Band Saw Safety video

Summary

In this insightful demonstration by Sandon's Woodshop, essential safety measures for using a band saw are discussed. From understanding the mechanics of a 14-inch band saw to ensuring the blade is properly tracked, the video covers everything aspiring woodworkers need to know to safely operate this powerful tool. Emphasis is placed on keeping fingers clear of the blade's path, proper alignment of materials, and techniques to prevent blade damage and accidents. Key points include adjusting the blade guard, executing relief cuts for sharper curves, and managing scrap materials to maintain a safe work area. Practical tips for re-aligning missteps and managing tool risks effectively are shared, making this an invaluable guide for woodshop novices and veterans alike.

Highlights

• Adjust the blade guard so it's just a quarter-inch above the board to prevent injuries 📏.
• Ensure your material is aligned straight with the blade to avoid jagged cuts ✨.
• Use relief cuts to prevent the blade from twisting during tight curves 🌀.
• Learn to recognize a dull blade—watch for burn marks or jagged edges 🔥.
• Always dispose of scrap materials properly to prevent workshop hazards 🗑️.

Key Takeaways

• Always ensure the blade guard is properly adjusted to prevent accidents ⚠️.
• Keep your fingers away from the blade, especially during cuts ✋.
• Use relief cuts to safely work through tight curves 🌀.
• If the blade breaks, turn off the machine immediately to prevent further injury 🚫.
• Always back out of cuts safely to avoid misalignment of the blade 🔄.

Overview

In the world of woodworking, safety is paramount. This tutorial on band saw operation from Sandon's Woodshop is a masterclass in precautionary measures. The session kicks off with a detailed breakdown of a 14-inch band saw, explaining its components and how to handle them. Through dynamic examples, the host dives into the importance of keeping fingers out of harm’s way and ensuring the blade is running within its designated track.

Practical guidance is offered on making cuts. The tutorial emphasizes the significance of using relief cuts when navigating tight curves, illustrating how to execute these with ease. An essential tip includes recognizing when a band saw blade is dull and the implications this has on the quality of cuts—essential knowledge for anyone eager to maintain a top-notch finish in their projects.

Beyond cutting techniques, the video also underscores the necessity of maintaining a clean workspace and proper machine maintenance. Listeners are reminded to dispose of scraps immediately to avoid safety hazards, reinforcing a disciplined approach to woodworking. The final messages highlight the joy of using a band saw when done safely, ensuring that proper alignment and technique are upheld throughout one’s woodworking endeavors.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Band Saw Safety This chapter provides a demonstration on the band saw, explaining its mechanism and safe setup procedures. The band saw described is a 14-inch one, featuring a 14-inch diameter wheel at both the top and bottom. It operates using a continuously running and cutting blade that is typically 12 teeth per inch (12 TPI) long. The chapter emphasizes the speed at which the band saw cuts, highlighting the importance of understanding its operation for safe use.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Band Saw Mechanics and Safety Features The chapter 'Band Saw Mechanics and Safety Features' explains the role of ball bearings in stabilizing the band saw blade. To prevent the blade from dislodging, a ball bearing is placed on each side and another is positioned behind the blade. These bearings prevent lateral movement and forward push-off, respectively. However, the text cautions that there are no mechanisms to prevent the blade from coming off toward the operator if pulled back, highlighting the importance of following proper cutting procedures to ensure safety.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Blade Guard and Finger Safety The chapter 'Blade Guard and Finger Safety' emphasizes the importance of correctly positioning the blade guard on a cutting machine. It should be about a quarter of an inch above the board being cut. This setting minimizes the risk of injury by limiting space for fingers to slip under the guard and come into contact with the blade. The chapter further explains that accidental cuts are less likely as people typically react quickly enough to retract their fingers if they get close to the blade. Demonstrations include raising the guard to show the blade for better understanding.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Avoiding Blade Dullness and Misalignments This chapter provides advice on preventing blade dullness and misalignments during cutting. It discusses how a blade may burn the end of a board when it becomes dull or if the cutting speed is too slow. The solution to a dull blade is to replace it, with additional blades being available. Additionally, the importance of lining up cuts correctly, especially when aiming to cut in a straight line, is emphasized.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Proper Cutting Techniques and Avoiding Mistakes The chapter "Proper Cutting Techniques and Avoiding Mistakes" focuses on a common mistake made during sawing. It explains the proper technique to align the board correctly with the saw blade to ensure a straight cut. By describing a scenario where an incorrect angle can lead to cutting errors, it emphasizes the importance of maintaining alignment from start to finish. Additionally, the chapter highlights the habit of stopping, twisting the board, and trying to correct midway, which can compromise the quality of the cut.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Handling Curved Cuts and Blade Stress The chapter discusses the challenges and considerations when handling curved cuts and the stress on saw blades. It highlights the importance of maintaining a straight line while cutting to avoid blade twisting and bending, which can result in jagged cuts. The chapter provides advice on ensuring precision in cutting and stresses careful alignment of the board to prevent damage and achieve clean cuts.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Relief Cuts Technique for Tight Curves The chapter 'Relief Cuts Technique for Tight Curves' focuses on the importance of continuous forward motion when cutting curves. Initially, it describes aligning the direction of the cut with the blade, especially when tackling a curve. The chapter uses a simple curve as an example, explaining the necessity to start the curve facing in a specific direction and continuously adjusting or turning as the cut progresses. It highlights the risk of deviating from the line if the cutting motion is paused or insufficiently adjusted, using a pencil illustration to demonstrate the concept.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Maintaining Line Precision While Cutting The chapter discusses the importance of maintaining line precision while cutting, emphasizing techniques to avoid breaking or twisting the blade. It highlights the potential risks when a blade twists or breaks and provides strategies to mitigate these issues. Techniques suggested include stopping and backing out to start cutting again, or adjusting the cut to maintain alignment with the intended line. The chapter underscores the imperative of keeping the forward motion to prevent blade damage.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Finger Safety and What to Do in Case of Blade Breakage The chapter titled 'Finger Safety and What to Do in Case of Blade Breakage' discusses strategies to prevent accidents while working with blades. A key strategy mentioned is using relief cuts when working on tight curves to avoid the need to back out of a cut mid-way. Relief cuts are small cuts that go into the material and back out, making it easier to maneuver around tight curves without forcing the blade, thereby reducing the risk of breakage.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Backing Out of a Cut Safely This chapter discusses the technique of making safe cuts while woodworking, specifically when backing out of a cut. The focus is on making relief cuts to prevent wood from pinching the blade. By strategically removing parts of the wood, you avoid pressure build-up, ensuring that the blade's path is unobstructed and safe. The chapter highlights the importance of anticipating tight curves and preparing adequately to maintain safety and control over the cutting process.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Cutting Sharp Corners and End of Process In the chapter titled 'Cutting Sharp Corners and End of Process', the focus is on proper cutting techniques to avoid common mistakes such as pinching the blade, which can cause it to burn the wood or snap. A key point discussed is the importance of following a pencil line correctly. It is recommended to cut slightly off the line, about a 16th to an 8th of an inch inside the line, especially when working with curved cuts. This technique helps in maintaining precision and protecting the integrity of the blade and material being cut.
• 05:30 - 06:00: Cutting Narrow Pieces Safely In this chapter, the technique of cutting narrow pieces safely is discussed. The focus is on the importance of not cutting directly on the line to allow for sanding. Cutting directly on the line results in a jagged edge that requires sanding, which can reduce the final size of the piece. Therefore, it's recommended to cut slightly off the line, leaving a margin that allows for sanding down to the desired size while maintaining control over the final dimensions. This method ensures a smoother and more controlled finish.
• 06:00 - 06:30: Disposal of Scrap and Sawdust Management The chapter discusses important safety tips for handling sharp tools, emphasizing keeping fingers, particularly thumbs, away from the blade. It highlights the risk of blade breakage during cutting, especially around sharp corners, and advises caution to prevent accidents.
• 06:30 - 07:00: Conclusion and Proper Use Cases for Band Saw The conclusion chapter emphasizes safety precautions and best practices for using a band saw. It highlights the importance of keeping hands clear from the cutting path to prevent accidents, specifically pointing out the danger of the blade breaking and shooting to the side with a loud bang. In such cases, it advises backing off and getting hands out of the way. Once the situation is safe, the user should turn off the band saw, assess any damage, and change the blade if necessary. The chapter concludes by addressing the technique to back out of a long, curvy cut safely.

Band Saw Safety video Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 this demonstration covers the band saw how it works and how to set it up safely the band saw works if I open the door up this is a 14-in band saw and it works with a 14in diameter wheel on the top and the bottom of the band saw the blade itself is one 12T usually 10 12T Long Blade that's continuous so if I turn it on it's continuously running and cutting so this saw cuts very quickly so as it's cutting or as it's running the wheels
• 00:30 - 01:00 are high centered so the blade really isn't on there very tightly so to keep it from falling off they put ball bearings one on each side of the blade to make sure it doesn't go left or right there's another ball bearing behind the blade to make sure it doesn't get pushed off as I'm cutting forward there is nothing to stop it from coming off toward you if you're pulling back so there's certain things you need to make sure to do so we don't pull the blade off the track now when you cut I I want
• 01:00 - 01:30 you to make sure that the guard is about a qu of an inch above your board there's a knob in the back and you just lift it up and down that way my smallest finger doesn't have enough room to get under this ball bearing to get into the blade so the only way that you can cut yourself for the most part is if my finger is extended in line with that blade which is much harder to do cuz most people are quick enough to pull a finger back should they get close to the blade when you're cutting and I'll raise this up for some of it just so you can see the blade
• 01:30 - 02:00 uh make sure that you're not getting a burn on the end sometimes as you cut the blade will actually burn the end of your board just a little bit usually that'll mean that it's dull or you're going a little bit too slow most of the time it's cuz it's dull if the blade gets dull let me know I have a couple more in the back I can just switch the blade to a new one as you're cutting generally speaking let's say I'm just cutting a straight line like this if I just want to cut that off it only Cuts straight forward so I have to line it up like
• 02:00 - 02:30 this so the line is pointing at the saw blade I've had a number of kids put it in so like this thinking that they'll get this cut so what happens is is they start cutting here and they realize as they get to the line I'm going the wrong direction I'll end up cutting straight through it if I'm not careful so they stop twist the board and then try to keep cutting now when I turn this on for a moment have a look at the blade you'll see that the blade kind of
• 02:30 - 03:00 clicks it does this little little little at a time the reason that happens is because they put this in and twisted and they Twisted the blade and bent it fortunately it didn't break so that's good however now that it's doing this it's going to leave kind of a it's going to click as it goes through the board and leave your line a little bit more Jagged than it should be so be careful to always line your board up straight at what you're cutting it needs to be relatively a straight line if I need to to turn a little bit as I'm going that's
• 03:00 - 03:30 fine but it needs to be pointing at the blade why is it important to keep moving forward if you're cutting a curve well let's put a simple curve on there okay like that say as I'm cutting I know I would need to start this curve facing this way and then cut and turn as I go if I stop turning let's say I'm cutting off the line I'll use my pencil on this one I'm cutting and I start getting off the line if I stop twist to get it back in line
• 03:30 - 04:00 and then start going back again I've just bent the blade and most of the time that'll actually break the blade like I said this must be a good one because it didn't break the time the kid Twisted however by stopping I'm forcing the blade to twist and then try to start cutting again so what I should have done is either back it out and start cutting again or just you know turned into that curve to get back on my line then I'd come back and clean that up later so why is it important to keep moving forward because you could either break or twist
• 04:00 - 04:30 the blade similar to number number three on your sheet how do you keep from having to back out of a long curve well let's just use the same curve if this curve is tight enough that you don't think the blade can make it around in one pass simply make what are called relief Cuts relief cuts are simply some little cuts that go in and out again so if I simply put it on here and go in just to the line the the curving back
• 04:30 - 05:00 just to the curving out just to the curve and out and so forth I've made these three and I've got a couple more to make now when I go back and cut I cut to here this piece falls off then I cut the rest here and that falls off and This falls off and so forth there's no wood left on my board to pinch the blade as I'm turning it you've always got to push forward but if it's too tight of a curve say like this I've got to put those relief Cuts in there to relieve the pressure hence the
• 05:00 - 05:30 name so my blade doesn't get pinched and start burning the wood or snapping in two um number six if you're following a pencil line while cutting we need to cut just off of the line so again let's say I've got a curve here let's say that I need to stay off the line just a little bit say I want to uh cut this piece out I want to stay just inside this line about a 16th to an eighth of an inch so
• 05:30 - 06:00 that this line the original is still there because when I'm done cutting this blade does not leave a very smooth edge at all it's always very Jagged it's got a lot of lines on it that we need to sand out so if I cut on the line and then sand I'm now here about a 16th to an eighth smaller than I wanted so if I stay off the line the whole way through and then sand it I still have a line to sand too I can see where I need to stop so you want to cut just off of of your
• 06:00 - 06:30 original pencil line so that you can sand down to that line and it's the right size number seven is pretty obvious you never want to put your finger in line with a blade that especially as your thumb that typically is what I've seen get into the blades as a thumb um so you need to be careful nothing in line with the blade you don't intend to get cut if the blade does break while you're cutting going around a sharp corner whatever this one's a little bit different than the others because I have seen the blade break and it comes around the top the end hits the table and kind
• 06:30 - 07:00 of shoots off to the side I don't want my hands here where I'm cutting it could slice across my fingers and I don't want that so make sure if it breaks you'll hear a very loud bang and you know everything stops moving for a moment you want to back off get your hands out of the way once I know nothing is going going to be shooting out at all then go ahead and turn it off and I will change the blade and see if there's any damage and we'll fix that how do you back out of a long curvy cut well let's say I've got a
• 07:00 - 07:30 cut that I can't back out or I can't cut all the way through I mean nice sharp curves for some reason I have to stop there and pull it back out again so I've got in here made the cut made the cut made the cut I've stopped now I got to pull it back out now remember I said there's no ball bearing on here to keep it from falling off forward if I pull this out and I give it just a little too hard of a tug the blade will fall off the wheel and if that happens we have to turn it off and see if there's damage and reset it and realign it and so forth so simply turn
• 07:30 - 08:00 off the machine let it come to a complete stop and then pull it out I can give it a good yank with it not running and it will stay on the wheels and it'll stay aligned so simply turn it off if you're afraid you might pull it off the track how do you cut around a sharp 90° Corner that's the last question on your sheet um let's see here put a dark blue line here and here now normally if I have a long line and a short line I
• 08:00 - 08:30 would always cut the short one first because I want to back out of the shorter line I always want to back out of the shorter line less chance of pulling it off the blade and then I'd cut the long one and this would fall away now let's say for whatever reason I do not want to back out I was want to cut and finish the cut without pulling back out of the wood here's how you do it cut all the way up this line to your other line and stop back off about an inch only about an inch and then round cut that corner out so now this is gone
• 08:30 - 09:00 then I simply back cut right here and then this is gone so one 2 3 cut up to the line back out and round cut that corner and then back cut whatever's left three steps so when you're cutting it doesn't matter to me if you're cutting with your fing your hands like this both sides or even just one-handed either way way works just
• 09:00 - 09:30 fine turn it on and I can cut like this now my finger is somewhat in line with the blade so I'm just going to move it out of the way as I get close and cut it off you can turn it you can cut it whatever you want so as you can it's hard to see but see if I can scuff that up it doesn't leave a very good uh cut it got a lot of lines on there it's harder to see on the camera one of the last questions on the test what if I have a narrow piece of wood that I need to cut in half now what I don't want is my fingers
• 09:30 - 10:00 pinching the blade next to it it's too easy to get in there so here's what you do let me bring that down just a little bit more turn it on and cut as far as you can now I'm starting to get a little nervous I'm with it about an inch simply reach around the back further away and just pull it the rest of the way out very simple so if you got a narrow piece of wood feel free to pull it and get it out the back when you're done and then all of my scrap pieces go into the trash I just don't want you to
• 10:00 - 10:30 throw them on the floor sawdust on the floor here it's almost like an ice skating rink these don't help they actually will make you uh roll your ankle a little bit here and there so make sure to throw everything away into the trash so the band saw we use the band saw mostly um for in between projects uh you got some extra time you can make a plaque cut out letters whatever that's fine we do use it twice on the nightstand one for your door and once for your base trim but as
• 10:30 - 11:00 you're using the band saw it's a fun machine to use but you need to be very careful to keep your fingers out of the line of the blade and always make sure to line up whatever you're cutting directly in line with the blade so you don't have to twist so doing that will make sure that the saw is able to cut correctly and that you stay safe