A safety apparatus and method for a bandsaw include a saw blade actuated by a motor and a controller communicatively coupled with a camera and the motor. The camera provides a camera view that includes the saw blade and a work surface adjacent the saw blade. The controller uses a safety program to perform the steps of: assigning a reference location in the camera view; creating a computer hand model corresponding to a user's hand as seen in the camera view; tracking a position and an orientation of the user's hand with respect to the reference location by updating the computer hand model in real time; and arresting motion of the saw blade when the position of the user's hand reaches a predetermined distance relative to the reference location.

A safety apparatus and method for a bandsaw include a saw blade actuated by a motor and a controller communicatively coupled with a camera and the motor. The camera provides a camera view that includes the saw blade and a work surface adjacent the saw blade. The controller uses a safety program to perform the steps of: assigning a reference location in the camera view; creating a computer hand model corresponding to a user's hand as seen in the camera view; tracking a position and an orientation of the user's hand with respect to the reference location by updating the computer hand model in real time; and arresting motion of the saw blade when the position of the user's hand reaches a predetermined distance relative to the reference location.

A timber processing and firewood splitting machine is provided, comprising a self-standing bearing frame for being placed on the ground, a conveying unit arranged in one terminal area of said bearing frame and configured to convey timber of a pre-determined diameter in the longitudinal direction of said bearing frame, a cutting unit suitable for cutting said timber to separate longitudinal sections of a pre-determined length, a guiding unit for guiding each timber section in said longitudinal direction and along a geometric axis (10) towards a working area (5), and a splitting unit and supporting assembly for supporting firewood pieces upon being split apart from the rest of said longitudinal section of the timber.

The invention relates to a device for knife cutting or sawing workpieces, with an endless, circumferential band knife (26) or an endless, circumferential band saw, respectively, wherein the device (10) has at least one sensor (42a, 42b, 42c, 42d, 42e, 42f), wherein the at least one sensor (42a, 42b, 42c, 42d, 42e, 42f) acquires a measuring value representing the band damage and wherein the sensor (42a, 42b, 42c, 42d, 42e, 42f) is connected to at least one evaluation unit (44) and the measuring value representing the band damage is supplied to the evaluation unit (44) and wherein based on the measuring value, information about the damage state of the band knife (26) or of the band saw can be generated by means of the evaluation unit (44).