That never occurred to me until I watched a new guy, 'Matt' nervously working on a tablesaw a couple decades ago. Like so many guys, Matt was never going to be a builder, or 'maker'. He was a talented bass player, though, and that artful skill of his was what terrified me!

There was no time to go through a basic shop safety course, and I'm skeptical of those courses for reasons I won't go into. However, I am terrified of people cutting fingers off on saws, especially working for me.

And Matt like many, had to make money and voila, he's working for a builder. So I explained to Matt, anytime his fingers crossed over the edge of any part of the table top of the saw- he could lose them, easily. I even spray painted the table of a table saw once to reinforce that idea.

Matt was relieved after that. If he needed to cut something that meant his hands went onto the table top, he'd find another way to do it. His fingers stopped at the edge of the tabletop.

I have to break my rule now and then, but it's pretty rare. So I prefer doing all my cutting on a table saw solo. If somebody approaches the other end of a board, I politely wave them off. I don't want help. I want to slide that board until the balance point, leave it, and walk to the other side of the saw, and finish pulling it through, never letting my fingers go over the top of the table. I find that soothing for some reason.

I sometimes have to break my rule, just alittle , but that's rare, and I use jigs and anything in place of my fingers. Like Matt, I find another way or tool instead.

I don't know where Matt is today, but I could never resist making him grin by playing air-base when he was cutting a board on the table saw.