Gettin' back in the saddle again......

Awhile back, I had a "run in" with my table saw. Needless to say, I lost that one!

17 stitches inside and out, and I was lucky the blade of the saw didn't take half my hand with it.

Anyway, this is what it looks like as of today. Healed up nicely, but still numb from the nail on up to the tip. Time to get back in the saddle and make a cut on that durn burn tablesaw.

Not as easy as I thought it would be. Been dreading this since the accident. Seems like every time the door to the shop gets opened, that saw is right there staring at me, teeth on the blade smiling in about as evil a "I dare ya - go ahead, I double dog dare ya" look as anything I've ever seen before.

Does the word "cringe" mean anything at all to anyone but me? Even with the blade guard on, the fear, the anxiety, the trepidation - they're all there no matter how hard I try to convince myself they aren't. No matter how hard I try to convince myself I've taken every safety precaution I possibly can, the feeling I can't even describe when my thumb hit that blade comes to mind.

Well, DAMN! It's either do it or sell the damn saw!

Set the blade to height. Set the fence to width. Hook up the shopvac for dust collection. Set the outfeed roller to height. Eye protection? Check. Ear protection? Check. Dust mask on? Check. Gloves OFF! Damn straight!

Double check everything. Triple check everything. Should I check it one more time? DAMN! Now I'm just being paranoid.

Turn on the shopvac. Take a deep breath, line up the slab with the fence. Keep it tight. Turn on the saw.

Even knowing what it sounds like, it still startles. Push the slab very, very slowly into the blade. The guard backs up and raises to the height of the slab thickness. I can't see the blade through the plastic of the guard. Doesn't make me feel any better, though.

Keep on pushing the slab. Make sure it stays tight against the fence. Keep hands AWAY from the blade even thought the guard is there to prevent me from doing something stupid again.

The slab hits an obstacle and stops. Oh, yeah - it's the outfeed roller. Push the slab a little harder and it rides up and over and keeps on going as I push it. Finally, the slab is all the way through without me having an accident. Phew!

Turn the slab over. Readjust the fence to take a kerf width off the blade side of the slab. Take another deep breath and repeat the entire procedure.

Still have all my digits.

Now I can leave the tablesaw alone until the next slab is ready.