Kickback on a tablesaw can be very bad. For example, my accident. Mistake: I decided to rip a piece of wood that would not lay flat on the saw. I was just about through the length of the wood when the wood rocked on the table, the blade grabbed a part of the board which was roughly 1/2" x 1 1/2 " x 10 inches in length and flung it at my face at high speeds. I never saw it coming. I was wearing Ansi approved safety goggles similar to these http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Colored-Safety-Goggles/dp/B000G3G1OK.
The shock of the stick being driven into my head immediately blinded me in both eyes. It was pitch black. I wasn't sure what had happened but I had enough sense to sit down. I was seriously dazed. The saw was still running, but I managed to turn it off as I sat on the floor. I could tell that I was bleeding, but I couldn't see anything and my no one was home but me. So I just sat there for what seemed like a very long time. My vision began to return in my right eye so I went into the house and headed for a mirror expecting the worse. I was pretty sure that I had lost my left eye. It hurt like crazy and there was zero vision. Much to my surprise my eyeball was still intact but I had a cut over my eye that was making the mess. Afterward, with one eye, I surveyed the damage: Lens in goggles was dented and creased directly in the center of the left eye. Lens was driven out of the soft plastic goggle body. So the wood hit me directly in the center of the left eye lens and drove the plastic lens out of the soft frame and into my left eye cavity. Just about that time my wife arrived home. She drove me to two Emergency rooms, as the first one could not handle an eye injury so they directed me to a different hospital. After Xrays, several different doctors, and a late night visit from an Ophthalmologist who did not want to be called in (it was a Sunday night). I finally got released with some stitches, pills, and a left eye patch. They were initially concerned that the impact had broken my eye socket inside my head and I could have internal bleeding. Fortunately the thin bone socket behind my left eyeball was not damaged. Just a bad case of bruising and shock to the Optic nerve. They were a little concerned that the nerve could become detached so I had some followup visits. No detachment. :-) Days later the sight in my left eye began to return. It was months before my sight fully recovered in my left eye. I later found the stick that did the damage. It bounced quite a ways off the goggle lens and landed behind some other equipment. It it hit me pointy end first (it was tapered as I was trying to trim the board straight) and hit so hard that the wood at the end of the stick was visibly bent over much like it was hit hard by a hammer. If I had not been wearing the goggles I think it is very possible that I would have been killed by the stick being driven into my eye socket. There was ample force. If not, the eye would have been likely lost. Anyway, Ansi approved safety glasses and a face shield is not a bad idea when using a table saw. I am now in the market for a riving knife for my Delta Unisaw. :-) Dave On 6/2/2011 12:06 PM, Kirk Wallace wrote: > Thanks for bringing this up. I have never had a kick-back, so I was > pretty much unaware of the problem. I'll give it more thought now. The > saw that does make me nervous is the radial arm saw with its > self-energizing feed. A feed control might be an improvement, but so far > I've just tried to be extra careful. > > http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuide/ToolGuideArticle.aspx?id=31896 > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Simplify data backup and recovery for your virtual environment with vRanger. > Installation's a snap, and flexible recovery options mean your data is safe, > secure and there when you need it. Discover what all the cheering's about. > Get your free trial download today. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/quest-dev2dev2 > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Simplify data backup and recovery for your virtual environment with vRanger. Installation's a snap, and flexible recovery options mean your data is safe, secure and there when you need it. Discover what all the cheering's about. Get your free trial download today. http://p.sf.net/sfu/quest-dev2dev2 _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
