The Incredible Exploding Table Saw...

Equipment is the backbone of any business....

And the better the equipment the better your project will come out.....in any business. I must admit I have purchased some pretty cheap hand tools, mostly drills and circular saws, and that's because the way my men will (accidentally) drop them off of roofs and other high places. But when it comes to the bigger tools, and equipment, is pays to get the best because in the long run not only are they more accurate, but when properly used and handled they last much longer.

Early on in business, what I've tried to do for almost every job is purchase a tool. I still do that every once in a while. I remember one time I was installing radiant heat, that required us to route sections of the 1" hardwood to fit the piping. I had to purchase a special router and bit. It's been about five years since that job, and although I thought it was better to own the tool than rent it, I have not used that router again. I'm sure that down the road I will find use for it, but for now it sits on the shelf in my shop just waiting to be a part of something wonderful.


I've worked for others that were not big fans of having good tools and equipment. All it ever did was just

This is the kind of scaffold my Dad would build!

make the work harder than it had to be, and in some cases it made it dangerous. Certain jobs need certain tools, and that's just a fact. Without the proper tools the job will almost always take longer or most of the time not be properly done.

There were times that I needed a bigger piece of equipment, but when shopping around for said equipment, I found that in most cases they were just way overpriced. I sometimes ended up purchasing the lower priced item to save a few bucks, but almost always, was sorry that I had. One story comes to mind.

I was doing an addition in Lambertville NJ.

This job required all kinds of equipment from track hoes to air compressors, to bobcats, jackhammers, and scaffold to name a few. We had just finished framing the addition and were doing the final framing details. In the kitchen of the addition was an angled wall. During the rough framing this wall was not framed to save time. So this day I decided to get all the "loose ends" done.

Here is the actual job, track hoe barely fits!

It was a beautifully sunny and warm day. I took my daughter Danielle to the job with me so that she could enter all of my receipts into my laptop for me. She used to love to come to work with me when she was little, and I kinda think she was happy to accompany me once again. So she got started in the kitchen on my makeshift desk going over the bag of receipts, and myself and one of my helpers, John, started doing the finish work 

We finished installing three pocket door frames, and started working on the angles in the kitchen. But to do this, I took a small, three foot piece of two by four and tried to get the correct angle before I cut a full two by four. The first one I cut was off by just a small degree, so I took another piece of wood, marked it and went into the other room to cut it.  I set the piece of wood on the table saw, and adjusted the the angle just a few more degrees to match my pencil mark.

I started up the table saw, and it made a whizzing scream, like it always does.....

I started the angle cut. Now just for those who have never used a table saw before, an angle cut into a solid piece of lumber puts a heavy strain on the blade and the motor. You can hear the motor struggling to keep its rpm's at the designated speed. And the blade will get a lot hotter and will sometimes cause the wood to smoke, and turn blackened. You really need to know what you're doing, and in this instance you need to back off, and drive the wood through really slowly.

John was standing to the right of the table saw watching the procedure, and I was about three quarters into the cut when BANG!!!!.....there was one of the loudest explosions I've ever heard! The noise was incredible, and I was in "shell shock" and my brain seemed to be echoing. The first thing I noticed was the fine particles of wood floating in front of my face,,,(again....in slow motion!). There was a deafening constant sound in which I had no idea of what it was.

Here is John after the explosion..hahaha

In a dream like state, I looked to my right to see my helper John laying on the floor, and then looked to my left to see my daughter running into the room. Still in a daze, I yelled to John if he was okay. He looked over his arms, and said that yes, he was fine. There was still a deafening sound, and as I looked at the table saw I noticed that the metal plate from the top of the table saw was bent up and the blade was hitting it. I yelled to John to unplug the saw, and he did.

I looked at my daughter, who was pale due to the shock of the noise, and her eyes were wide open, and she said to me in a panicked voice.

"Are you okay Dad?"

"Yeah, I think so" as I looked down at my hands to make sure that there was still ten fingers. My mind was just adjusting to the now eerily quite room.

"Oh my God.....Dad, you have a piece of wood stuck in your arm!!" yelled Danielle.

This IS my arm, but a clever reenactment!!

I looked down again and found it odd that first I hadn't noticed the large piece of wood sticking out of my forearm, when I checked to see if I had all of my fingers, and that I felt absolutely no pain. But now looking at this intruder, I grabbed it just out of sheer reaction and said.

"Well, that doesn't belong there!" and pulled it out.

SQUIRT.....SQUIRT.....SQUIRT...

By pulling this piece of wood out I had created a blood fountain, and streams of blood were shooting about five feet across the room. I immediately put my hand over the hole in my arm, and Danielle said in a panic.

"Oh my God, C'mon Dad, lets go to the truck and get the first aid kit.....keep pressure on it!!"

We all ran to my truck, and the blood was oozing through my fingers, and was dripping all over myself, and the sidewalk. John jumped into my truck to get the first aid kit, and Danielle said to get a rag to hold over the wound. John handed me a rag, but it happened to be the dirtiest rag in the truck! Danielle yelled.

"What the hell, why would you give him a rag like that? Aren't there any clean rags around?" Which was when she noticed the brand new unopened "bag O rags" right next to Johns leg.

We got the blood fountain under control, Danielle drove me to the local "Medimerge" and after the doctor went "drilling" around in my arm looking for stray splinters, she gave me a shot for the pain, which immediately kicked in.. 

We went back to the house to find John cleaning up the blood off of the walls, and floor. I went to examine the table saw and I noticed that a screw that held the metal plate in position, had sheared off ! The saw was ruined, but I was glad that no one was critically injured. Actually by this point the pain medication was kicking my butt pretty good, and both John and Danielle mentioned that I should see if I could get a prescription for this medicine, because I was so funny!

My arm eventually healed nicely, and now I was again in the market for a table saw. This time I spent the extra few hundred dollars and bought the best table saw in the store!

The moral of this story: Don't be cheap, it can be hazardous to your health!  
 

TIP OF THE DAY:

Table Saw Safety Tips:

1. The operator should check the following points before operating the table saw:

a. Operator must wear safety glasses
b. If the material chips severely, a face shield should be used in addition to safety glasses
c. Blade should be checked for tightness
d. Check the hood guard and anti-kickback devices for proper operation
e. Verify location of off switch and/or emergency power disconnect
f. If used, check to ensure the fence is set properly and tight
g. Ensure that the table is clear of materials, tools, and debris

2. All table saws must have a hood guard, splitter, and anti-kickback device installed. One or more of these devices may be removed ONLY if absolutely necessary to perform a specific cut (e.g. dado or rabbit) and only with the approval of a shop supervisor. These safety devices must be re-installed immediately after completing the cut(s).
3. The fence and miter gauge should never be used together. Use the fence for ripping and the miter gauge for cross-cutting.

A good table saw!

4. Push sticks, feather boards, hold-downs, etc. must be used whenever an operation is performed that would require the operator's hands to pass within 6 inches of the saw blade.
5. When boards over 3 feet in any dimension are cut, a helper should be used to assist in supporting the work.
6. Blade height should be set so that the top of the teeth extend no more than 1/4 inch above the wood.
7. The operator should stand to the side of the wood while it is being fed through the saw.

8. After completing work, the saw blade should be lowered below the table.
9. A two foot perimeter around the saw should be kept clear of debris and sawdust.
10. When changing the blade or servicing the saw, the power disconnect must be locked in the "off" position. For saws with a cord and plug, the saw must be unplugged. The saw must be tested after disconnecting power and before beginning service.

 

See you next time......from beyond.........