Riving knife on sale - highly recommended

[bobgroh]

Shopsmith has the riving knife on sale for the next couple of days:
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/spec ... pn=RRXVTPR

I highly recommend this if you use the SS as a saw at all. IMHO an essential accessory.

[swampgator]

It will not work on the older models. I am not sure if it works on the 505, but I know it works on the 510, 520 and Mark 7. Those of us who have the older machines can simply remove the plastic upper saw guard.

Steve

[dusty]

It will not work on the older models. I am not sure if it works on the 505, but I know it works on the 510, 520 and Mark 7. Those of us who have the older machines can simply remove the plastic upper saw guard.

Steve

The riving knife attaches to a lower saw guard. If the saw guard is standard, the riving knife will work. Stated differently. If you can mount an upper saw guard, the riving knife will work. The knife mounts where you would normally have attached the upper saw guard.

I say this all because I believe the differences between a 505 and a 510/520 are all table configuration issues.

[ChrisNeilan]

I recently purchased the riving knife and use it all the time now when ripping anything less than about 1/12 inch. Works really well and i have yet to have my work pinch the blade and kick back. Always watching for that however since i caught a hunk of hardwood in the bicep last year off my old Craftsman saw with no knife...

[dusty]

Everyone, please - remember that the riving knife does not eliminate the possibility of kick back nor does the absence of a riving greatly increase the likely hood of a kick back.

Maintain control of your work piece throughout the duration of a cut and DO NOT drag a cut piece back through the blade.

Maintain Control: When ripping, you want the work piece tight against the rip fence.Use feather boards. When cross cutting, you want the work piece tight against the miter fence. On larger pieces, I use clamps. When younger the clamps were hardly ever used. As I age (which is happening rapidly) I use them often. I have inadequate strength in my fingers to do without.

NOTHING foreign on the saw table when cutting. I am making a long rip cut. Out of the corner of my eye I see this table insert screw creeping across the table being propelled slowly by the vibration. Finish the cut or stop and remove the screw? I probably made the worst decision at that point. I finished the cut so as to reduce the likelihood of blade marks. It did reinforce lessons that I was taught back in the 9th grade wood shop.

[reible]

Do remember that this is not for through cuts. I find most of my cuts are through so this gets limited use. It it not a replacement for the upper guard and knife.

"This new Non-Through-Cut Riving Knife will provide that same level of anti-kickback protection when making cuts where the blade does not pass all the way through the workpiece."

This will not work on a 500.

Ed

[dusty]

Do remember that this is not for through cuts. I find most of my cuts are through so this gets limited use. It it not a replacement for the upper guard and knife.

"This new Non-Through-Cut Riving Knife will provide that same level of anti-kickback protection when making cuts where the blade does not pass all the way through the workpiece."

This will not work on a 500.

Ed

This is something that I hardly ever do with issues about safety. I normally do not openly disagree.

I also know what Shopsmith says about the use of the riving for non-through cuts.

I also have strong feelings about the upper saw guard. It has been a long- long- long time since my upper saw guard was mounted. Right now, I don't even know where it is.

I guess all can already tell that I do not comply with Eds' recommendation. I use a riving knife nearly all the time and when I do not it is because I am doing something that can not be done with a riving knife installed.

A bit of rationalizing. The upper saw guard does exactly the same thing as the riving knife EXCEPT that it blocks my view of the cut. I want to see where that blade is working.

[bobgroh]

The one extra thing that the upper guard does provide (other than a modicum of dust capture) is a set of pawl's to both hold down the wood and provide resistance to kickback. The hold down part is important because kickback is caused by (or, at least, greatly enhanced by) the wood popping up and the rapidly rotating blade now catches the board at the top of the blades rotation and 'kicks' the board back with considerable violence.

The point made about the upper guard impairing the operator's view of the cut is a very good one. I have often thought about removing the plastic cover - that would give me a better view of the cut and yet leave the other safety and operational features still working. Except, of course, for the rotating blade!!

For me, I usually use the full safety guard for through board cuts and limit the riving knife for non-through cuts.

[reible]

BTW shopsmith has updated the information on the riving knife since I last visited the page. If you haven't visited it lately please do so. The link is:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/spec ... pn=RRXVTPR

This link might go away as it is for the special now going on.

I agree with shopsmith 200% on what they say. I know a lot of you don't like the guards and such but I do. I have no need to see where the cut is happening. If that is a major issue for you then it might be a good idea to rethink how you work. If you absolutely have to see then remove the plastic piece and keep the fingers that keep the work piece from kicking back..... I don't recommend this but it is much better then not using the upper guard at all.

I have micro-jig mj-splitters that I sometimes use with their grr-ripper or the shopsmith riving knife, that is also something that I like but it is quite costly. It is rare that I find I can not use one of these methods to do the cut.

I've got a lot of how to doing things posted here and I know I have posted how I like to use magic transparent tape to mark the cut line on the insert and then extend the mark to the front side of the work piece. I lift the guard and align the marks and then drop the guard in place and make the cut. If it a repeatable cut I use extensions on the miter gauge and set a stop. If someone want to review this I can attempt to locate the posts associated or redo it sometime soon.

I hate to disagree with Dusty but in this case I too have strong feelings.

Ed

[algale]

My own experience with the upper saw guard on my 520 has been unsatisfactory. I think it is poorly designed. First, the riving knife with the pawls (part 199 on the upper saw guard) is not very durable. Just by tilting the table, the saw guard, which hangs off of the riving knife, will twist the riving knife slightly. My riving knife got a permanent bend in it when I put it in the "box of accessories" with something heavy on it. Despite careful efforts, I was not able to get mine back to dead flat.

So I ordered a new one at $46.64. Well, the pawls on the new one were VERY temperamental, by which I mean they did NOT slide up and down smoothly and would randomly stick on occasion (not because they were restraining a kickback), which was a safety hazard. I believe the stickiness was due to excess coating on either the riving knife and/or the pawls.

I called customer service. The advice I got was to press inward/downward on the edge of the pawls toward the riving knife body to loosen up the rivet. That did nothing and increased pressure just popped the rivet off. Another call to Customer Service, which told me it was my problem now. THAT HAS BEEN MY ONE AND ONLY LOUSY CS EXPERIENCE WITH SHOPSMITH, which has otherwise excelled at CS.

Ever since, I have used my non-through cut riving knife for all my cuts both through and non-through without any issues. Perhaps that's just luck. So I am not advising anyone to do the same.