Meet Sawstop, The US Tablessaw Brand Using Innovative Technology to Save Fingers Across Europe
A lone, vulnerable hot dog creeps across a table, drawing inexorably closer to the shining jagged blades of a relentlessly rotating tablesaw – very much in the manner of James Bond facing off a deadly laser beam in Goldfinger’s lair. The meeting is inevitable. No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die! But in the split second that the sausage touches the very edge of the vicious blade, the whole thing comes to a complete halt – full stop.
That is thanks to SawStop, a revolutionary US tablesaw fitted with a constant sensor and an aluminium brake that brings the blade to a complete halt the very instant it touches skin. The sensor detects changes in conductivity and notes the difference, based on water content, between wood and human flesh – or, for the purposes of demonstration, hot dogs. When the sensor notices this extra conductivity it shoots out the brake, stops the blade and uses its angular momentum to drop it below the table and out of harm’s way.
SawStop was created by Dr Steve Gass, a US woodworker, physicist and patent attorney, some 20 years ago. He created a prototype and offered to license the technology to existing tablesaw manufacturers, but was never able to make a deal – so he set up a company and built the product himself, starting out with just a few people in a barn in Oregon. SawStop has been made and sold in the US for more than two decades now, but only launched in the UK and Europe in October 2024.
Michael Davies, SawStop’s managing director for Europe, tells Furniture & Cabinetmaking there are 49,000 tablesaw accidents in North America each year – the equivalent figures for the UK and Europe aren’t known. ‘That is one every nine minutes,’ he points out. ‘Despite all the efforts the industry has made with blade guards, riving knives and so on, there are still 49,000 accidents a year. This problem exists, and it is huge.’
Rite of passage
He adds: ‘For woodworkers it’s almost like a rite of passage. Everybody knows somebody who has had an accident. If you are a woodworker it is going to happen. Some people have two or three accidents – it is just accepted. But we don’t have to accept it anymore.’ On the other hand, he points out, people always think that an accident won’t happen to them. But accidents do happen – and many of them are life-changing.
‘A tablesaw accident isn’t a small thing, it’s probably a life- changing injury,’ says Michael. ‘You might have your finger chopped off. I met a guy recently where the blade had gone into his hand up to his palm. He’s had seven surgeries already to try to regain motion and feeling, but his hand will never be the same again. The impact on a person is huge physically, but also emotionally. Somebody who is doing this as a hobby might become scared of the saw and lose the passion and enjoyment they had. Someone who is a professional might lose the ability to do their job, and so their income.’
The aftermath of these accidents can be huge costs to society too – in hospital bills, compensation and lost income. The issue is so significant that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering introducing a rule requiring tablesaw makers to limit the depth of a potentially injurious cut to no more than 3.5mm – which would effectively mean SawStop- like active injury mitigation systems would have to be fitted on all tablesaws. The introduction of the rule is under intense debate, partly because of the costs involved and partly because some believe it would give SawStop a monopoly on technologies protected under patent law in the US. SawStop has offered to gift one of its key patents to the world if the ruling goes ahead, and notes that none of the technologies are protected in Europe, leaving other tool companies free to develop their own.
Michael says: ‘These accidents happen – they are very common, and they have a huge impact. But there is a solution that has existed for 20 years with incredible reliability. We have sold 300,000 saws and we have never had a single failure, so it is pretty amazing.’
European tour
In 2017 SawStop was bought out by TTS or Tooltechnic Systems, a family-owned German company which also owns brands including Festool, Tanos, Cleantec and Shaper Tools. Now it has made the technology available in the UK and Europe and is working hard to get the word out there to makers.
Michael says: ‘SawStop is mission-driven to save fingers. We decided now is the time to come to Europe, to bring this brand and technology and the promise of what we deliver in America.’ The brand’s three main tools are now available from leading dealers across the UK and Europe, as well as directly from the SawStop website: the original cast-iron American Professional Cabinet Saw, the smaller Jobsite Saw Pro and the even smaller Compact Table Saw. The Jobsite Saw Pro is perfect for working on-site, where there are distractions that could increase the risk of accidents, and the Compact is designed for people working inside homes and for hobbyists.
To promote the brand, Michael is taking SawStop out on a roadshow, starting out in the UK, where he has been showing the machines off around the country. ‘We go around and tell people the story about how many accidents there are and the impact they have, then we do live demonstrations with a hot dog,’ he says.
‘Many people have seen our videos on YouTube, but there is nothing like seeing it in real life: when you make the saw go bang and save a sausage, there is always a reaction. If it were any other saw, your finger would be on the floor and you would have to make the worst phone call to your boss or your partner to come and help you.’
Spreading the word
The roadshow also gives Michael and his team the chance to talk to woodworkers and understand any questions and concerns they may have around making such a big investment in a piece of equipment. ‘We want to speak to them and let them know we are here. We care about woodworkers and we are a premium, innovative brand,’ he says. The team is also boosting SawStop’s profile online and on social media, notably by posting photos and videos of accidents and of saved fingers. ‘We try and make people aware there is a risk, and that there is now a solution,’ he says.
One of the key ways of spreading the word has been around replacement brakes. When SawStop activates, a brake shoots into the blade and stops it. That brake cartridge has to be replaced each time it is used at a cost of around £80. But if it has activated in order to save a finger, SawStop can verify this and will send a new cartridge absolutely free of charge. ‘The cost of a replacement part shouldn’t be a reason why somebody doesn’t use this tool,’ says Michael. ‘All we ask people is to tell all their friends we saved their finger. Put it on social media. That is good enough for us.’
Michael says: ‘SawStop is really trying to do the right thing – we are a mission-driven company with 20 years of reliable, amazing technology that is not going to get in the way of your workflow.’ He urges European woodworkers to look at the website, social media and videos – but above all to come to the roadshows and see SawStop in action.