: Considering all the waste strips and pieces that are usually kicking around,
: I'd grab for a piece of thin cedar to use near the end, rather than
: ANYTHING made of steel. I'm not too thrilled about the chance of touching
: that spinning blade with something hard, which might nick it and screw up
: my setup, or dull the blade.

I've had the displeasure of catching a pushstick against the blade. Nicking the the blade or the pushstick is not your biggest worry.

The stick was a short hunk of 2x4 with some grooves cut in it; it was a sacrificial surface at some point in its life, and just happened to be handy when I needed a pusher. The grooves fit my fingers nicely, almost like it was made to be held this way: one end against my palm, the fingers in the shallow crosscut groove. It took only a few moments to whack a notch in one end to push on the board with. Anyway, I finished the rip, and was just pushing the stuff clear of the blade, and grooving the new "pushstick" to make it official. About halfway through, there was a loud bang, a sharp pain in my hand, and a loud thud-crash from behind me. It took a few moments to realize that the stick was no longer in my hand. When I managed to find it in the later, the 2x4 had a mangled and twisted groove along one side. I figure it twisted a little, caught the blade, and kicked back strongly.

All it takes is a moment of inattention and just the slightest twist in the pushstick. I don't think it very wise to use a long pushstick wider than the piece you're cutting. I think it was Rehd who wrote about using his old shoes (just kidding) to do this. It might be safe to use if held firmly against the fence so it cannot twist.

I know... I hate longwinded old-woman scare-stories, too. This is the only one I have to share, so now we're done.

Mike.