# My first Kickback



## CautiousGuy (Jun 21, 2011)

Hey, i'm new to this forum... i found this site on google when looking for sliding miter saw kickback / accident stories.

today i got my first kick back. I was fully aware of the kickbacks with these saws.. but like many things, when the cuts get repetitious accidents can happen. 

I was holding the cedar sliding firmly against the fence with my left hand.. and using my right hand to pull the saw trigger for a slide cut....like i did with all the other hundreds of cedar peaces.

The cedar was not secured by the factory lock (my left hand was securing the wood atleast 6 inches away fromt the blade) 
Anyway, this one cedar sliding litteraly exploded and broke into peaces for unknown reason.. the cedar sliding that i was holding hit my left hand palm like a base ball bat. It hit the palm so hard that i it did a 2 inches cut in lenght... not a big injury but deep enough to bleed a little. 

I guess i was lucky that the wood didn't pull my left hand...but godamn it did hurt my palm..

I think from now on i will only use the factory lock system to secure and hold the wood when using miter saw...and no longer using my left hand...


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Cedar is weird*

Because of knots, possibly in your case? 
Loose knots are a real hazard and they are 5x harder than the soft wood.
I make all sorts of cuts without using the "factory" clamp, but you must have a straight clean edge against the fence so it can't wobble. Any movement on the workpiece may bind the blade and your piece may
"expolde" as you describe it. My technique is to push the saw down then into the workpiece rather than pulling it. That seems to work best for me.  bill


----------

