Problem with safety guards is, there are some lousy designs out there. I think the lawyers want us to remove the guards so we can’t sue the manufacturers.

I think table and band saws (shapers too) are some of the most dangerous machines we use. I won’t have one because of that.

I bought a little panel saw with a really fancy guard that I though would be safer than a handheld circular saw. I mostly used it on ply panels; huge surprise eh? Because of the size of a ply panel the best cut direction is often left to right, I thought it would be great for that as the blade is close to center. However, it is impossible to use it safely left-handed due to the guard design. That guard design also causes more kickbacks than I’ve had hot dinners and I’ve pretty much stopped using it.

I haven’t had a close call with my regular hand-held circular saws for years, at least not since I started checking and servicing them periodically, especially the guards, and using good quality blades.

But I have a confession: I often use mine with a zero clearance ply foot which stops the guard from deploying, but only with a very shallow cut depth. I have a cutting table surfaced with foam, so I can put the saw down on the table with the blade spinning with no kickback problems. But when cutting heavy material on saw horses it is crucial that the guard is functioning, because at the end of the cut if the saw swings loose and the guard stays up the blade is looking for meat.

I don’t have a problem cutting small pieces: I use a handsaw for that.