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tstrimple12/09/20240 repliesview on HN

Table saws are dramatically more dangerous than band saws. When a band saw blade makes contact with whatever it's cutting, the force is in a single direction. Down at the table which provides material support. Table saws use a rotating blade and often a fence system. Lots of things can go wrong there, but it typically involves binding between the fence and the blade which can lead to kickback which can send chunks of wood through a wall or potentially more dangerous is it can cause the wood to twist violently into the blade risking bringing your hand towards the blade.

Here's a saw stop in action, so it's not gory. But look at how FAST things go wrong here and how violent the interaction was.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Whatcouldgowrong/comments/11s53ew/w...

Compare that to a band saw in use, and you can see fingers quite close to the to the cutting edge and still have good control over the work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlHe9gOphBw