I was cutting a pen engraving jig out of non proofgrade plywood and one tiny section did not want to separate. When I finally got it loose I found a tiny piece of metal embedded in the plywood.
If I had been cutting that plywood with my SawStop it would have cost me about $200. $80 for a new SawStop brake and $120 for a new table saw blade.
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Oh snap.
Got a pic?
Where’d you get it?
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Yikes. I’m planning on getting a SawStop this year and issues like that are an important consideration. I’d be pretty mad at my plywood supplier if I were you. Glad you caught it when you did!
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It was some of the Home Depot GlowForge plywood.
I have been using a lot of the home depot Columbia Forest stuff…haven’t found any metal, but I have found several pieces of metallic glitter inside the wood…I just figured Columbia was hiring out of work strippers to run their machines…
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Fighting a migraine… yes, my mind was totally off
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This comment surprised me about the sawstop function. I found this on the Sawstop FAQ page:
What happens if the blade comes in contact with a nail or staple in the wood?
Generally, the safety system will not activate when a nail or staple is cut.
Although conductive, these objects are not large enough to cause the safety
system to activate unless they are grounded to the table or operator when
they contact the blade.
Nevertheless, metallic junk should not be inside of plywood.
I bought some paperboard from an art supply store, and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t cutting reliably. Looked about like heavy posterboard/matboard. I got up close and personal with it and a microscope, and it was full of tiny metal bits. Never been sure if it was a fluke, or is that paper is reinforced with metal, it wasn’t worth the time to try to figure it out.
Don’t forget the cost of new underwear when that sucker went BANG. 
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Yeah. I’ve had three dirty drawers because of the SawStop. Once when it hit my finger (just a burn mark on the end of the finger and a nicked fingernail) and twice when it hit a metal miter bar.
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