Ultimate Table Saw

[jimialeggio5 at comcast.net]

Here's another way of approaching the kickback issue.

Despite using a Unisaw for many years, I'm still cautious 
about kickback for all the reasons already stated.  

Many of the kickbacks (though not all as Mike experienced) tend to happen
in the initial ripping of rough stock,  since that's when you 
discover the stressed sticks that close up on the blade.

I don't use a splitter or guard because I find them dangerous, especially 
in advanced operations.

What I do howerer is, first , I purposely chose a 1 1/2 hp version of this saw since 
the saw will "bog down" in stressed stock much more easily than
higher powered saws. Even after 20 years of working wood, I still
prefer a bogged down saw to a thrown stick.   

Second, during initial ripping of rough stock, instead of using the 1/8" kerf 10" blade
that you would normally use in a Unisaw,  I often 
use a very thin kerf  7-1/4" cheap lumberyard disposable
blade. I don't care about the finish quality at this point since I'm 
going to be jointing/shaping the piece anyway. Less kerf is wasted,
its much much easier to push the stock through the saw (excess 
pushing force often puts one further at risk of slipping into the blade), and if the 
stock closes on the blade or tries to deflect the blade, the wimpy blade will
infact deflect some. In thicker 8/4 stock I flip the piece and kerf from the other side. 

Using this technique produces much less dust, and I can do the initial rough ripping
at the beginning of a job for a fair number of hours without serious muscle fatigue. It does'nt 
really add any time to the job as far as I can tell.  All the more so in piano restoration 
work which mostly deals with rather small linear footages of lumber, 
compared to cabinet shops and what have you.

For such a long time I thought "hey, If I have a serious saw, I should use a real mans blade".  
I don't think that any more, at least not in initial ripping. I can't infact think of a stick being 
thrown at me during initial ripping since I started using this system. 

The expensive 10" fine cutting blades go in for secondary processes, now that the majority
of stressed pieces have been "found out" and excessed. 

Works for me.

Jim I