I am currently building a kitchen island, my wife is really excited about it, so I am trying to make it both functional and attractive. Today, while ripping some 8/4 ash, I managed to trigger the blade-break on my table saw. I have owned the saw for about twelve years and this is the first time I have activated the break due to contact with flesh. In all candor, when it happened it took me a few seconds to figure out that my thumb had come in contact with the blade...I didn't feel a thing. Here is how it happened, as I was getting close to the end of the board, I realized that I needed to move my push stick to avoid the blade; for some reason I tried to use my left hand to nudge the stick over, as I did this I had my eye on top of the board and could see that the blade was about 2" from the end of the board, what I failed to see/realize was the leading edge of the blade had already cleared the board...BAM...my thumb hit the blade. While the accident could have been significant, the blade barely nicked me before the break was activated, it didn't even need a bandaid. The cost to me, $79 for a new break and about $40 for blade repair. All things considered, I feel very fortunate that I have a SawStop.