Long time coming
At this year’s IWF, SawStop finally introduced a new category of tool with its safety technology: a 14″ band saw, one of the most-used machines in the woodshop.
Hard to believe it was 26 years ago that I first saw a hot dog sacrificed to a table saw. It was at IWF 2000, and an unknown company named SawStop introduced the world to an almost magical tool: a table saw that could sense flesh and shut down the blade in the tiniest fraction of a second to prevent serious injury.
SawStop took that year’s IWF by storm and won a Challenger Award (the first of several awards the machine would earn). Predictions at the time suggested that the technology would revolutionize woodworking safety, but the industry didn’t embrace it. Instead, SawStop designed, built and sold its own table saws.
Interviewed at the time, Steve Gass told me that the basic technology could be applied to just about any tool. And, while SawStop released new table saw models over the years, we still never saw that technology migrate to other tools in the woodshop. Until now.
At this year’s IWF, SawStop finally introduced a new category of tool with the technology: a 14" band saw, one of the most-used machines in the woodshop. The PBS31230 band saw comes in both 1.75-hp/120-volt and 3-hp/230-volt models, with all the bells and whistles you’d expect of a professional machine — dual dust collection ports, a high/low fence, large cast iron table, electronic brake, tool-free blade guides, etc. It’s expected to be on sale in mid-2027.
Careful operation and the use of traditional safety accessories are always priorities, but the flesh-sensing technology has always held the promise of making tools even safer. There are lots of spinning sharp things in every shop, and back in 2000 it seemed that technology capable of lessening my chances of losing a finger on any of them was right around the corner.
Turns out it was a longer time coming than we thought — 26 years longer — but I think the wait was worth it. Now that it’s finally moving beyond the table saw, I expect the evolution will pick up speed.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
