How not to Use a Tablesaw

[Radar67]

Check this video.

http://www.break.com/index/minor-tablesaw-accident1.html

I didn't think anyone could be so careless around machinery...guess I was wrong.

Warning - It is a little graphic.

[Dan_Shade]

I've seen that before, could be faked, but none the less, a tablesaw will do that if you aren't careful.

[Radar67]

You are probably right. I watched it a couple more times and it does look staged.

[sawguy21]

No guard or push stick,  I watched and cringed. The second finger on my left hand is a little shorter than the one on the hand right due to one of those.

[metalspinner]

Looks faked to me.  Although the reality is that it happens everyday. :(

[ADAMINMO]

He even took his glasses from his eyes and put them on top of his head. Must have had glare for the camera? Leaves thumb by blade + safty glasses off eyes = stupidity!!!

As the ventriliquist Jeff Dunham would have the famous "Walter" tell him ... Dumba$$ !!!

[tim1234]

I've seen that before on you Tube.  I don't think it was staged.  That's what happens when you are thinking about shooting a video instead of thinking about the carbide spinning at 4000 RPM in front of you.  It's dangerous enough when you are watching.  I did some remodeling of my thumb with a 3/4" Dado blade back in '95.  Things happen too fast.  You got to listen to that little voice ;)

Tim

[logwalker]

In my not so humble opinion, that video is staged and poorly done at that. He is holding the fake thumb in his hand and it is probably fastened to the board to keep it from moving while the blade cuts it. He never moves his left hand on the board even though it is in a uncomfortable position to make the cut. If you look, the thumb is coming off the hand at an odd angle and he doesn't even flinch when the blade cuts through the bone. And then he continues to make the cut for another 6 inches after he takes his hand off the board. Yea, right. Joe  :D :D :D

[asy]

Gotta admit, I agree with Joe here, it's staged, and badly at that.

Mind you, my father in law has fewer fingernails to trim thanks to one of these, though...

Not fun if you aren't concentrating...

asy :D

[metalspinner]

My BIL's boss - a contractor - is several fingers short courtesy of the table saw.  When last I spoke with him, the medical bill was in the $30,000 range and that was before any type of physical therapy.   I believe his accident happened on a small table top style of contrator saw.  He did not give me details of what he was trying to do. :-[

My wife's grandfather was also shorthanded so to speak because of the tablesaw.  He was working in his shop concentrating on what he was doing when his wife wanted his attention.  She yelled at the top of her lungs over the machine which startled him.  That is all it took. :'(  My wife did that to me once. >:( After which I made it very clear to never do it again.

I am saving up for my next table saw - the Saw Stop.  The specs on it are very high.  Better than the typical lineup of saws out there.  A recent magazine review rated it the best machine of its size on the market - although not the most affordable.

Here is a link to their sight...
http://ww.sawstop.com/

[tim1234]

Sorry,  Have any of you ever cut your thumb on a table saw?

You don't even feel it.  At least at first.  There is very little blood ..... at least at first.  You can't believe that it happened.  What happens when you cut a piece of wood on the table saw.  Does it go flying.  No it just lays there unless it gets on top of the blade. 

If you watch the video on youtube, the guy is tryng to prove to his wife that he is starting kitchen cabinets for her and concentrating on the camera and not what he is doing.  He is watching the board and not his hand.

I guess it doesn't really matter if it is real or not, but when I watched it for the first time it brought back a lot of bad memories.  Like when the novacane wore off in the ER

6 weeks of recovery and reconstructive surgery is not fun.  If this video makes 1 person think about what they are doing and NOT cut a digit off then who cares if it is fake.

BTW, there are some cool videos of the Saw Stop on you tube as well. It is pretty awesome.  I sure wish I had one back in '95.

Tim

[asy]

Hey that SawStop table saw is brilliant!

What an innovative idea, it's just great! I'm going to show it to Andrew, but I don't think it's available over here  :-\

asy :D

[metalspinner]

Asy,

For the right price, anything is available anywhere. :D

If this video makes 1 person think about what they are doing and NOT cut a digit off then who cares if it is fake.

I'll second that.

[logwalker]

Hey Tim1234, I am very sorry to hear about your accident with the table saw. I didn't mean to make light of the situation. It just seemed so obviously staged to me I had to say so. Actually I couldn't even bring myself to watch it for a week or so. After seeing it for the first time I was relieved that it was staged (or so I think). Sure didn't mean to offend anyone. Joe

[tim1234]

Logwalker,

No harm, no foul ;D  Going through something like that, the video looks and sounds real - listen to the breathing after .  You get so focused after.  I went upstairs and rinsed off the cut.  Then got some ice.  Then ran upstairs to get my wife to take me to the hospital.  went downstairs.  oh forgot my wallet with my medical record card.  Ran upstaris, got that.  Oh forgot to turn off the tablesaw.   Ran downstairs and turned it off.  Then I made my wife run all the red lights on the way to the hospital ;D

The most important thing to learn is to listen to that "little Voice".  I sure did ;)  When it says NO, you'd better listen.  Mistakes are only bad if you don't learn something from them.  If you are real lucky you learn from someone else's mistakes and avoid them yourself.

As I said before, if someone can learn from the video real or not, it is a good thing. ;)

Tim

[ErikC]

  When I was in high scool a friend cut off his thumb about at the back of the nail. His reaction was almost identical to that on the video. Even the fast breathing. I saw him about to do it, but he didn't hear me yell. I saw it clearly, and he didn't flinch until he saw it was cut. They couldn't but it back on. :(
I'm pretty careful with saws.

Erik