SawStop injury

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Yes. I like it but the combination of the brake and the mainly aluminum construction make me a little nervous. As I understand it, if the aluminum contacts the blade and I am touching the saw the cartridge will fire. Shouldn't happen but the clearance on the left is less than 1/4. On the right it has more unless you have in a dado blade. The inserts are fiberboard with melamine on both sides. They aren't very strong. I make my own of plywood or solid wood but had in an old stock one for this. I should have worried more about my hand contacting the blade and less about the throat plate.

I raise normal blades through this without holding it down but I thought the dado might be different. The key mistake was using my hand instead of clamps.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Cathy, thanks. I did drive my automatic pickup instead of my manual car. I had trouble only with patience with traffic.
 

mgreene93

Mark
Corporate Member
Jim, I use a cauliflower insert in my Sawstop. It slides over a couple screws in the back but has only friction in the front. The inserts are 1/4 MDF, most of it is aluminum. It probably didn't need held down but I didn't want it to rise and have the aluminum touch the dado blades. I'd never used a dado stack on this saw so the insert had no hole for the blades. So I held it down with a block of wood. If I had clamped the block instead of holding it the plan would have been fine.

Could you have moved the fence over a little to hold it down?
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I think that would work but I was a little unsure exactly where the dado blade would come out and I was trying to protect the silly little melamine insert. I have a clamp on piece I use for my tenon jig and I could cut into that. There were a lot of better ways to do this than the one I picked.

For now, I will do dados with a router :).
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I had scrap 2x4s in my adjacent car garage. I wish I'd just spent a couple more minutes, got one, and clamped it over the throat plate. I also had other scrap I could have used. The 2x3 piece I used was too short to clamp but I only used it because it was already sitting on the saw. Not a very good reason.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I had my 2 week check today and my finger is healing well. My splint is off, my stitches are out and I am supposed to use it normally. Just a couple band aids to keep it clean. It is stiff and I need to work on that or I could need physical therapy. But overall I feel fortunate and I think the SS brake definitely helped.
 

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
Sorry to hear about your accident Jim; maybe we could form a special club with a 12 or 13 step program to help overcome the embarrassment and stupidity of the chosen few of table saw accident victims such as myself. Good info for SS owners to use every precaution that should be used with any cutting blade. Heal fast and well!
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
Thanks Bruce. I am able to make a fist now but it is still a little painful. But less than yesterday. I am not under any restrictions, doctor or otherwise. But having a wife restrict me wasn't all bad. She is in heaven now and my dog doesn't give me many orders.
 

robliles

Rob
Corporate Member
First of all, if I were in the market for a new table saw, it would definitely be a Saw Stop. The one concern I have had about them is in all the demo's I've seen, including several in person, the hot dog/chicken leg/etc. is moved very slowly into the blade to get the cartridge to trip. In actual use, it would be seldom that my hand would be moving that slowly. The blade will travel a few inches around in the time it takes to fire and drop and you could still have a serious injury/cut/amputation. Again, don't get me wrong. I seriously admire the technology of the Saw Stop and would definitely have one if I were in the market. I just have the opinion that it is not a totally fool proof system.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I question the accuracy of this statement by SawStop: "To this day the company says SawStop has never been involved in a serious table saw accident and has documented more than 5,000 "finger saves." He estimates his saws are "99 percent" effective at preventing injuries. Aug 10, 2017 "

I saw a post some time ago about a SawStop injury that I would consider serious and I think my injury was serious. A broken finger, six stitches, and loss of a nail is not a simple first aid case. I guess it comes down to what they consider serious. My incident is considered a finger save by SawStop.

But I also think I would have lost some of my finger if I had done the same stupid thing on another table saw that lacked the technology. I do not know what it will cost me yet in medical costs but I think there is a good chance the difference would pay for my saw.

I have never liked SawStop's marketing. But it's a good saw and the technology reduces the severity of injuries. But my hand is proof that you cannot count on needing only a band aid if you get stupid with a SawStop.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
I did not post pictures initially because they would have just showed dried blood on the end of my finger and, for the first two weeks, stitches hanging out of it. But I had my final visit to the hand surgeon, 4 weeks after the accident. My finger is mostly healed, the stitches came out at 2 weeks and the split came off and he directed me to flex it - asked if I needed physical therapy (I declined). It hurt for a week but doesn't now.

As you have read, I don't agree with the way SawStop markets their saw basically pretending you can't get seriously hurt using it. I think my finger getting broken and needing six stitches disproves that but I guess we define a serious injury differently. But my guess is that I would have lost the end of my finger if I had not been using a SawStop. I asked the surgeon this morning and he agreed that would be his expectation as well. The nurses indicate they see fairly frequent table saw injuries.

I don't know what my total bill will be but if I've covered most of it already as I hope, it will be about $750. I have a high deductable plan so that is most of the expense but after the discount they give the insurance. I also don't know what it would be if I had lost the end of the finger but I tend to think it would have been much greater than this, perhaps enough to pay for the saw. But I really do not know.

I think the truth about SawStops is the greatly reduce the severity of injuries. They do not prevent what I would call serious injuries. They may not prevent all amputations but I think mine did in this case. Working safely is the only thing that prevents injuries. But if you mess up as I did, it helps to have a SawStop.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures. What the first one shows is the side of the finger where the main cut was. That scab came off about a week ago and it has been filling in. The second photo shows the remaining scab, where the nail ends. That was the last area to scab over and will be the last scab to come off.

I touch typed this, the finger doesn't feel exactly normal but it works nearly as well as before. I think I will get back to prior levels of sensitivity.
 

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nn4jw

New User
Jim
Apple to oranges but many years ago I cut the tip of my left middle finger off with a knife while slicing partially frozen beef. They sewed the tip back on and it healed up. But, it was first numb and then extremely sensitive for about a year. It was closer to 18 months before the skin was tough enough for me play a guitar again and push the strings down on the frets.

The point is that it can be a longish time before feeling in a severely cut finger returns to normal. Hope you return to full function quicker than I did.
 

JimD

Jim
Senior User
The doctor also mentioned the extreme sensitivity to me. I guess I've had some of that but right now, most if it feels normal and the area of the main cut has more limited sensitivity. Fairly normal. Hopefully it gets better and not worse. I feel blessed that it is healing quickly.
 

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