Woodworking Shop

I've had it happen a few times and its probably worth sharing. When cutting either dry or wet wood, there can be some accumulated internal stress that is released when the saw kerf allows the wood to move.

I was cutting some very green timber on the mitresaw, and halfway through a board, the cut pinched shut and was ripped out of my hand by the saw blade. I was luckily not injured, but the wood was nearly glued to the saw plate, such was the force involved. Then today, I was cutting 1" strips out of a 29" piece of 2x6 from Home Depot ( jointed on 2 sides to keep flat against the table and fence) Barely 1/3 into the board, the blade began to bind and almost kicked the board back at me. I was able to stop the table saw, and finished the cut on the bandsaw, you can see just how much stress was in the wood.

Basically, please always be aware of how your cut feels, even when using what should totally stable wood. If any saw ever feels like it is binding, or stalling in the wood, stop immediately, do Not attempt to force the wood through. Sometimes, cutting halfway in a piece, stopping, backing the blade out and restarting will give you a wider kerf if the wood is moving, but don't take this as a guarantee. In these situations, a bandsaw is always the safest tool to use, compared to a tablesaw or mitre saw.

Thanks for the warning. Is it possible the blades are dull and in need of replacement? Is a lower feed in speed helpful?

I will not promise someone else's safety on it, but a dull blade should cut the same kerf as a sharp blade, both of my issues happened when the wood applied pressure to the saw plate behind the cut. But I've been looking for an excuse to replace our mitre saw blade, its been a member of the Space longer than I have, I'll get that this week. The tablesaw should be alright, its been making all of the cuts in (stable) wood just fine.

A slower feed rate will always help, as you have more time to feel any stress being released by the wood before the critical point.

I had noticed a much lower degree of binding in a smaller piece of the same 2x6 before, and managed to stop, reset, and restart the cut to make it all the way through without issue. That should have been my warning that a longer piece would try to flex even more.

I have had some binding on the mitre saw. I think it is not perfectly aligned with the table on the right side. It is worth noting that this is alway a risk with wood. I have seen it do some very strange things in the past. Thanks for bringing this to all our attention.