I am pretty sawstruck by this.

So, some inventor has come up with a way to stop a circular table saw so quickly that if you stick your finger straight into the saw blade, the blade will stop in time so as not to do any damage at all. Which is pretty damn impressive considering the blade is spinning over 5,000 times a minute.

It works by detecting the electrical conductivity of whatever it’s cutting via its saline content – a dry piece of 2×4 won’t trigger it, but the salt content of the human body means that one finger will stop it right there.

I’m not really science-y enough to explain it properly, so just watch the damn video and marvel at this unbelievably cool invention… and shiver with anticipation as the inventor tests it with his own finger. Now that’s what I call having faith in your own invention.

Unfortunately, the stopping mechanism generates so much torque that it pretty much breaks the saw, every time. But hey. Would you rather be down 60 dollars of carpentry equipment, or one or two of your precious digits?

(Hint: it’s the carpentry equipment.)