Tablesaw Mod - Increase Safety While Expanding Features

By simply cutting the top of your riving knife you can expand the capabilities of your tablesaw by being able to make non through cuts such as rabates, dados box joints and many more, while still having safety of the riving knife. it is possible to re-cut the holes to reattach the blade guard if you so so wish to for regular cuts.

Check out my video here

Step 1: Mark It

A good trick for marking of what you want trim off is to raise the blade down so it is inline with the pencil then using the tablesaw top as a reference slide the pencil over and scribe a line.

Step 2: Cut It, Grind It.

using a hacksaw trimmed the riving knife, an angle grinder would have been handy but i mine is currently broke, then flatten the top with a sharpening stone and bench griner and ease the edges.

Step 3: Install It, Align It, Use It !

install your riving knife and you may want to lower it so the blade sticks above the knife by 2mm or so but see what works best for you have fun and be safe check out my video here

Comments

[BoT8]

When sawing 2" oak planks I know of a firm who whack a wooden-wedge into the cut, with a hammer, as it approaches the rear or the table, this is because cutting releases internal-stresses which may lead to binding.

[billcham]

My friend forgot to replace his knife after cutting dados and almost had his privates removed by a 1/4" piece of plywood that kicked back on him.
Just sayin...

[gm280]

I totally understand what the riving knife is used for, but I have been using a very old Craftsman 10" table saw for decades now, after retrieving it from my father, and it doesn't have such a device. But I have never ever had any problems not having such a divider installed either. JMHO!

[tytower]

Cut a lot of timber in 50 years with no such device fitted . You are all being wowsers! Never seen a piece of timber move inwards when cut . Always outwards .This is just a gimmick to sell stuff and its not needed . Had a piece of timber picked up and thrown at me but this was because 1./i was not holding it down and 2./The blade was not set higher than the width of the timber.I was tryong to cut a rebate and did not hold the piece down adequately.

[Grern]

Long may your luck hold.

[jschlager]

It isn't luck. It's using your brain and properly planning your cuts before you start them and knowing the limitations of your tool. A riving knife would make my saw safer but a properly square and sharp saw blade would be even safer. A riving knife would have solved my kickback problem but the root cause was the blade wasn't square to the table.

[marcello bianchi]

The riving knife stops the timber from closing after being cut and jamming the blade.kick back is usually to do with the fence.

[Grern]

I was, until I retired, a self-employed joinery manufacturer and must have sawn quite a few thousand feet of timber. All timber has a tendency to move during sawing, some much more than others. I therefore feel that I write from a position of some experience and in that position I would say that I would never use a 10" circular saw table without a riving knife. You may never have had any problems but that does not mean to say that you never will and it only takes one piece of timber to clamp onto the back of the blade and you could end up a much wiser person, hopefully without too much injury to yourself.

I don't understand why the blade not being square to the table should cause any problems. I frequently tilted my blade to rip an angled piece.

[Tom Howbridge]

Good point, also jschlager means paralel to the fence.