Honestly, I would get a Saw Stop if I could afford one. This guy learned he needed one the hard way, but if you do any serious woodworking it’s probably the first expensive tool you should upgrade to. Festool gadgets are nice and all but this thing will literally save your limbs.
Skil. I only recently got it, so I can’t speak for its durability; but after I got everything set up, it’s been pretty nice. The 12" blade came pre-installed, and it was already true out of the box. It does have the ability to adjust the blade if it works it way out of plane later on.
If you’re really relying on a table saw for work, it would definitely be worth stepping up to some contractor grade stuff at a higher budget; but I’m pretty happy with mine so far.
I do a lot of woodworking and this is an ongoing debate you can find in most woodworking forums: if you use one of these, you’re much more likely to need it. So all you’re really doing is paying to be lazy and unsafe.
Fact is you can operate a table saw perfectly safely without a saw stop. Proper use of push blocks, paying attention, and basic safety protocol like “no gloves, no sleeves” and you’ll never hurt yourself using these tools. It just requires discipline.
Don’t believe me, look at the numbers. In the US there’s about ten million table saws in operation every year and about 3000 injuries annually. Cars have a bigger causality count. They’re perfectly safe tools if you’re using them properly.
Does your car have a roll cage? Why not? Parachute breaks? Why not? Five point harness? Why not?
You can keep adding safety features to your car …why don’t you? Theres your answer. Would you buy a car that’s going to blow the airbag every time you slam the breaks, then refuse to start until you replace it? Nah. It’s a poorly implemented safety feature that’s just making the thing not work. Saw stops are exactly that.
It’s the same exact question, if you have safety features available for dangerous tools, ones that cost extra, why aren’t you employing them?
Use your words, a link isn’t a rebuttal.
Just for fun, here’s a bunch of professionals discussing why people who rely on saw stop are a liability on their floor… Up to and including “do not hire”. It’s exactly what I already described. This tech breeds complacency and there’s more tools in that shop than the table saw. Professionals don’t use saw stops.
If you feel you need that feature on a table saw, frankly you shouldn’t be operating one at all. Really. There’s no shame in that. I am terrified of lathes and I won’t use em. I understand they’re useful and perfectly safe, but it’s just a personal thing. If you feel that unsafe that you’ll essentially pay an ante every time you want to make a cut? You shouldn’t be using it.
Fact is that saw stop will cost you a bunch of money over the course of using it for a few years. It will ruin blades to protect… Damp wood. Or a staple, often found on lumber. And then you get to buy another charge for a couple hundred bucks. You’ll do that twice before finally realizing it was just a money sink in the first place and you won’t buy another.
Go ask twenty table saw owners the question, you’re gonna get twenty identical answers.
A lot of safety features when driving don’t exist because of perception more than anything. There was once a push to have car drivers wear helmets. The car lobby instead lobbied to have bicycles wear helmets to change public perception. The truth is wearing helmets in cars would save exponentially more lives than on bicycles. They ended up on bicycles to make people feel like car alternatives are dangerous, even though nothing we do day to day is more dangerous than driving a car. A five point harness is probably a good idea, it would just never get past the car lobby. They don’t want people to be reminded that they are driving coffins.
Your example was not a good one because it misunderstands why we don’t have those things.
Honestly, I would get a Saw Stop if I could afford one. This guy learned he needed one the hard way, but if you do any serious woodworking it’s probably the first expensive tool you should upgrade to. Festool gadgets are nice and all but this thing will literally save your limbs.
I read the patent is over so there should be lots of brands that have it.
I recently bought table saw for about $300, and it has a version of non-branded saw stop built in.
Do you happen to know the maker? Mine is a DeWalt but it’s one of those small “jobsite” ones that I’ve been kind of using way above its paygrade.
Skil. I only recently got it, so I can’t speak for its durability; but after I got everything set up, it’s been pretty nice. The 12" blade came pre-installed, and it was already true out of the box. It does have the ability to adjust the blade if it works it way out of plane later on.
If you’re really relying on a table saw for work, it would definitely be worth stepping up to some contractor grade stuff at a higher budget; but I’m pretty happy with mine so far.
I do a lot of woodworking and this is an ongoing debate you can find in most woodworking forums: if you use one of these, you’re much more likely to need it. So all you’re really doing is paying to be lazy and unsafe.
Fact is you can operate a table saw perfectly safely without a saw stop. Proper use of push blocks, paying attention, and basic safety protocol like “no gloves, no sleeves” and you’ll never hurt yourself using these tools. It just requires discipline.
Don’t believe me, look at the numbers. In the US there’s about ten million table saws in operation every year and about 3000 injuries annually. Cars have a bigger causality count. They’re perfectly safe tools if you’re using them properly.
Why not just get one and practice proper safety procedures?
Didn’t you hear him? That’s unsafe you lazy bum /s
Does your car have a roll cage? Why not? Parachute breaks? Why not? Five point harness? Why not?
You can keep adding safety features to your car …why don’t you? Theres your answer. Would you buy a car that’s going to blow the airbag every time you slam the breaks, then refuse to start until you replace it? Nah. It’s a poorly implemented safety feature that’s just making the thing not work. Saw stops are exactly that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence?wprov=sfla1
It’s the same exact question, if you have safety features available for dangerous tools, ones that cost extra, why aren’t you employing them?
Use your words, a link isn’t a rebuttal.
Just for fun, here’s a bunch of professionals discussing why people who rely on saw stop are a liability on their floor… Up to and including “do not hire”. It’s exactly what I already described. This tech breeds complacency and there’s more tools in that shop than the table saw. Professionals don’t use saw stops.
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?262574-Sawstop-Injury-I-didn-t-think-this-could-happen/page12
I payed for the safety features I felt I needed and I’d do the same if I was buying a saw.
If you feel you need that feature on a table saw, frankly you shouldn’t be operating one at all. Really. There’s no shame in that. I am terrified of lathes and I won’t use em. I understand they’re useful and perfectly safe, but it’s just a personal thing. If you feel that unsafe that you’ll essentially pay an ante every time you want to make a cut? You shouldn’t be using it.
Fact is that saw stop will cost you a bunch of money over the course of using it for a few years. It will ruin blades to protect… Damp wood. Or a staple, often found on lumber. And then you get to buy another charge for a couple hundred bucks. You’ll do that twice before finally realizing it was just a money sink in the first place and you won’t buy another.
Go ask twenty table saw owners the question, you’re gonna get twenty identical answers.
I’m not reading a wall of text for something I care so little about. People can spend their money how they want.
A lot of safety features when driving don’t exist because of perception more than anything. There was once a push to have car drivers wear helmets. The car lobby instead lobbied to have bicycles wear helmets to change public perception. The truth is wearing helmets in cars would save exponentially more lives than on bicycles. They ended up on bicycles to make people feel like car alternatives are dangerous, even though nothing we do day to day is more dangerous than driving a car. A five point harness is probably a good idea, it would just never get past the car lobby. They don’t want people to be reminded that they are driving coffins.
Your example was not a good one because it misunderstands why we don’t have those things.