The Petersburg High School shop class has a new table saw this year and it’s one designed for safety. Students on Friday videoed a test of the district’s new SawStop, installed in the woodworking shop in August.

On the left, PHS sophomores Colby Spears and Joshua Coonrad (leaning over) prepare for a demonstration of the high school's new SawStop as shop teacher Dave Owens explains.

On the left, PHS sophomores Colby Spears and Joshua Coonrad (leaning over) prepare for a demonstration of the high school’s new SawStop as shop teacher Dave Owens explains.


The blade of the saw can sense the material it’s about to cut through and stop instantly near a finger or, in this case, a bratwurst.

The company that makes those saws says there are 65,000 accidents on table saws every year.

A short version of the students’s video will be posted on the high school’s Instagram account.

(Clarification: In the story, shop teacher Dave Owens recounts a story of a table saw accident that happened to a local man but not at the PHS shop)