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Riving Knives , Not Just for
The Europeans Anymore
Of all the new things appearing at this year’s AWSF show, the most exciting is the sudden appearance of true riving knives and sensible guard systems on a number of new table saws. The rules are changing, both literally and figuratively. Kelley Mehler, who wrote an article on European-style table saws for our August 2007 issue, lobbied and worked with Underwriter’s Laboratories in the development of new rules for table saw guards manufactured and sold in the United States. These regulations will require that guards on table saws be easily removable and replaceable, and most importantly to us, that saws be equipped with riving knives.
When we reviewed the SawStop cabinet saw in 2005, we noted that in our opinion, the riving knife was a more important safety feature than the braking system. When we took our first look at the Powermatic 2000, we were happy to see a riving knife included. This year, several more manufacturers are getting on board, in advance of the new UL regulations.
The SawStop, like airbags in your car, will provide some protection after an accident has happened. And, like airbags, braking systems that stop the saw on contact with the blade add significantly to the cost. What if there were a simple device that could be easily attached to your car that would prevent most accidents from happening in the first place? Would you want one? That doesn’t exist yet for your car, but there is a simple device that attaches to a table saw that will prevent many accidents.
About Riving Knives
So just what is a riving knife, and what does it do? There are two ways to cut yourself on a table saw. The first is to not pay attention to where your hands are and stick them into the spinning blade. The second is when part of the board comes in contact with the back part of the blade , the part that is spinning up from the saw’s table, after the cut is made. This causes the board to rise and kick back toward the operator. If your hand is on the board at that point, it can be thrown into contact with the blade before you know it. A careful worker can avoid both these situations, but it takes more skill, experience and diligence to avoid the second one.
A proper riving knife travels with the blade as it is raised, lowered of tilted, covering the area behind the back of the blade. It is close to the same thickness as the blade, so that a piece of wood can’t move into the rising saw teeth, and your hand can’t come in contact with this part of the blade. It keeps the wood tight against the fence for a few inches after the cut has been made. This is an inexpensive, effective and proactive approach to preventing accidents before they happen. Bosch, Delta, DeWalt, Grizzly, General, Jet, Powermatic, Shop Fox and Steel City are all displaying saws at AWFS equipped with riving knives that will are either now available, or will be available in the next few months.
An inside look at Jet’s riving knife system.
In addition to requiring riving knives the new regulations also will require that guards can be removed and replaced in less than 20 seconds, without the use of tools. This eliminates the excuse that many of us use, that it is too much trouble to remove and replace the guard. The tool companies are taking some different approaches to this. The Powermatic and Steel City Saws have a lever that releases the guard and pawl assembly. When that is removed, the riving knife snaps in where the guard was. Grizzly’s approach is similar but instead of a lever, a nut is turned.
By far, the best systems we saw were on the Jet Exacta saw, and on inexpensive job-site saws from Bosch and DeWalt. With these systems, each part of the assembly is a separate component, held in place with a spring-loaded pin or a lever. If you want to use the guard and splitter, but remove the pawls, you can do so in just a few seconds.
I liked the Bosch and DeWalt systems the best, because of the over-blade guard, which has a clear plastic cover for each side of the blade. When lifted up, there is a detent at the top that holds the guard above the blade. If you want to make a measurement from fence to blade, or rip a narrow piece, you can do so without fighting the guard.
Here is a rundown of what we saw:
Bosch’s riving knife is available on the 4100 series of job-site saw.
Grizzly introduced its system on a 12″ saw last year at the IWF show in Atlanta. This year it has put the same system on a new 10″ cabinet saw (the G0651 and G0652). In addition, Grizzly has a nice 10″ European-style saw (the G0623X) with riving knife and European guard with dust collection, a sliding table and a scoring blade for a bit less than a SawStop 10″ cabinet saw.
Jet has a riving knife and easily removable guard on its 10″ Xacta saw. Jet’s hybrid and contractor saws have an easily removable guard, but riving knives won’t be available for these in the near future.
Powermatic includes the riving knife on its PM2000 model, which has been available in this configuration since early 2006.
Steel City will introduce its riving knife and guard system on its hybrid saws, beginning around the first of 2008. This is the same saw that surprised the show with a granite top Wednesday morning. This saw will be available with either a cast iron or granite top. The company’s larger cabinet saws will incorporate these features next spring.
We are looking forward to taking all of these saws for a test-drive in our shop this fall and winter, and we salute these forward-thinking manufacturers for going ahead and including these features ahead of schedule.
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My take on all of these safety innovations is this:
I don’t own a table saw. Rather, I use a band saw for ripping along the length and miter saw or battery-operated circular saw for cross cuts across the length.
For sheet goods, I have in mind a process I follow strictly. Sheet goods get cut down to more manageable sizes with a circular saw (I’m also lacking a panel saw).
I believe we can get a little too device- and attachment-happy, which can cause us to go broke ordering every little safety doodad to come along.
I wish that someone could put together some media, a book or DVD or soemthing, to show us what can happen when things go wrong and what we can do to prevent bad things from happening to us while we do what we love to do. I have found that a little bit of knowledge and ingenuity on our parts can go a long way to keeping us in the money.
Years ago, when I was teaching myself about computers, I found the PC magazines to be just chock full of ads for just about every doodad and program and "system" you could ever imagine. As a retired accountant, I can tell you I keep my personal finances on a spreadsheet, not in a "system" of too many damn bells and whistles like Quicken, QuickBooks, or MS Money. The only time I use a canned software is when I do tax returns for a limited clientele of teachers and retirees, most of whom like to file electronically. Otherwise, I would simply use a spreadsheet hooked into an Adobe form file.
So, to keep me from paying the shipping charges, I make my own drill press table, router fence, jigs, clamps and handscrews, featherboards, etc. It also keeps my scrap bins empty.
I think the "new" innovations in riving knives are great…it certainly is ‘about time!’ Now how about those of us who are on fixed incomes and who have purchased what will probably be our one and only table saw (I’ll never be able to "step up" from my new Bosch 4000)? Are retrofits being considered for older models? As a former engineer in the aerospace field I saw many innovations invented on a "daily" basis. Surely ‘good old American ingenuity’ will serve us well to help make older models safer. Thank you, Harold Akin; 71, retired; beginning woodworker; Richvale, CA
Dale,
The Steel City saw with the granite top *does* have a riving knife. Pretty much every new saw that we saw at AWFS was equipped with one, from the Bosch 4100 up to a 14" Powermatic.
Chris Schwarz
Thanks for letting me know about your efforts to make saws safer. I very much appreciate it, and I’m not the only one. I applaud your efforts.
I see what you mean about how existing designs are not compatible with riving knives. However, I had to shake my head and wonder what a certain new American manufacturer was thinking when they designed saws from scratch recently and did not include riving knives. Here’s a company that appeared to have a golden chance to make a safe saw with a riving knife but, for whatever reason, did not. Instead, they searched the world to make a granite-top saw. I find fault with their priorities.
So, I can see that you are up against some real barriers when you advocate for your readers. Thanks for looking out for us, whether it be in print or behind the scenes.
The woodworking press has a lot of power — power not only over ideas but also over pocketbooks. Don’t believe me? Just ask members of the Wives Against Schwarz Club.
Cheers,
Dale
We will have information on the General saw when we get back to Cincinnati-we’re planning on a wrap-up feature on the AWFS show page of popularwoodworking.com.
The bad news is that most current designs don’t have enough space on the arbor assembly behind the blade to mount a riving knife. When current saws raise the blade, the arbor moves in an arc. New designs have the arbor moving straight up and down and are engineered to accommodate the riving knife and guard assembly.
We’ve been doing what we can to prod manufacturers in the right direction, particularly on the riving knife issue. Not all of this prodding appears in print, but we’re doing what we can.
Bob Lang
Although I’m glad of the news of riving knives, in my view it may be just a wee bit generous to salute American manufacturers for their tardy inclusion of this long-known safety device.
I think that responsible makers of saws should include not only riving knives but also excellent dust collection above and below the blade. After all, dust is a threat as well — it not only makes my wife mad but also is bad for my lungs! (And let’s not even get into the blade-break technology.)
I encourage members of the woodworking press to do more than urge readers to work safely and report on the occasional advance in equipment safety. Those are appropriate tasks. But whoever is first to consistently sound a call in their magazine for safer equipment will have my great respect and my undying subscription money.
Kelly Mehler’s piece on table saws in Popular Woodworking’s August 2007 issue was an excellent step in the right direction, as was the dust collection section. Please keep on pushing, educating, even advocating for real and timely improvements. Most American manufacturers appear to have a LONG way to go, and your work can help keep them on task.
I suspect that many of your readers are people like me who are just learning about woodworking. We need you to look out for us.
OK, rant over.
Don’t work too hard in Vegas!
Robert,
Any word on if Jet will offer a retro fit for
existing owners of Xacta saws? I would love to
be able to have a riving knife on my saw which
otherwise has been great. I have the Xacta left tilt
cabinet saw from circa 2001 time frame.
chris
Any details on the General table saw that has a riving knife?