# The router bit me, now its time to reevaluate the safety of my shop



## Upstate (Nov 28, 2011)

So I was setting up to rout a lock miter in a small maple box I was building last week, and while running a test piece through vertically on the fence, experienced a case of kick back, the board flew from my grasp, and sucked my hand into the bit. Ouch! It took off a nice chunk of my finger tip. Needless to say, the shop looks like a crime scene at the moment with the blood splatters, and I won't be making lock miters any time soon.

The cause? Could be a number of things I suppose...
A) router speed too slow
B) too small of a test piece
C) tired and working late

Anyways, not that push pads would have definitely let me avoid this situation, but I'm due for a few safety upgrades... the first being push blocks/pads. Do any of you have any suggestions? I was looking at bench dog push blocs, http://www.rockler.com/m/product.cfm?page=30571? Thoughts?

Attached is a (blurry) pic of my finger from the day after that doesn't do it justice, and a pic of it almost healed a week later. Looks like it went though a blender. I figured the doctor wouldn't be able to do much to it besides give me antibiotics, so I globbed some neosporin on it 4 times a day for a week and went through 3 boxes of bandaids, and it's almost all healed completely, albeit slightly deformed.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*What did happen?*








*The router bit me, now its time to reevaluate the safety of my shop* 
So I was setting up to rout a lock miter in a small maple box I was building last week, and while running a test piece through vertically on the fence, experienced a case of kick back, the board flew from my grasp, and sucked my hand into the bit. Ouch! It took off a nice chunk of my finger tip. Needless to say, the shop looks like a crime scene at the moment with the blood splatters, and I won't be making lock miters any time soon.

The cause? Could be a number of things I suppose...
A) router speed too slow
B) too small of a test piece
C) tired and working late

Unless the bit traps the work, like a dovetail, it should have been safe. A slower speed is not the best unless the diameter is larger. There is a recommended speed to diameter relationship in this chart: http://www.newwoodworker.com/ref/rtrbtspds.html

I suspect the test piece was too short, tipped and caused the kickback. I always run the longest scrap I can find, since a few minutes spent looking for one will save hours/days if anything goes wrong. No time was saved by "rushing" the operation. Slow down, be safer ..... albeit hindsight is 20/20.

The most often cause of shop accidents that I've heard...working late, tired, and in a rush. 

As someone who had a crushed fingertip I "feel your pain" it still works fine, just looks weird. :blink:


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## Fred Hargis (Apr 28, 2012)

I have 3 of those Bench Dog push blocs and I find them to be the best commercial ones I've seen. They are a lot larger than most, and the pads grip even very slick surfaces like melamine and prefinished plywood really well. Add to that they really that much more expensive than the smaller ones, I think they are a good buy. That said, I agree with woodnthings that the piece wasn't trapped, so the cause of the kickback is puzzling.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

If you could explain exactly how it happened would be beneficial in addressing how to do the procedure you were attempting, and would help others to avoid the same mishap.

Router speed isn't a major cause. Before variable speed routers came out, routing procedures were performed safely using due care.










 







.


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

It would help to show your router table set up. In many cases, the opening in the fence around the bit can cause issues. Many manufactured router table fences don't fit tightly around the bit, leaving enough space for the work to fall into, so to speak. The inexpensive push pads with non slip rubber surfaces are good. With router bit set ups that remove material from the complete surface, you need an offset outfeed fence to compensate, like a jointers outfeed table. In many router operations, you make incremental cuts, not full depth cuts. A big bite can send work flying.


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## Upstate (Nov 28, 2011)

Well, here's a few pics, with the scrap pine I was using, and some dried blood... Obviously it happened so fast, that I can never be sure of exactly what happened. But I don't have a good insert for the router table with that size bit, I have one that's just a hair too small, and one that's too big, so I think the board tipped into the hole slightly as it was passing through, caught it, and "bad things" happened. I feel like a "zero clearance" insert on the table would have avoided this, but I don't think such a thing exists/is even possible? I did attach a zero clearance fence for the cut.





















Looking back, I should have attached a board to the trailing edge to give me a longer piece to press against the table.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Here's a setup I used*

I used 2 pair of Bench Dog hold downs and a push stick.
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f7/router-table-project-23855/


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## Day in Paradise (Oct 11, 2012)

OUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Get well soon


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

As Bill said hind sight is 20/ 20 and I hope I dont come off sounding like a smart @ss because I`m not trying to be one but you must understand when using a miter bit that the idea is to create a feather edge on the end of the piece.

Once you do this there is no bearing edge on the piece, forward of the cutting bit this mean it can and will tip.

To stop this from being a problem placing a off cut of wood on the top of the fence and fastening it to the piece with two clamps transfers the bearing face from the table to the fence and allows you to get a very fine edge on the piece and carry out the operation in safety.

Hope you heal quickly and get back on that horse. Billy


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## gearupflapsup (Jan 10, 2013)

You might try using double edge tape to secure a scrap piece opposite the face being routed. 

This gives support against the fence as the feather edge is cut. 

I just learned this, having completed some bedposts. 

Hope it works out. 
M


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