Does saw blade need to match riving knife thickness??

[George Farra]

HI all,

I have a Bosch 4100 and I beleive the riving knife is .091" thick. I've been using Freud's thin kerf combo blade which I believe measures the same. I've had great results with this bade but its starting to dull and I'm looking at options.

Can I use a thicker saw blade which will create a wider kerf? Trying to figure out if that prevents the riving knife from doing its job

TIA

George

[Bradley Gray]

I think it will be okay if the fence side of the knife lines up with the fence side of the blade. At least it's worth a try.

[Tom Ewell]

Should be OK with the larger kerf.

According to Lee Styron (http://www.thesharkguard.com/sharkbosch4100.php) who makes the things, going too thin a kerf is more problematic causing binding, etc. and may lead to forcing the stock through.... and we all know how that can go.

[George Farra]

thanks guys. yeah going too thin winds ya up in agony, frustration, yada yada.

George

[Prashun Patel]

The riving knife must prevent the wood from contacting the back of the blade. When the knife is thinner than the kerf, there is some wiggle room to twist. However, most knives are so close to the back of the blade, they'd have to be quite thinner than the blade in order to allow enough movement to contact the back of the blade. To convince yourself of this, though, you should try to force contact by making a partial cut through a piece, and then turning the SAW OFF and manually trying to twist the piece to contact the back of the blade. If you are at all in doubt, then you can always make the knife thicker with some aluminum tape.

[Jamie Buxton]

Table saw blades come in basically two kerf widths. "Regular" blades make kerfs that are .125" or so. "Thin kerf" blades cut a kerf that's about .1". If your riving knife is .91", it is intended for the thin-kerf variety of blade, and I'd stick with that for your replacement. You'll find that there are lots of thin-kerf blades in the marketplace.

[jack forsberg]

280277

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis16.pdf

[George Farra]

thanks everyone. i was only considering thin kerf blades. Appears that a slightly oversized kerf isnt going to disrupt things

[Lee Reep]

George,

I was using Freud blades, and just got a Forrest Woodworker II thin kerf blade. I have a Ryobi BT3100, which has a 1.75HP motor. My first cuts were ripping 8/4 oak. Breezed thru it incredibly easy. Might want to give one a try. They arent cheap but I'm sure impressed with it.

[Justin Rapp]

George,

I was using Freud blades, and just got a Forrest Woodworker II thin kerf blade. I have a Ryobi BT3100, which has a 1.75HP motor. My first cuts were ripping 8/4 oak. Breezed thru it incredibly easy. Might want to give one a try. They arent cheap but I'm sure impressed with it.

The Forrest Woodworker II blade is the best blade I ever owned. Finally had to get it sharpened and a local industrially sharping service charged me about $18 and it's as good as new.