Check out this recent Stephen Colbert segment that pokes fun at the SawStop and its inventor Stephen Gass. By itself the SawStop is a neat invention that at best helps avoid severe injury, and at least offers peace of mind.
But Gass isn’t happy with some users buying his SawStop saws – he wants to force all other table saw manufacturers to license his technology. Since manufacturers chose not to pay Gass for his SawStop tech, he began lobbying government officials to force manufacturers into licensing agreements.
This whole situation is a mess. If manufacturers are forced to license and implement SawStop technology into all saws, forget about the entire <$250 table saw category. $300+ saws will increase in price, weight, and complexity. In addition to the licensing fees and actual SawStop components, manufacturers would be forced to spend a ton of money on R&D, which would raise product costs even further.
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In all the example videos we have seen, blade guards are removed and saw blades extend well beyond their recommended safe operating heights. To us that seems like a dirty trick.
Worth mentioning, here’s an update that PTI, the Power Tool Institute, sent us regarding their work to oppose Gass’s campaign to force manufacturers to license his technology:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a 30 day extension of the comment period for the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on table saw safety.
The new deadline for comments is March 16, 2012.
To date, hundreds of comments have been submitted to CPSC via the Power Tool Institute’s comments website, www.powertoolinstitute.info. PTI continues to encourage woodworkers, consumers and interested parties to submit comments to the ANPR using the website.
Additional information on PTI’s position on the ANPR can be found at: http://www.powertoolinstitute.
com/pti_pages/pdf/ FactsAtAGlance.pdf. The Federal Register Notice announcing the extension can be found at http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/ frnotices/fr12/tablesaw.pdf. Advertisement
If Gass was lobbying that brands be forced to implement automatic saw-stopping safety measures of their own, okay, that would seem reasonable. But no, he wants them to license his technology. Maybe that’s why Colbert jokes that Gass is destroying America.
fred
One concern for those that have a fleet of older table saws it what’s the implication for future use. Does a business, just as an example, need to throw away an Oliver Rip Saw, a Felder table saw, 3 Unisaws, a ShopFox sliding table saw and a fleet of older Makita and newer Bosch jobsite saws (all of which have never been cited to be non-OSHA compliant) – and which have never resulted in any serious injuries in nearly 40 years (at least on the oldest Unisaw) of use. Maybe its luck – and Sawstop proponents might argue that these older saws – and even the newer one with riving knives and update blade guards are an inviation for tragedy. But I think that good and repeated training, situational awareness, workers who look out for their compatriots and take resposibility for their own and coworker’s safety also go a long way to prevent injuries. I might try a SawStop machine to improve safety – but I’m not convinced that all older saws (especially where the cabinet saws are equipped with sliding tables or auto feeders) are inherently unsafe if used by a skilled, well trained and alert worker.
John Doe
The U.S. tool industry also resisted making riving knives mandatory on table saws despite their long history of improved safety in Europe, where they have been part of the table saw landscape for years. Riving knives are now quite sensibly required on new table saws. The above writer is concerned that adding blade stopping technology on saws that sell for under $300 will ruin that market segment. Good luck to him if he thinks he can find a new table saw that is worth owning for under $300. He also cries foul because the blade guard was removed for the demonstration. Anyone who has worked with an old style splitter and blade guard knows how difficult and time consuming they typically are to mount and align after they have been removed, as they must be, to make certain cuts (e.g., dados). It is simply a fact of life that many or most woodworkers simply don’t use them most of the time and expecting them to is nothing more than wishful thinking. Riving knives have generally made the use of blade guards, which the U.S. industry has also been late to embrace, much simpler and more frequent.
Industry is rarely in the forefront of safety concerns. Just as the auto industry fought mandatory seat belts and air bags, so the tool industry fights blade stopping safety features. Riving knives and blade stopping safety systems should become as common in table saws as air bags and seat belts are in cars. I just sold my table saw to free up space for a SawStop. I value my body parts too much to lose them because of a momentary distraction or other accident. For my dollar, the extra cost is well worth the extra margin of safety.
Boris
You’ll never live in a safe world. It won’t happen. Regulation leads to the destruction of our freedoms. My freedom is worth losing every digit on my body.
Jan Breitigam
Wow, I have a difficult time believing you would sacrifice every digit to avoid having a mandated safety device.
I have never felt a loss of freedom by wearing either a seat belt in my truck or a helmet riding my motorcycle. After 50 plus years of construction work with no saw accidents, I am typing this with one hand due to a table saw accident. I cannot tell you what happened, as it was so fast I have no real idea of what happened. I do know that my hands were not in the path of the blade as I was doing the rip, yet some how two of my fingers managed to meet the spinning blade. It will be another month at least before I will know how much damage is repairable. Both fingers involved will be shorter, one will never have a finger nail. I would rather see more competition between saw makers, however I am not willing to risk another accident while waiting for that to happen. When I am healed up enough to get back in the shop, I will have a SawStop unless another company brings out a better product in the next two months.
Rob
Jan, my story is so similar to yours. I have been an avid woodworker for nearly 50 years. Last Friday morning I had my wife drive me to ER to stitch my thumb back together. I don’t know if the doctors are going to be able to save my thumb’s usefulness. I too don’t remember how I injured myself. All I know is it happened in the blink of an eye and there is no return to normal. I am choosing to replace my tablesaw with a SawStop model. If the technology is available and I can offer myself and my family the peace of mind while continuing to follow over 50years of accident free safety habits, I should be in good shape to continue to do what I absolutely love.
Adam Roger Kearley
My Aunt Sandy lost half of one of her index fingers and the tips of the adjacent middle finger and thumb. I wasn’t there, but it’s pretty easy to imagine exactly what happened.
The pieces went flying when it happened and couldn’t be located in time to reattach.
It’s been 15 years that she’s had the nickname Nubbins.
Chris
Magically they ended up in the path of the blade? Sounds like complacency. I’d love to know what happened.
David
Really dumb comment, Chris. Accidents happen, even to the most skilled, most careful people. Probably even to you.
Stuart
Whether or not sub-$300 table saws are “worth owning” is unimportant given how many of them sell. Like it or not, these inexpensive saws are hugely popular with homeowners, DIYers, and even pros.
Yes, you have to remove the blade guard to cut dados, but at the same time the blade isn’t raised several inches above the thickness of the material. Safety precautions and proper operating protocol are neglected in the demos, probably intentionally, for the sake of prompting a stronger emotional response.
The point of the video and much of the widespread debate is not to devalue the SawStop technology, but to highlight and oppose its inventor’s greedy campaign to squeeze money out of saw manufacturers.
Did Volvo require other car makers to license their 3-point seat belt design? No, they offered the technology for free because they felt the improved safety measures should benefit all.
Fred
I saw one of these in Woodcraft last night. I asked the guy working there if he or anyone there had been brave enough to test it out. He looked at me as if he was done talking to me for good.
Peter
Are there documented accidents where they show the outcome of Saw Stop vs. finger or other body parts?
Parke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTUOhYcw4ZY
The inventor uses his finger instead of the hot dog in this clip. I still wonder how it would do if your hand was thrown into the blade, not just lightly touching it.
Stuart
I’m sure you’ll get nicked or cut, but perhaps not too severely.
porphyre
I agree, I’d like to see a live demo. Put his hand where our money is. They do show them slamming hot dogs into the blade at speed and the hot dog just gets nicked. This may sound stupid, but it shouldn’t be too hard to construct a “meat glove” for Gass to wear, then have him jam his hand into the blade. He only needs probably 1/4″ of meat around his fingers to be safe. He could probably wrap a piece of bacon around a digit 3-4 times and it would provide protection against the scratch.
I’d also like to see “wood free” demos. Many many many woodworkers have lost digits in accidents that no way resemble the SawStop demos. I mean really – if you’re feeding in a workpiece and straight jam your finger into the blade… you deserved to get cut. In the Colbert piece, the guy was reaching over the blade. In the Tom Hintz video making the rounds last week, Tom wasn’t touching wood at all when his push block hit the blade. Fingers can get sucked into blades for added damage. Let’s see a demo of that.
Marj
I was looking at getting a saw stop. Got a promo from woodworkers this week for a free movable base with purchase. Seeing this article has changed my mind.
Drum
Same here. Good ideas spread on their own merits, peacefully and voluntarily; they don’t require the use of arbitrary, aggressive, monopoly force (i.e., govt).
unclemymy
Crony capitalism IS destroying the country. Using lawmakers to sell your product is the most despicable practice ever allowed in the history of capitalism. I was a fan of SawStop until I found this out. If it were absolutely necessary for the government to ENFORCE safety (it never is), then the proper approach would be to require everyone to come up with his own method. The market would select the best one, and SawStop might not even come in fourth. Damn this formerly brilliant man to Inventor’s Hell.
Charlie
I was a meat cutter for about 17 years, and I’ve been mostly a hobbyist woodworker for about 30 years. I still have all my digits, and complete. I’ve owned an American made Delta Contractor’s table saw since 1995 when I bought it new. One thing really bothers me about Mr Gass, he wants to force his product on American woodworkers, but doesn’t want to support American jobs, he has his saws made in Taiwan. Also, is the Table Saw the only machine in your shop that can mangle you severely ? I don’t think so. A woodshop is not a place to be day dreaming, PERIOD ! One more thought that I have is lets say your working in a cabinet shop with several other workers running other machines, when that block of aluminum hits the blade it sounds like a shotgun going off. How many of the other workers are going to flinch or jump and injure themselves like a chain reaction ? One other thing to consider is that woodworking is allready a dying art, less people will be able to retire, and the ones working just don’t have the time for it with two jobs, and the fact that in most cases you can buy something made out of wood cheaper then what you can buy the materials to make it. Raising the cost of machinery will put the cost of just having a hobby shop out of reach for most people. I feel the same way about people that constantly push Industrial and Stationary Cabinet saws on hobbyists. It’s rediculous. Just my opinion.
Garrick
There is a lot to say for the Saw Stop. I have a friend (an emergency surgeon no less) who lost part of a finger making a toy gun for his kid. It was a cheap table saw, with no safety measures on it. Mind you, this guy also volunteers for every war that comes along, so he is a risk taker.
The Saw Stop, unfortunately is not reliable. It is too easy to set off accidently, and replacing the parts may prove to be economically avoidable, especially for someone who only needs a table saw occasionally.
I will accept that anyone who wants one, and feels it is worthwhile for them, should get one, and I know that the higher the volume of sales, the lower the cost will be for each one. But I also feel that it is wrong to impose a cost on someone else, that may be smart enough to not need one.
snowman55
After using an oscillating tool and seeing how safe it is, I wonder if there are any plans by mfgs to use the technology in tablesaw? Only one I saw was on youtube 3yrs ago for a child’s tablesaw used to cut a special polymer.
David Funk
I personal witnessed a Forest Saw Blade Rep demoing blades almost cut his finger off. He said he has been wood working for 29 years. Sawstop Saved him. I think he sold more Sawstop’s then Forest Blades that day and I am glad I bought one. Also when doing cross cuts in sensitive wood raising the blade can help reduce tare out.
Drum
ToolGuyd, thanks for this post! I had no idea SawStop was doing this. Also, after seeing the all these comments opposed to the corporatist finagling, my waning sense of hope for America has been boosted.
Drum
David, that’s nice. But it’s no good reason to impose the technology on everyone else.
Sanders
As usual, the Sawstop haters can’t seem to get beyond their disdain for Steve Gass to see the overwhelming benefits of this product. With over 4,000 documented amputations annually in this country due to tablesaw injuries, and the attendant $2+ billion associated cost, not to mention the life-changing nature of said injuries, insisting this new technology be incorporated into new tablesaws compares easily to mandatory seat belts in automobiles.
Seat belts save lives and help to prevent serious injuries in car crashes; SS technology prevents catastrophic injuries on tablesaws. Facts don’t lie – get over it!
Bill
But the roll-out of seat belts and much later seat belt laws, was not the result of the enrichment of one guy who demanded we all use his product. You can count me as one of the haters and one of the delighted ones applauding the competition from Bosch. If and when I buy a saw with this type of technology it will never be a Sawstop product.
Drum
Exactly, Bill.
It’s not his technology I oppose; it’s his “marketing” tactics.
If an idea is so good, it doesn’t require the compulsory force of govt law behind it.
Mike
The funny thing here is that if you watch Colbert, you know the whole piece is satire. The video is NOT making fun of Gass, it is making fun of all the people who are up in arms about SawStop “taking our freedom” (like the author).
john doe
I maybe late to this comment section but I would say that the best way to avoid accidents would be to actually keep clear of the blade sawstop or not. My shop has plenty of jigs setup for cuts. Yes it takes longer to load the wood and clamp it down into the jig but the safety from having your fingers feet away is worth the time and effort. I have jigs for cross cuts, Jigs for Rip cuts. Jigs for planing on the saw. They can clutter the shop up sometimes but it’s worth it and far cheaper than a sawstop
Mike P
Mike, thanks for pointing out what was driving me nuts—that the Colbert clip isn’t poking fun at Sawstop. Seriously everyone watch the clip. The author missed the point.
justin power
i love a good underdog story, and sawstop is the story of the underdog that rose to victory. I wish they were made in north america though.
jason
This is copied and pasted from amazon
This discourages me from buying this product, along with many other stories of fit and finish issues and the fact that it is made in Tiawan.
3.0 out of 5 stars Sawstop has built a very good saw. The fence on the 30″ table saw
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
[redacted]
Stuart
Please don’t copy/paste large sections of user reviews from Amazon or other retailers.
Paul Kelly
Many years ago, I brought my hand back over a spinning blade and caught my thumb, SHOT it backwards. Deep cut but I kept my thumb.
My current 3 HP SS is my third saw and my last. The build quality is impressive.
As for Gass trying to force his technology on the industry, I say shame on him.
If he were to license it dirt cheap to all manufacturers, I am sure he would be the wealthy man he desires to be and most saws would be safer, which was the genesis of his idea. Like seat belts and air bags, quantity would lower cost to reasonable.