Comment by Tagbert

7 months ago

my grandfather only lost one finger tip to a joiner. My father had two fingers pretty well mangled by a table saw. I used to do some carpentry but have lost interest in the last couple of decades.

What really scares me are band saws!

Band saws are scary, but actually quite safe in comparison to table saws or radial arm saws.

  • Yeah I wouldn’t use a radial arm saw if you paid me. A friend had one he wasn’t using in his garage he offered to give me and I politely passed.

    • I've never really used a radial arm saw. What's so dangerous about it compared to the other shop tools talked about in this thread?

      1 reply →

I think bandsaws are much safer than table saws. The band saw naturally forces the work against the work surface instead of towards the user. You should give bandsaws another chance.

If I had a small hobbyist shop I think I would spend extra to get a big bandsaw and make do with a circular saw and a nice track. A circular saw and a router (for dados) can substitute for a table saw. You can't resaw without a bandsaw.