Decent Table Saw Videos

[MsNomer]

Stepson in New Hampshire is setting up his grandfather's Craftsman saw--crappy fence, etc., but it's what he wants because of the sentiment.  It has the guard and pawls, which I suspect are cumbersome.

Not only does he not know any of the safety concerns, he doesn't know that he doesn't know. "Just keep your fingers off the blade, right?"  He's never heard of a kickback.  I'm too far away to teach him.  He is OK with YouTube videos, but I'm concerned about all the videos with bad technique.  

So where can I send him for good advice?

[handi]

I do a lot of video work for MicroJig among other companies. They have a ton of video on their YouTube channel on their products and sawing in general.

I work with Microjig because I use their products, I do not use their products because I work with them.

Also, while I get the sentiment, that is no excuse to risk fingers. My first saw had a fence so bad I had to measure it front and back and adjust to make a safe rip. A rip fence and miter gauge upgrade will be like buying a new saw. I started my writing career using an old Craftsman.

I had some old shotguns from my grandfather. I kept them out of sentiment but as a former US Army armorer would never have shot them out of safety concerns.

[Steve N]

I worked 20+ years in Emergency rooms, so much of what I will say is based on the reverse of what I saw there. In every case of a TS injury, there was no guard, or splitter in place. 100%. All I know about MicroJig is even the reps showing it at woodworking shows do so with absolutely no guards, or splitters in place. On an older Craftsman you have 3 basic choices, and actually only one is worthy, since the passing of Bob Ross.

1) Use the crappy guard Craftsman supplied, it is better than nothing, however they are so cheap, most take them off.

2) Bob used to make a aftermarket splitter called the BORK, since his death, evidently no family member has carried on.

3) Lee Styron of Sharkguard The Shark Guard is IMHO the best guard/splitter on the market, bar none. There is a video section on there, and several of the videos, were done by Earl C. known around here as Lumberyard.

So that leaves him with using a product that doesn't work with a real guard, or getting a much better guard to replace a less than wonderful Craftsman guard.

Even if you look at the owners manual of a Saw Stop TS with the finger saving feature that cuts the blade off when it senses flesh, they say quite clearly in the manual on page # 5 that they offer no warranty of safety. So this is the TS saying they are the most safe saw out there. One you will have paid around one thousand dollars more for, will not guarantee safety, they don't even have a disclaimer that they will if you use every device they offer, and always do this, or that. Nope they say it's not safe, at least they won't stand behind it. So that can be scary, but just break it down into %. During all my time in the ER I never saw a guy with a cutting injury while using a guard, not saying they couldn't exist, just that I never saw one. Saw around 75 when they had no guards, varied from small cuts, to massive amputations. I also saw damages done by kickback, when the operator had no spitter in place and had a kickback, which in turn struck them. They were all over the place from just hurts, but no damage done. to an entire tooth extraction, and several off to surgery to stop bleeding of internal injuries, a broken wrist. A broken arm, and shoulder.

[DogwoodTales]

Maybe start with kelly mehler's ts book
Sorry, can't find the forum's link thingy on my smart phone
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-table-...iq=3362841

[MsNomer]

The book is ordered. Thanks.

[Steve N]

Sandor Nagyszalancy has a classic TS tune up video

George Vondriska with a few tips about blade parallelism

George again, TS Safety This is a case where the "other videos" shown on the right are pretty good to just keep watching. Each person hits some of the same (drives it home) but each has something a bit different. Unfortunately I have not seen the ultimate video, that applied to everyones saw.

Good push sticks are a must. If he doesn't have a BS, you may want to make him some basic push sticks. A lot of what you can buy are made of hard plastic, and metal, which doesn't sound near as sacrificial to me as some plywood.

[Handplanesandmore]

SawStop is not about guarantee of safety, but about lowering the risk of serious finger injury. So far, after tens of thousands of saws in the field for so many years, no one single incident of the sawstop feature failing to deploy has been established.

Even billions of dollars spent on the Space Program cannot guarantee the safety of the heroes who must take a calculated risk as part of their profession.

I travel a lot by plane and neither my employer nor the airlines would guarantee the safety of my flights. That's why I have travel insurance 24/7.

Simon