Miter Saw Safety Tips
George VondriskaGeorge Vondriska talks miter saw safety and demonstrates why he prefers to release the trigger and let his miter saw blade come to a complete stop once he’s made a cut before returning it to its original position. The answer is two-fold: 1) You won’t have any small offcut pieces ricocheting around your workshop and 2) You avoid dragging the teeth across your cut line and guarantee optimal end-grain.
On the heels of the videos I do, one of the questions I've received a lot is why is it that when I use the miter saw, let me move that little guy, I make the cut, let the saw stop, then come up and in fact, that little guy is the answer right there. As a general practice when you're using the miter saw, what you wanna do is go all the way through your work, release the trigger, let the brake take effect and stop the blade, then come back up. Now, the problem if you don't is that when you have small off cuts like this, or even more so like that little guy, the blade can grab those small pieces and they ricochet around the shop a few times before they come to a stop. Now, when I've taught this in classes and I say that exact thing the parts bounce around the shop a little bit. About half the people in class are standin there noddin their heads, and maybe you're doing the same thing, because they've experienced this.
So again, your protocol here, let me get a fresh leg cause you gotta have a leg to stand on. What you wanna watch for, I'm gonna start the saw, all the way through the cut, release the trigger, wait, then come back up. I think another byproduct of followin this approach is better cut quality on the end grain of our material, because what we're doin is running the saw, goin through the wood making a cut. Because we stop and let the blade stop, before we come back up, we're not pullin those teeth back across the cut surface. So make sure you follow this protocol, it's gonna be safer.
Keep those little pieces from bouncin around your shop. And, I think you'll see better cuts on the end grain. That means less sanding and you gotta love that.
A good tip George. Most rookies will not do this
I'm still nodding my head and something so simple . It makes you feel simple for not thinking about it yourself.
Yes, I also was nodding my head ! Great job as usual George.
Great tip! And yes George ..... I was nodding my head !!
Glad I watched, thank you for your time.
Excellent tip. Thanks.