Imagine a solid chunk of walnut falling from a ten story building.
Now imagine catching it with your face. It wouldn’t be fun — just ask Cardboard Danny DeVito (may his paper soul rest in peace).
Kickback from a table saw is even worse — and it happens faster than you can blink.
But don’t put your saw on Craigslist just yet. Kickback is easy to avoid — as long as you understand why it happens and take the right precautions to prevent it.
So to help you stay safe in the shop, I’m going to cover everything you need to know about kickback, including:
Brendan
February 06, 2022
I am fortunate to have not experienced kickback yet, but a friend of mine did.
A few years ago when I was in art school, I walked into the bathroom and saw my buddy, shirt off, looking into the mirror. He had a welt the size of a soft ball dead center on his sternum, he was ripping pine 2×4’s and one kicked back and speared him in the chest. He was fighting back tears and the winces of pain as he explained to me what happened. There was a little bit of blood, but no major cuts, just a huge DARK black/blue/green bruise. Looked extremely painful. I believe he only had a t-shirt for protection. Scariest part was imagining if it hit him 4-5” higher, it would have been straight into his neck. That would have surely put him in the ER. That was early in my wood shop days, and even though he has my sympathy, I’m grateful I got to see the damage these tools can do early on. I promised myself I would ALWAYS be as cautious and informed as I can be moving forward after seeing that.
Thank you Jonathan for the great content and tips, and for helping to keep people safe! Your videos are fantastic.