Instructional Woodworking
DVDs

Revelations on Table Saw Set-up & Safety
Author: Hendrik Varju

Hendrik Varju / Passion for Wood / September 2008
ISBN: 978-0-9781432-2-0
9 hours, 55 minutes on 5 DVDs

Price: Cdn. $99.95 + applicable taxes
+ shipping and handling

Ontario residents pay 13% hst. Canadian residents outside of Ontario pay hst at their own province’s rate, or 5% gst if in a non-participating province. Residents outside of Canada pay no tax.

“Revelations on Table Saw Set-Up & Safety” is the leading instructional woodworking DVD on this difficult subject matter.  It has been widely used and referenced as the most complete and detailed learning aid available on the market. To read reviews and testimonials about Hendrik’s DVDs, click here.

This video is the culmination of literally thousands of hours work in refining and teaching the various techniques shown. It represents an unselfish sharing of a vast pool of information distilled down to its essence after many years of hard work and experimentation.

The success of Hendrik’s first DVD, “Jointer and Planer Secrets”, led to this second DVD boxed set, “Revelations on Table Saw Set-up & Safety”. “Revelations” is a true tour-de-force with a running time of nearly 10 hours on 5 DVDs. This is not just a DVD, but a detailed course on tuning and using your table saw. The table saw is considered by many to be the most important machine in any woodworking shop, central to all other operations. Yet it is a poorly understood machine that probably results in more injuries than any other common woodworking machine. Hendrik has heard the horror stories, spoken to countless people who have injured themselves on the table saw and spent years diagnosing procedural errors that led to inconsistent results and/or unnecessary safety risks.

For the first time ever, someone has finally put together a complete DVD package that doesn’t just gloss over the important information you need to know. The DVD starts with over 2 hours of detailed step-by-step set-up techniques to ensure your table saw is going to give consistent results. This is then followed with over 3 ½ hours of detailed procedural techniques and safety training. The production then finishes off with an almost 4 hour long step-by-step tutorial on how to build the most important table saw jig of all – the crosscut sled. While building the jig, you’ll see Hendrik use a large number of machines including the jointer, planer, drill press and router. There’s nothing like a project to help bring the whole workshop experience together, showing how various machines and techniques interact to get to the final result.

One of the “revelations” you’ll experience through this video is the fact that a table saw cannot possibly perform well if its blade is set exactly parallel to the fence and mitre slots. Hendrik will prove phenomena that you didn’t even know existed, such as what he calls “shut-down and start-up run-out”. He’ll show you the importance of a splitter and blade guard and explain why the splitter replaces the left hand where it is forbidden to go during normal ripping operations. Hendrik not only explains what a kick-back is, but demonstrates an actual kick-back in both real time and slow motion, allowing you to understand why it happens and how to avoid it. If you’ve ever had a safety issue come up on your table saw, such as a kick-back, this video is sure to explain why it happened.

In addition to discussing various techniques and procedures, Hendrik demonstrates them with painstaking detail, even to the extent of showing you how he stands, which hand is responsible for which task and why. He shows you why the left thumb has such an important job to do while ripping, what the rest of the hand should be doing and why the right hand should be used underhanded at the trailing end of the board. He even shows you how to transition from hands to pushsticks – when to do it, why to do it and how to make the transition smooth and effortless. This video covers short stock ripping, narrow stock, long pieces and even large sheet goods.

In this video, you will learn:

• the steps required to fine-tune a table saw for optimum performance, including trunnion-to-mitre-slot alignment
• about the phenomenon of shut-down and start-up run-out and how to work around it
• the difference between a right tilt and left tilt table saw and what the relevant issues are
• how to set your splitter up properly for optimum safety while ripping
• the difference between where your blade is positioned and the actual “cut line” it creates
• what kick-back is and how to avoid it
• about choosing the right blade for the job, and about featherboards, zero-clearance inserts, mitre gauges, push sticks and push pads, roller stands and sacrificial fences
• proper ripping technique, including hand and finger placement, body positioning and stance
• how to rip super long boards and how to assess whether a board is too short to be ripped safely on this machine
• how to rip wide panels and sheet goods
• how to rip narrow pieces and why the splitter and guard should not be removed
• how to cut repetitive narrow strips using a single-point stop block
• how to safely make a bevelled rip cut on a right tilt saw and how to reposition the splitter for optimum safety in a matter of seconds
• how to use a dado set to cut both crosscut and rip-style dados and rabbets
• how to use a simple shop-made splitter to increase safety when cutting rip-style dados (doing these cuts without splitter protection is just not necessary anymore)
• how to build a crosscut sled, including how to make the runners fit the mitre slots perfectly and how to achieve 90 degrees between the front fence and cut line

How does this video differ from others you may have seen? First of all, it takes you through all of the steps in real time. It isn’t heavily edited to just show you the “gist” of each step. This explains the incredible length of Hendrik’s DVDs compared to the usual 45 to 60 minute production. Too many woodworking videos and television shows today edit them down too much, leaving the more difficult details out. For those who really want to move forward with their woodworking skills in a more serious way, the details are everything.

This video doesn’t just cover the “what” and “how”, but also the “why”. And it goes way beyond the call of duty, constantly reinforcing safety issues and details that just aren’t taught at that level anywhere. Hendrik covers all of the high-level details that he can normally convey only in person. This is truly personal coaching conveyed in a DVD format.

As a 5-DVD boxed set running at nearly 10 hours in total, “Revelations on Table Saw Set-up & Safety” is sure to become the leading instructional woodworking DVD in this area. As the trademarked name says, this is “Private Woodworking Instruction in a Box” and nothing short of Hendrik’s in-shop seminars and courses even comes close.

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