I'd seen a couple of approaches to table saw set up so I checked with my cousin, who's a master furniture maker. He advised against featherboards (not sure if he thinks they're unnecessary, or if they cause some sort of problem

We adapt methods from other disciplines but what we do is not the same.

This is posted at the bottom of the page where I talk about table saw set-up.

""Working as a Pattern Maker in advanced woodworking shops for 45 years I was always safety conscious and never had a serious accident. Then came retirement and this hobby of building a strip kayak and I lost the tip of my thumb in my table saw. I was still being careful but not as much as I could have been. I had a wooden table saw insert in my Craftsman table saw with a nail in it as a strip spreader and the strip jammed at that point. I was watching my right hand fix the problem while my left hand drifted back into the blade. I couldn't believe this happened to careful me. Then after the fact I took the time to build Rob Mack's feathering system he had in an illustration. Had I done this in the first place I would still have a thumb print."
John in IN"

The blade is buried in the featherboard. The only way to cut yourself is to run your hand UNDER the featherboard.

I don't pretend to know it all. I'm always eager to steal a great idea when I see one. I just don't see one here.

I try to remind myself of the idea below and I suggest this idea as a helpful one to everyone.

Empty your cup.

The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor of philosophy. Serving tea, Nan-in filled his visitor's cup, and kept pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer: "Stop! The cup is over full, no more will go in." Nan-in said: "Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup."

AND

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Confucius