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I fought my table saw for 3 years before a guy at a woodworking swap meet in Allentown grabbed my offcut and asked who taught me to feed like that
For a long time I pushed every board through my table saw with my elbows locked out and my whole upper body leaning into it, which meant I got burn marks on the cut edge maybe half the time and one kickback in 2021 that put a walnut offcut through the drywall behind me. I figured the saw was just underpowered and that a new blade would fix it. Last October I drove to a swap meet in Allentown to unload some clamps, and this older guy named Walt was standing next to my table when I ripped a test piece. He picked up the offcut, ran his thumb along the burn, and said my feed rate was stalling the blade, then he showed me how to stand slightly left of the blade and let my hips do the pushing instead of my arms. It felt wrong at first, like I had less control, but the next 20 rips came out clean with no scorch at all. Two days later I cut up 40 feet of maple for a set of shop cabinet doors and did not have to sand a single burn mark off. So now I keep both feet planted wide and let the board go at one steady speed instead of shoving it through in bursts. Has anyone else had someone call out their feed technique, or did you all figure it out on your own?
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the_sarah2d ago
Let your hips drive, not your arms, total game changer.
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