Sawstop riving knife alignment

[fred henkin]

How should the riving knife align with the blade on a table saw. When facing the saw my riving knife is about a 32nd of an inch to the left of the right side of the blade. I'm thinking it should be even with the right side of the blade but looking for confirmation of that.

Thanks

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I think the key reference is the tooth channel.

Ideally the riving knife must be completely aligned with the saw blade but I think it is acceptable if it is completely into the cut channel...

I do not know how that alignment is adjusted in your saw but I suppose you can fine adjust it.

[glenn bradley]

Some folks try to use the riving knife as a sort of feather board by having the right side flush with the tooth's outer edge. The problem here is that blade kerfs vary. The RK's jog is to prevent material from inadvertently getting to the teeth after the cut and to help with the kerf closing in lively material.

I have all my blades made with a .125" kerf as it suits my use of jigs and fixtures (and has nothing to do with the RK setup for me). I center the RK with the blade's plate. As mentioned, you can do as you will. I can only speak as to what works best for me :)

[Martin Siebert]

How should the riving knife align with the blade on a table saw. When facing the saw my riving knife is about a 32nd of an inch to the left of the right side of the blade. I'm thinking it should be even with the right side of the blade but looking for confirmation of that.

Thanks

Your saying it should ride to the right to help keep the work piece against the fence as you cut??? I guess that would work, mine has always been centered behind the blade. The owners manual with my table saw {not a Sawstop} just says to align it with the blade, it doesn't say anything about having it to one side. That don't mean you cant do it. I don't know, is there some other reason {other than mine} for having it to one side??? I'd try it both ways and see what works best. I thought it was just supposed to keep the wood from pinching the blade and causing burn spots...I guess it could serve as a feather board too if adjusted that way. It seems like you definitely wouldn't want it to the left because that might tend to pull the work away from the fence???

Edit: I just checked my owners manual and all it says is to have the riving knife "aligned" with the blade......big help!! Aligned how exactly??? Seems like they could have left zero doubt with the word "centered". I took it to mean centered behind the blade as the only comment is that it "has to be aligned to prevent kick back".

[Simon MacGowen]

The SS manual says you should align the riving knife with the left side of the blade (teeth) so that regardless of the blade kerf, you can keep the riving knife unchanged. I don't do that, and always align the riving knife with the right side (teeth) of the blade because I prefer to have riving knife keeping the stock to the fence, minimizing the chances of kickback which is more important than adjusting the riving knife.

Anyhow, I use 1/8" kerf saw blades only, and therefore have no need to adjust the riving knife to cater for any thin kerf blades.

Simon