In_my_shop

I recently lost half my middle finger and the end of my ring finger on a 3/4" dado blade. I've been using table saws for 40 years without a nick and have done the procedure that caused the accident many times but did something you all should learn from.

I was cutting a 3/4 stopped dado in a 3" thick piece of hard maple. As I have done before, I lowered the board onto the spinning blade about 2 inches from one end then cut the groove just shy of 2" from the other end then shut the saw off before removing the board off the blade. All went well except the groove was a 1/2 inch short at each end. This is when I made the big mistake. I repeated the cut not thinking that now I had to lay the board down on the spinning blade precisely in the exact position to prevent it from binding, which I now realize is impossible. With my hand on top of the board above the blade pushing down, the blade jammed in the grove kicking the board back while the momentum of my hand pressing down continued into the blade. I'm just grateful now that I didn't loose my whole hand.

Next time I'll make up a custom push stick to have something between the blade and my hand(or use a router) but I'll never try to re-cut a stopped dado again. And my next saw will be a SawStop.

Mark Fredericton NB