6 common things you might be doing wrong with your table saw

Hello, I would like to point out some

common

mistakes that I sometimes see people make when using a

table

saw and frankly I have been guilty of some of them myself so I hope this video serves as a refresher for everyone out there. we correct them. Bad habits will help you get cleaner cuts and make using

your

saw safer. If you're new to using a

table

saw, be sure to watch my video Seven Things to Get Started Using a Table Saw. In that video you will get an overview of safety procedures and how to make basic cuts, also if you are looking for affordable tool recommendations.

I want you to download my free guide to outfitting

your

store for under $1000 at mytoollist.com, and just so you know, I keep this list up to date. So my tool selections are up to date. I have links to all of these resources in the description. When making a cut, it is important to know the difference between your work piece and your cut piece and which piece needs support. Typically, you want to provide support. the workpiece the part of the board that you have measured and are using for your project by making a cross cut using your miter gauge which will look like this.

What happens is that sometimes the unsupported side stops moving across the blade and you won. You don't get a clean cut, one exception is when you use a stop block on your rip fence to make repeated cuts on small pieces where you will rest the cut side. It's not really a problem, but you may need to clean up those little chipped corners. You definitely don't want to try to install a stop block on your miter gauge to cut multiple small pieces, most of the board will be unsupported which could cause you to lean and put your fingers too close to the blade, a better solution This is all for making a crosscut sled yourself, this jig will give you cleaner, more accurate crosscuts and both sides of the wood will be fully supported throughout the cut when you use its parallel guide to cut a wide board that you almost always You want your workpiece to be on the side between the blade and the fence, it may be tempting to guide the blade from the cut side, but as soon as the cut is made, you are putting lateral pressure on the saw blade instead of the guide, this may cause the board to break.

To join together and make cuts that are not square, instead support the workpiece and maintain pressure against the fence, not the blade. I'm sure you already know the importance of pushing wood through your table saw using more than just the fingers of your table saw. It probably came with one of these, a push stick, which is a good starting point, but a lot of people misuse it to begin with. One push stick is not enough, you need two, one to push the wood forward through the blade and the other to keep the wood pressed down and against the guide for a safe and effective cut using your cutting guide. thread, there are three directions of pressure you should apply on each cut, forward, downward and inward to use push tips, use the cleat on one to push the board forward and on the other. second push stick to press down and towards the fence and do this only on the front side of the blade once the board is cut, you don't want to press the blade inwards, an improvement would be a push stick like this one which provides better towards down pressure, but you still need a pusher to press in to ensure a precise cut.

You can do this with just a piece of plywood to make it even simpler. I have included a free cutting template that you can download. There is a link in the description. but of course my favorite option is the clamp to push a block. I want to point out that micro jig is no longer a sponsor of my show or this video, but I love them and honestly think the jig is the absolute best way to get precision. and Safe Cuts Not only that grippy green material allows you to easily press the workpiece in all three directions, but also supports the cut side appearance.

It's kind of a fancy tool, but it will definitely improve your cut and keep you much safer. never try this, always provide support with an adjustment, okay this is a minor thing but we've all done this, you replace the blade, you put the nut back on the axle, what do you do? You totally lower that nut because we don't want that blade to fly off, I mean, that would be a really bad day, so what happens? And we want to try to remove that nut. It feels like it's just been used there, so we pull and pull with all our bite.

It is released all at once and what happens is that your knuckles hit the table or, worse still, against the blade itself and that hurts. I've done it, so the advice here is that when you install a blade, just turn that nut until it stops. you don't need much pressure to tighten it, don't worry, the blade isn't going anywhere, the blade spins in the opposite direction to the threads on the shaft, so the nut tightens itself, in a way, the basic rule here is to hold the long side of the board, not the short side. If the board seems to want to wobble a little, you want to use the miter gauge.

Anything that can cause the wood to lean a little opens up the possibility of a crooked cut or, worse, danger of kickback.