block instead.

A splitter would certainly have helped, but I don't use them on bevels either...