I recently took a long look at the Bosch 4100 table saw and was pretty impressed with what types of safety features are implemented on these portable saws right out of the box.
The new features that are being implemented on these tools make them much more safe than the tools of years past, and you are much less likely to experience kickback or other dramatic flukes while using the new tools.
What are some of the features we are specifically talking about? To start with, riving knives have become standard safety equipment for all saws.
A riving knife sits directly behind the blade and keep the wood from pinching on the blade as the blade passes through it.
This feature alone will help prevent a lot of issues since it keep the wood from binding on the blade.
In addition to the riving knife, the Bosch 4100 also uses a blade guard that snaps on the riving knife, and covers the entire open edge of the blade.
This feature is going to keep you from putting your hands right on the blade.
Also, in addition to the modular blade guard, the 4100 also has anti-kickback pawls that drag over the wood as it passes through the blade and act as a claw to catch any loose wood pieces that may get kicked back by the blade.
These three features are pretty slick and will prevent accidents quite well.
And the blade guard and anti-kickback pawls are easy to remove without tools if you need to cut some dadoes, for example.
With these types of features in place, it also becomes much more easy for one person to cut sheets of wood without assistance, and not have to worry too much about safety issues.