My push block

Push sticks such as this are not as safe as push blocks such as this when feeding wood into a table saw.  The main reason being that the longer push blocks allow for downward force along the wood and provides for less chance to slip than a stick.

Lots of designs can be found on the internet for them, such as here.  I had a reciprocating saw break on me and I saved the handle to make my own.  Below are pictures of it. I had some 1" pressed board and made it out of it.  One thing very nice is that it allows me to have 16" of wood pushing down on the piece I am cutting.  In addition, the my hand is unlikely to slip from the large handle.