Allen Cabinetry & The CounterTop Shop in Mansfield, Ohio recently used a $17,000 grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation to replace all five of their table saws with brand new SawStops. The company, which creates custom cabinetry and kitchen/bath counter tops, has only 28 workers, many of whom use the company’s table saws regularly. Unfortunately, it took a table saw accident for them to become eligible for the grant; in February, a worker nearly cut off his thumb on a table saw, and while surgeons were able to reattach it, the man no longer has any mobility in his thumb.

Despite the tragic accident, it’s great to see companies embracing the SawStop as a way to protect their workers. You can find the full article on their switch to SawStops here, and don’t forget to check out all of the SawStop products at ToolKing.com!

If you’re going to use a table saw, it’s a good idea to know what you’re doing–even if you’re using a SawStop. There are all sorts of ways for table saws to maim you severely, and even worse, they can do it in a split second. With this in mind, The Woodworker’s Guide has put together a guide full of tips and insights that should help you keep your appendages intact. You can find it right here. While some of the advice should be obvious to most people (”Don’t operate a table saw while drunk, medicated or tired!”), a lot of it is stuff that is not so obvious, particularly to a novice. Here’s an example:

“Do not wear gloves while operating your table saw. Gloves cause a loss to your sense of touch as well as a possible loss of gripping power. Most gloves are also loose fitting which gives the chance for the blade to catch on them. However, use a glove whenever you are changing the blade. Sometimes the blade is on tight and you need a strong grip to remove the holding nut. This gives opportunity for slippage which can cause cuts to your hand. As well, you can also use a commercially available blade holder.”

It might not occur to a person who is just learning to operate a table saw that wearing gloves could put them at more risk than not wearing gloves while they’re running a saw. This is the kind of advice that comes from experience, which makes it invaluable to novices. If you want to maximize your safety while operating a table saw, this is a great article to have a look at, even if you’re running a SawStop.

After a long wait and lots of anticipation, people are starting to get their hands on the brand new SawStop Contractor Saw. SawStop.com has put up a web page with some customer feedback on the new saw and unsurprisingly, people seem to be quite happy with it. Here’s a couple of quotes from the page:

“Smooth, precise operation. A quality piece of machinery…I fully appreciate the work that was put into it.”
Chris W. – Sedona, AZ

“The fit and finish of this saw is far superior to any other contractor saw on the market. SawStop took the time to really improve the standard design. This is the Cadillac of contractor saws. SawStop thought of everything. I could not be more satisfied with my purchase.”
Trent T. – Laurel, MD

Pretty high words that are reminiscent of the praise that the SawStop cabinet saw received. It looks like SawStop is still dedicated to producing high quality table saws! To see the rest of the contractor saw feedback that is currently on SawStop.com, click here.

By the way, you should check out all of the SawStop products at ToolKing.com, and did you know that ToolKing.com is now carrying the SawStop Contractor Saws?

An instructor of Building Construction Technology at Austin Community College has put together a very in-depth video that shows how kickback occurs on a table saw as well as how to avoid it. The video has some great footage of a kickback that demonstrates how dangerous it can be. Here it is:

As you can see, coming into contact with the blade is not the only hazard of a table saw. Most kickbacks can be avoided by knowing how to properly operate a table saw, but some can occur despite your best efforts to prevent them. This is why it is a good idea to use a splitter or a riving knife like the one that is featured on the SawStop.

SawStops are more expensive than other table saws, but the cost of a SawStop is a pittance compared to the cost of a table saw injury–not just financially, but also emotionally and physically. To get an idea of how big the financial impact of a table saw injury can be, head over to this page on SawStop.com, where you can find some examples of employee and student injuries that cost their employers or schools tens of thousands of dollars.

Of particular interest on the page is a short chart of table saw injury cases that occurred in California schools, all of which resulted in lawsuits. Every one of the cases listed resulted in costs over $50,000 to the schools.

On top of these huge costs is the emotional and physical impact that a bad table saw injury has on the victim. Many table saw injuries require emergency surgery followed by weeks of physical therapy, and at the end of the process, victims may not even have the full use of their appendages back; they have to endure the results of their injuries for the rest of their lives.

So while a SawStop is initially more expensive than standard table saws, all it takes is one “finger save” for it to pay for itself many times over.

If you are going to buy a SawStop, it is important to keep a spare cartridge or two around in case of an accident so that you can continue to use the saw with its safety features intact and without waiting on the mailman to bring you a new brake. These extra cartridges tend to cost somewhere between $70 and $100, depending on where you buy them. For example, ToolKing.com currently has SawStop brake cartridges for $89.00.

But you must also consider that the brake might damage your blade, requiring a blade replacement as well. Factoring in the price of a new blade on top of another cartridge, you may be out ~$200ish if your SawStop brake triggers. That might sound like a lot, but consider that surgery to reconstruct an appendage can cost you well in excess of $10,000 and may not even be able to restore a finger or hand to perfect condition. Suddenly $200 to replace some materials doesn’t sound so bad!

Of course, if you experience a false stop that ruins a brake cartridge, you may feel that you’ve wasted all of that money. Luckily, SawStop will evaluate your triggered cartridges and replace them free of charge if they discover that they misfired.

John White over at FineWoodWorking.com has put together a great video overview of the brand new SawStop Contractor Saw. In the video, Mr. White gives you a full tour around the saw from the mobile base to the inner workings, and he even tests both brake cartridges: the one for standard 10″ blades and the one for dado blades. It’s a really thorough video that is definitely worth watching, so go check it out here!

Mr. White has also written a full review of the saw, which you can find here. It’s a great read, so once you’ve watched the video, head over and have a look at it.

The new SawStop Contractor Saw should be available in dealer showrooms starting this month.

Check out all of the SawStop products at ToolKing.com!

In addition to the plethora of stories on SawStop.com’s testimonials page, there are several photos of fingers that have been saved by SawStop’s braking mechanism. None of them suffered more than a nick. Here’s one of the testimonials that is accompanied by a photo:

“One of my students was ripping a piece of solid stock black walnut. During the cut,the board started to come off the fence at which time his middle finger on his left hand was pulled into the blade. Fortunately for the student, the other students in the room and me, my next tasks of the day were getting the student a band-aid and ordering a new cartridge instead of calling for an ambulance. I’m amazed at how scary the incident was to both the student and me. The rest of my day went a whole lot better than it would have had we not had SawStop table saws in our school woodshop.”

James S. – Industrial Technology Instructor, Illinois

Obviously not every SawStop injury is going to be this minor; factors like the speed of your hand when it contacts the blade are going to affect the severity of your injury. However, these photos are good examples of what you can expect if you use the SawStop carefully and responsibly–as if it is any other table saw without the braking mechanism.

These photos are fantastic examples of how the SawStop can turn what would be costly, life-changing injuries into minor inconveniences. Head over to the testimonials page on SawStop.com to check them out!

SawStop.com has a fantastic gallery of high-resolution images of the SawStop 10″ Cabinet Saw, which you can view by going to this page. There are thirteen pictures in all taken from a bunch of different angles so that you can really see how the SawStop is built on the outside and inside.

Of particular interest is this picture, which shows the brake cartridge installed behind and below the blade and the riving knife locked into the quick-release clamp directly behind the blade. Other photos show the splitter/blade guard installed in the clamp, the dust collection system, the cast-iron trunnion assembly, and more.

This seems to be the biggest collection of high-resolution SawStop images on the internet, so go check it out here or click on the thumbnails below to see each picture.

Check out SawStop products on ToolKing.com!

We can write about how simple it is to replace the brake cartridge in a SawStop, but nothing will help you understand exactly how simple it is like a video. With that in mind, have a look at this great YouTube clip from Hermance Machine Co.:

As you can see, replacing the brake cartridge is no more difficult than replacing a blade. In the event of an accident, it is possible to have the SawStop up and running again within minutes if necessary–provided that you keep a spare cartridge around. This is great for classroom situations in particular; students are protected from debilitating injury by the SawStop, and at the same time the saw is not rendered useless to other students for an extended period of time if an accident occurs. Win/win!

Check out SawStop products on ToolKing.com.