Adding A Riving Knife To Table Saw

I will never kerf a board without a riving knife because i cannot see the blade.

Adding a riving knife to table saw.

Additionally a riving knife is typically set below the top of the blade allowing to make kerfs and prevent the wood warping. In most cases i believe the answer is no. Many of us in the woodworking world have been asking the major tool makers to put riving knives on their saws for years. Came here to say this.

An aftermarket retrofit riving knife does exist. On most table saws the riving knife mounts to the saw s trunnion the sturdy mechanism beneath the saw table that raises and lowers the saw blade. Table saw grizzly 1023 was thinking of purchasing something along the lines of a shark guard or bork but was wondering if there has been any updates over the past several years. Not only did they avoid producing new saws with riving knives but no aftermarket riving knives were produced as accessories.

This involves making several zero clearance throat plates each with an integrated splitter at a different location based on the hight of the saw blade. Tools ans materials old riving knife or a template metal file drill bit calipers oil for lubrication steel punch and a hammer jigsaw with metal cutting blade marker clamp for holding your workpiece. The bork attaches to the arbor swing arm and rises lowers and tilts in unison with the blade much like a true stock riving knife does. A splitter rides above the cut plane and is thicker than the kerf width.

If you cannot retrofit a riving knife on your older saw there is a less convenient but somewhat viable workaround. Typically the riving knife has a release mechanism that can be accessed by removing the table insert from the top of the saw table. Just the one thing that might save you from a very bad day in the shop.