Issue 736

Thumbs Up!

Yesterday, while ripping literally hundreds of lineal feet of lumber, I made a mistake. I do not know exactly what happened — the 16-ft long, 7/8″-wide strip of pine I was cutting left the table saw fence and started to cut improperly. I quickly pushed the last few feet of the pine through the saw, but I was out of position to grab the push stick. Then, in the blink of an eye, the SawStop brake engaged and the machine shut down. I just stood there feeling stupid.

Looking back, I know that my thumb did not engage with the teeth of the blade, but if that had happened and without the safety feature in place, I shudder to think about the outcome. As you can see by the photo, there is not a mark on my thumb. (The gross-looking fingernails are from a different stupid thing I did, but that’s not salient to this story. Woodworking … you gotta love it.)

I mention this episode to point out a couple of things. First, even expert woodworkers occasionally have poor judgment and make serious mistakes. Second…don’t do that!

I was more fortunate than I deserved and should take a serious lesson from it.

Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal

Preparing Rough Lumber

Most woodworkers want to work with perfectly flat boards. So what do you do when you have lumber that isn’t flat? Rob Johnstone discusses this and how the Laguna PX|12 Benchtop Planer and Laguna JX|8 Jointer can help.

Cheaper Infill Option to Epoxy

This reader was looking for a cost-effective alternative to epoxy pours that gives a similar look. Here is one possible option for small projects.

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