Woodworking Talk banner

Why put fence on the right side on table saw?

51K views 84 replies 28 participants last post by  DaileyR7 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello~

A simple question, why do we always put the rip fence on the right side of the saw blade?

I've watched hundreds of YouTube videos, and I have not seen any video in which the guy's cutting wood with the rip fence on the left side of the blade! Well, there actually were a couple of videos, but those were not type of cuts where the saw blade was protruding through the wood, i.e. dado cuts or rabbit cuts.

I think using the table saw with the rip fence left side of the blade will be a little bit safer. Since I try not to stay directly behind the space between the blade and the fence (unless I have to, like cutting a wide plywood sheet) I usually keep my body left side of the blade. Being right handed, it's a bit awkward to keep my body on the right side of the blade and fence because that way, I would really have to reach in to use my dominant arm.

If I keep the fence on left side of the blade, I can keep my body along with the fence. I can use my right arm to push the wood through, while keeping it tight against the fence, without having to reach over the spinning blade(!) to complete the cut like I normally have to with conventional rip fence and my body orientation.

Is there actually a reason that we MUST keep the rip fence right side of the blade?? The only situation when this can be unsafe I can think of is when making a cut with the blade tilted. As the most of modern table saws tilt the blade to left, if we put the fence on the left then I can cause some jam. However, other than that, what would be a problem?

There's an added benefit for doing this for me; with this new fence location I would be able to use my magnetic jointer finger board on my cast iron table saw top! :smile3:

If I had enough guts, I would've actually tried it out to see how it worked out. But since I am always intimidated by these power tools, especially likes of table saw, I thought I should ask around first.

Have a nice day!
 
See less See more
#5 ·
Depends if you have a left or right hand tilting blade.

When you make a angled cut with a left tilting blade with the fence on the right the cut off part is above the blade so is not trapped, with a right tilt saw and a fence on the right side the cut off piece will be trapped under the blade and against the fence which could result in a kickback.
 
#6 · (Edited)
You can put the fence wherever .....

You can, as you have proposed, locate the fence on the left side of the blade, just don't tilt the blade.

What concerned me is this statement:

If I keep the fence on left side of the blade, I can keep my body along with the fence. I can use my right arm to push the wood through, while keeping it tight against the fence, without having to reach over the spinning blade(!) to complete the cut like I normally have to with conventional rip fence and my body orientation.

You should never reach over a spinning blade. Period.:surprise2:

If you normally use a splitter, it will help keep the wood registered against the fence. If you don't you may have a problem, just using your right hand trying to push forward and in toward the fence simultaneously. It's easier to push away than in. The human factor becomes important here. If you allow the work to come off the fence, just one time, for an instant, you will have a kickback. With your body positioned to the left and behind you may avoid any injury, BUT I wouldn't do it for those reasons.

It sounds like you are so concerned with a potential kickback that you are creating an condition where if you used your splitter and the fence on the right side, those potential problems would go away, at least that's what I have experienced. You should never have your hands in direct line with the plane of the blade... if possible .... and when necessary never less than 3" from the blade or where the insert is... it's painted red for a reason! Always use a push stick or shoe when ripping narrow pieces. A push shoe is better because you can also press down as well as forward.

I liked your question and it was very well explained.
 
#7 ·
Another thing comes to mind for me and the way I use my push stick/shoe; with my fence on the right and pushing stock through, my right thumb is toward the blade and I can see everything in good plain sight. If I were to cut on the right side of the fence instead of the left and also keep my body left of the fence, and because I'm right-handed, I would still see my thumb but I would now have 4 knuckles partially hidden from my view and, depending on how small the cut width and stock thickness, riding much closer to the blade than I would like.


I can see where on very rare occasions it might be beneficial to put the fence on the left side of the blade but I'll be keeping mine on the right side.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Left tilt saw fence to the right of the blade, right tilt saw fence to the left of the blade. There many reasons why you don't want the blade pointed towards the fence on a bevel cut.

I suppose on a straight cut you put it on either side but I'd wager that most would agree it's more ergonomic to push material against the fence than to try and pull it.
 
#10 ·
In any industry there is what are known as common practices, so when you see things habitually being done in a certain way there is often a good reason that has stood the test of time. It is probably the safest and most efficient way of doing it.

As has been mentioned it only really matters when cutting a bevel, but if you have the fence over on the left side with with a left tilt blade chances are that there will come a time when to save a couple minutes you will make a bevel cut and trap the off cut resulting in a kick back. Accidents rarely happen, there is usually a cause.
 
#11 ·
Thank you all for your replies.

While reading the responses, I realized that how to saw the wood - whether the fence on the left or right side - would greatly depend on the shape, thickness, and size of the wood, as well as a type of push stick/gear to use. Well, that really shouldn't be a surprise.

Even though I figured keeping the fence on left would make more sense for the most of the cuts I make, I guess there could be some situation doing so would be less favorable, too, as some of you pointed out.

This got me to think about the safety one more time, so I think it's cool. I saw some tips and advice regarding safety, which I appreciate and will definitely try to remember.

Well, at least it seems like there is no inherent danger of using the saw with the fence to the left of the blade, as long as I play it safe (which is something I should do even when I have the fence to the right side anyway). After all, I guess there indeed was a reason that the right of the rip fence was as smooth as the other side; it's meant to be used :)

Have a nice day!
 
#12 ·
snip

Well, at least it seems like there is no inherent danger of using the saw with the fence to the left of the blade, as long as I play it safe (which is something I should do even when I have the fence to the right side anyway). After all, I guess there indeed was a reason that the right of the rip fence was as smooth as the other side; it's meant to be used :)

Have a nice day!
If you go back and read the previous posts there are inherent dangers, however if you want to ignore them that is up to you.
 
#15 ·
"handedness" comes into play here

A right handed operator can push the work into the fence on the right side of the blade, as well as pushing it along into the blade while standing to the left of the blade.

A left handed operator standing to the right of the blade with a fence on the left side of the blade can do the same.

A right handed operator can NOT pull the work into the fence when it's on the left, there is no control this way. You would have to stand to the right and push in and forward, crossing over your other arm... not ergonomically easy.

So, right handed operators will have better and safer results by having the fence on the right. When you don't have full control of the work, you will have a kickback eventually.

This is true in all cases and does not address the potential of tilting the saw for a bevel, into the fence, trapping the work:



 
#17 ·
Since the majority of us are right handed, most things made for lefties cost more. This includes saws, shotguns, baseball gloves Etc. I know this first hand because my son is left handed and I have two left handed grandkids.
You can buy Skil Saws in either right or left.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I'm a righty, but I like a lefty

When the blade is on the left side of the saw, a right handed person can more easily see the blade and the cut line. Not so with a right bladed saw where you have to lean over the saw and to see the cut line. If you use the marked plate on the shoe and just track the line with that, then it's a lot easier. Two of my battery powered saws have the blade on the left, Dewalt and Milwaukee, but the Rigid is a right blade. The older Porter Cable and Skil corded saws have the blade on the right and as a result I rarely use them any longer, and besides the battery saws are so much handier with no cord to get in the way.

The worm drive saws are left bladed. Go figure....
 
#26 ·
OnealWoodworking said:
Most of the advice and 'tips' you got were from hobby woodworkers that have never done this stuff for a living. They might cut the same amount of wood in a year (or 10) that many professionals cut in a single day. Reaching over or behind a spinning blade will NOT cause your saw to explode or your fingers to instantly detach from your body. You have to use your own common sense when choosing how to secure your material and making your cut.
I have seen a lot of professional woodworkers that lost their membership to the 10 finger club. Any way you slice it reaching over a spinning blade is a bad idea.
 
#27 ·
Reaching over a spinning blade won't hurt you unless you don't lift it up when returning it. Once the board has finished being cut and sitting on the catch table there is no reason you can't reach back and pick it up. It's when the board is still between the blade and the fence there is a danger and you should not reach over the blade.
 
#37 · (Edited)
This is all I got left....

http://tablesawaccidents.com/


Pick your statistic. Of the 52,000 "reported accidents 17% were caused by "holing, pulling, or reaching over..." thats 8,840.


Or using this chart 13% were caused by "reaching over the blade" which is 6,760.


Which ever chart you use, it's too many injuries, and that's not my opinion, it's a fact. How many injuries went "unreported" .... :surprise2:

In 50% of the injuries, the blade guard was not on the saw:



You guys can do what you want ever in your own shops, but recommending a "potentially" risky procedure on a large forum like this is likely to influence some folks with less than 50 years of experience, .... just sayin'


Ya'll get your 5 HP 12" Powermatic reved up and drop a chunk of plywood on the blade from a height of 1 foot and come back here and tell us what exactly happened.
I've made my points and I'm through here. Carry on.
 
#44 ·
You guys can do what you want ever in your own shops, but recommending a "potentially" risky procedure on a large forum like this is likely to influence some folks with less than 50 years of experience, .... just sayin'


Ya'll get your 5 HP 12" Powermatic reved up and drop a chunk of plywood on the blade from a height of 1 foot and come back here and tell us what exactly happened.
I've made my points and I'm through here. Carry on.
No professional shops that I know of personally and occasionally visit go anywhere remotely near your level of 'extreme' (or have anyone around that does) when it comes to table saw safety. This would include any and all 'small' shops that I know of personally.




It would do you some good to get out and swing by one of your local cabinet shops one morning with a box of donuts and some coffee. I bet they give you a warm welcome and have no problem with you hanging out for a while to 'check things out'...


You might have 50 years of experience and 125,000 posts on the internet but you may end up being surprised by what you see. :yes:
 
#40 ·
I've tried to make those points...




It's not getting silly, when you reach over the blade to pickup your workpiece and you lose your grasp... and it can and has happened ... and it falls onto the spinning blade and kicks back. Murphy's Law and the Law of Gravity are now in charge and bad things will happen, and that ain't "silly".

Why don't you go drop a chunk of plywood on a 10" 2 hp saw and see want happens. I bet with either saw it will go flying across the room and if you were standing behind it certain body parts are going to be in excruciating pain. What does kickback have to do with reaching over the blade anyway?
See the point I made above regarding kickback. There's more than one type, actually four types. The 2 HP saw will also hurt you, heck I've had a 1 HP Craftsman saw kickback and that hurt plenty.

Types of kickback:
1. dropping a workpiece from above on a spinning blade.

2. the workpiece closes behind the blade because there is no splitter or riving knife, pinches the back of the blade and it propelled forward toward the operator.

3. the workpiece loses it contact at the rear of the fence, rotates away, and is picked up by the blade's rotation and is propelled forward toward the operator.

4. The workpiece warps or expands as it's cut apart, makes greater contact with the rotating blade, wedging it between the blade and fence and is propelled toward the operator, a spear type kickback.


The top 3 are preventable using proper procedures and safety devices. No. 4 would be "unexpected", so body location is important, standing to the side of the workpiece being the safe place to stand. I've had all 4 types happen to me and fortunately nothing bad happened. Now, can I go back to the shop? :smile3:
 
#39 ·
woodnthings said:
http://tablesawaccidents.com/ Pick your statistic. Of the 52,000 "reported accidents 17% were caused by "holing, pulling, or reaching over..." thats 8,840. Or using this chart 13% were caused by "reaching over the blade" which is 6,760. Which ever chart you use, it's too many injuries, and that's not my opinion, it's a fact. How many injuries went "unreported" .... :surprise2: In 50% of the injuries, the blade guard was not on the saw: You guys can do what you want ever in your own shops, but recommending a "potentially" risky procedure on a large forum like this is likely to influence some folks with less than 50 years of experience, .... just sayin' Ya'll get your 5 HP 12" Powermatic reved up and drop a chunk of plywood on the blade from a height of 1 foot and come back here and tell us what exactly happened. I've made my points and I'm through here. Carry on.
Why don't you go drop a chunk of plywood on a 10" 2 hp saw and see want happens. I bet with either saw it will go flying across the room and if you were standing behind it certain body parts are going to be in excruciating pain. What does kickback have to do with reaching over the blade anyway?
 
#41 ·
You can wrap sentence around sentence and the long post comes out the same. Your way, my way, his way. The only way that counts is what makes you feel the most confident around the saw. The problem with hobby woodworkers and some future professionals is they don't know and spend most their time reading and watching videos from people who think they know but don't.

You can put charts up all day yet you nor anyone else will ever tell me how to use a table saw.
 
#42 ·
no one is trying ....

You can put charts up all day yet you nor anyone else will ever tell me how to use a table saw.
No one is trying to tell you anything. I certainly wouldn't.
 
#43 ·
I break all the "rules". Reach over, cut with the blade tilted against the fence, don't use a push stick until the cut becomes a micro cut, don't have an off feed table, rip with a crosscut blade, never lower the blade when I'm finished, crosscut boards that are longer than they are wide, never use a splitter, never use a guard.

Just wanted to keep the thread going and fuel the fire already in progress.

Al B Thayer
 
#45 ·
Al B Thayer said:
I break all the "rules". Reach over, cut with the blade tilted against the fence, don't use a push stick until the cut becomes a micro cut, don't have an off feed table, rip with a crosscut blade, never lower the blade when I'm finished, crosscut boards that are longer than they are wide, never use a splitter, never use a guard. Just wanted to keep the thread going and fuel the fire already in progress. Al B Thayer
I put diesel in a weed sprayer to start brush piles.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top