Riving Knife
The first table saw I used back in highschool did not have a riving knife. There was no splitter. There were no kickback pawls. There wasn’t even a blade guard.
I don’t like the blade guard that came with my table saw. I think it is clunky and just gets in the way. The anti-kickback pawls are too sharp and cut into the wood as it passes underneath.
A riving knife is a table saw safety device that helps prevent kickback. If the wood binds on the rear of the blade, the rising blade teeth can grab the piece and throw it back violently toward the operator. The knife prevents the cut from closing on the back of the blade as well as keeping the piece from shifting and binding.
The riving knife should be thicker than the body of the blade, but thinner than the teeth. My Freud blade has a body that is .075″ thick with .010″ teeth. I needed a riving knife that was .090″ thick. The riving knife that is part of the factory blade guard is only .070″. I was going to scratch build a new knife from 13 gauge sheet steel but was unable to find any that was locally available. Only 12 or 14 gauge is commonly stocked.
If I had to special order 13 gauge steel, I decided it would be easier to order a riving knife that was already made. I purchased a .090″ riving knife from Leeway Workshop. He also manufactures blade guards to fit most table saws. I intend to design and build a blade guard to attach to the riving knife in the near future.
Thanks for the info. I checked the site and he makes a riving knife for my Dewalt saw.
I rarely use my blade guard because it is such a pain to remove and replace. I’m seriously thinking of ordering one.
Thumbs up on the riving knife. My cheap saw came with one, and I always use it for ripping. I think it helps give a cleaner finish to the cut.
As far as the anti-kickback pawls go, I couldn’t agree with you more. The only time I use them would be, for example, to rip longer peices of framing lumber. The spring pressure on mine aren’t adjustable, either, so they leave fairly visible gouges on the material. And the thinner the material, the worse it is, since the pawls go up and down with the blade.
I’d highly recommend using feather boards instead. They help keep the material you’re ripping pressed against the fence, so there’s less chance for wandering. You can also usually just use one push-stick to feed in. You don’t need a second one to keep the material against the fence. Kreg makes some nice ones for a low price, and they just drop into your mitre slots.