Cadabra

Good to see the "new" Delta is willing to take a fresh design approach to the 'look' of its tools. Now the real challenge: Make them 'work' better.

Cast off the chains of traditional machine designs that carry forward the old basic machine layouts, templates and features we have seen since woodworking tools have been electrified. Seems like WMH, Delta, Grizzly, Makita, Ryobi, RIGID, etc., etc. are willing to put glitzy badges and sexy paint/colors on next year's designs, but they are not bringing design breakthroughs into the industry. Design breakthroughs such as:

User friendly, high accuracy features in the use of the tool. Easy to see digital measurement that is built into the design, not after market add-ons. Everything from table-saw blade angles, and blade height, to spindle heights on planers, jointers, router lifts.

Most tools with a spindle do not have true variable speed, nor digital RPM meters like the Powermatic drill press.

Power feeds on the adjustments that today require poorly placed cranks and handles to manually manipulate gears/racks/pinions/. Maintain the hand cranks for fine adjustments, but get rid of the poor placements and poorly operating hand-crank mechanisms that have been around for a hundred years. Go high-quality, back-lit digital, not verniers.

Flesh sensing safety features on the order of SawStop. Time is long overdue to stop the foot dragging, whimpering and whining on this one!

A lot of these are examples that most folks would recognize in the machine tool industry from the 1970's, and earlier.

Seems that there is almost no true engineering going on in the big tool companies. When you look at next year's catalog, 95% of the tools will look just like they did 10 years ago. Come on folks, bring some genuine innovations in quality, useability and design back to the pride we used to feel in "Made in the USA". Do some engineering! It's way overdue!

There is a huge worldwide market that will pay a premium for these innovations. You'll be surprised how many home workshops will gladly pay the premium.

Dear Domainguy: Notwithstanding my respect for our military and your prior service, I completely disagree with your short-sighted approach on this topic. While its easy to be mildly amused by some of the examples you choose to poke the gov't. with, this topic has nothing at all to do with legislating intellect or forcing people to make choices on tablesaws that they feel abrogates their "independence".

Frankly, it is about taking those aspect out of play! Safety is not something that should be left to the ignorant or to those companies or individuals who don't want to afford it.

And you are flat wrong about the ability of our gov't. to get things right. I worked for 40 years in the Mil/Aerospace industry at the leading edge of some of our countries large, complex, advanced weapon systems with some of the best and brightest folks in the Army, Navy, USAF and Marines and with their civilian counterparts in gov't. I know how completely competent, capable and professional they are. Servicemen like you have benefited in untold ways from our government's superior capabilities.

The time is long overdue that citizens stop throwing rocks (easy to do; many examples to chuckle about) and start doing some critical thinking. Start taking some long-term responsible decisions on issues like this one.

Following the path of your nattering negativism, 100 years from now, another 5 generations of American woodworkers will look at this issue and say......."Gosh, what a bunch of bozos they were to let unsafe saws continue for all these years while they debated their right to make bad decisions. And what's worse, they already had the low cost technology to easily overcome it"

My appeal to folks like you is this........Rise above it. Take the long view of safety, and please contribute to making a positive solution to an age old problem. If you can't contribute, please just get out of the way of those who can.

The boatload of smart thinkers on this topic left the dock and Blueheron910 was still asleep on the shore!

If anyone thinks that wimpy rules for the construction industry will be taken seriously, let alone implemented, or that employers are going to invest in breakthrough technology that effectively deals with this risk, they need to stop using whatever mind-altering drugs they are on!

C'mon folks! A broadly worded safety standard that cannot be "gamed" yet is not a straight-jacket for saw manufacturers is all that's needed. Let them meet the requirement any way they choose, but make the requirement an unambiguous and effective deterrent to the amputations and maimings that are still commonplace today.

Yes..........it is very much like airbags and seat belts, and safety glass, and on, and on, and on..........

Ring.....ring....ring!
That's the wake up call for Blueheron910.

I think Mark Ferraro's admonitions to FW are appropriate. FW should not stray far from its mission in woodwork. If it chooses to take a position, it should merely be on the side of advancing the state of the art (new technology, new techniques, new materials, better skils, etc.) and certainly on the side of the safety and well being of practitioners. Say it, publish it and move on!

Please keep your nose out of the moral/ethical aspects of public litigation, government laws and business interests unless you are willing to put your neck on the line for a legislated industry standard that is the result of an overwhelming amount of user participation, support and interest. Neither of those are in play at present.

Unfortunately it seems that Americans have developed a disdain, if not some actual hatred, for government leadership, oversight and guidance. Too bad, because so much is to be gained by everyone when it is done well.

Each year over 30,000 maimed woodworkers become converts. A number of millions of 'resistors' take their graves, and a newly-minted crop (hundreds of thousands)of young woodworkers add their support to a quantum leap forward in safety technology. Duh..........wake up!

It is simply a matter of time.

FW gives me a lift each month. Thanks folks.

Yes, of course this should be in print!

It's already in cyberspace and the video almost stands alone; its descriptive explanation doing move than any text and photos.

As others have said..........your readership market doesn't target children and careless speed freaks. Nonetheless, all the more, even so............you can be assured those types have already watched the video and probably have tried it.

FW.........just do your thing. Let the idiots fend for themselves.

The question is: "is this technique safe enough to be included within the pages of Fine Woodworking magazine."

Interesting that the question follows FW's decision to go ahead and publish this technique in cyberspace, including a well made video. You've answered it already, eh?

Got more questions on other techniques that you've already answered on-line?

Yes, print it. Use all of your discretionary and cautious language, even thought that won't stop a careless accident.

To amplify the difference between the skeptics of a "proper" fit, and the "sloppy" speed freaks, why not do an "engineered" runoff? A tenon made exactly like the video VS one with carefully crafted and loving tenderness (read:slow) which yield a perfect .002" hand-honed fit to its mortise.

Do this for a couple of hundred joints that are then glued-up. After the glue dries and all samples are destroyed with calibrated presses, let's see if there is an iota of difference. My guess is there will be a measurable, but insignificant, difference.

That result would give both sides a victory, and yet leave the issue of safety an open matter, just as it is (and will be) for every other table saw operation. Can't stop that, eh?

If joint strength is non-discriminating, the entire topic becomes an esoteric discussion of beauty and hand work VS a few minutes of set-up times avoided, at some added risk of safety.

I've always wondered about the sloppy VS 'perfect-fit' mortise and tenon strength test. What does a poll of FW authors and experts say? Any empirical data on tenon strength to share?

By limiting and controlling the various factors that cause safety problems, the climb cut can be safe and very effective. Like the others who describe the precautions they take, I too climb cut for light finishing cuts, but only when I stack the deck in my favor.
The key element here is the human factor. One must be keenly aware of the various effects of the tool's action and the wood's reaction; be extremely deliberate, never in a hurry; and have no distractions that vie for your attention and your focus.
Realize that you are doing a potentially VERY UNSAFE practice, and therefore bring all of your wits to bear! All of the seemingly little details that can affect the operation such as sharpness of the cutter, size and speed of the cutter, size/mass of the workpiece, feed rate, hardness/brittleness of the wood (to name a few) can collectively create a hazard that is not worth risking an accident with.
Based on my own years of experience, I think it's very easy to overlook the myriad details that we integrated in our routines. Only after doing a CSI-style analysis of a mishap
will it be obvious that the combined actions of a couple of these factors was enough to tip the scales against safety.

I'll bet those two engineers sell a dozen or two of their woodstop/crotchblockers, but only to a few old-school folks who think safety can be achieved with hardware add-ons.

Asa, please get back to us readers in a year or two with statistics on sales/popularity of this idiotic device.
A catcher's chest protector, a cup in your jock strap, and a hockey gaolie's helmet would make as more sense than this contraption; would be cheaper; would be portable; and would proably protect the user better. Ha!

Humor aside, these Bozos missed the whole point of shop safety altogether; that of prevention! Simply don't do the things that cause kickback, and there won't be any flying wood! A little forethought, some self-discipline, and some careful & deliberate motions is all it takes. All of those actions require one to engage his/her brain first!

This device may actually find a niche with those few Neanderthals who can't/won't learn safe shop practices that prevent mishaps.

By the way, if you are going to recommend safety devices instead of genuine safety, I have a better idea...... ..............a car's airbag, triggered by the sudden surge of pressure on the saw's arbor, would make a lot more sense.

I too vote for extinct. The RAS has been obsolete for years already.
The comments from the RAS bigots merely reflect a comfort factor that a small sample of readers which was gained through continual use of a particular machine. Fact is that there are many woodworkers out there who will adapt and adjust to ANYTHING merely because it's convenient, cheap, fits their shop space, etc. Lefthanders do this their entire lifetime!
Not unusual to see the same old threads that course through the comments that favor the RAS....I.e. cut-off long stock, square-up panels, etc.
The best advice for caveman RAS woodworkers is to push the saw through the cut from its fully extended position, back through the fence. Eliminates the climb cut which is the bane of it's existance. Tends to lift the workpiece, but is much safer. Actually, the best advice is to disassemble it and piece it into the recycler/landfill.

For another game of "Against the Grain" I hope you include a rip-cut hazard. Probably a basic "no-brainer" safety rule, but frankly I've never seen it in print..............NEVER MAKE A RIP CUT WITH THE BLADE TIPPED LESS THAN 90 DEGREES TOWARD THE FENCE. This makes a deliberate pinch-point for the rear of the blade to easily grab the workpiece and throw it, mangle it, or worse yet........give your pushing hand the sudden freedom it needs to lurch directly into the blade. I have a nasty scar on my ring finger to attest to this hazard!

We accept the safety attributes of mandated air-bags, smoke detectors and sprinklers which are integrated into our vehicles and buildings. Seems to me that the safety of Saw Stop type technology should be mandated into new table saw sales. Easy to do that. Easy to live and work with it.

I'm dissapointed that companies like WMH, Delta, Grizzly, etc. have not picked up on this on their own. Did they all get their engineering "pockets" picked? Oddly, they can engineer and develop left-tilt, front crank handles, improved dust collection, etc., etc., but they can't pick up on the single biggest quantum leap in table saw safety?
Oops!

Or is it the risk of patent infringements? Or the greed that goes with avoiding fees to license Saw Stop's intellectual property? Maybe good old fashioned "Pride of Ownership" keeps them from offering somebody else's innovation along side their own brand name. Even as a cost plus-up option!

Face it, no amount of cleverly designed covers, guards, and safety equipment can prevent the pain and suffering of 31,000 debilitating hand injuries and amputations like Saw Stop can. Truth be known, most of that safety gear is probably discarded when new.

I guess Saw Stop is the exception to the old saying.... you can't idiot proof anything.