Riving Knife

[Richard Carner]

Can anyone direct me toward an aftermarket source of riving knifes? I own a 36-812 Delta Unisaw. TIA

[Jacques Gagnon]

Richard:

I have seen many posts taking about SharkGuard; you will find details at http://www.thesharkguard.com/. They have products that fit many makes and models; you will want to validate whether yours is on the list.

I do not have any business interests in that company; I am just relaying information.

Good luck.

[Richard Carner]

Richard:

I have seen many posts taking about SharkGuard; you will find details at http://www.thesharkguard.com/. They have products that fit many makes and models; you will want to validate whether yours is on the list.

I do not have any business interests in that company; I am just relaying information.

Good luck.

I do appreciate this.

[David Kumm]

Lee at Sharkguard will also make knives specific to your drawings if needed in various thicknesses. It is nice to have at least two, one the thickness of your regular kerf plates and one for thin kerf. Sometimes a rip blade will have a thicker plate and you want to match the knife closely to the plate. Dave

[Mike Henderson]

We first have to look at the differences between a "riving knife" and a "splitter".

A riving knife is a device that sits behind the blade to prevent the wood from closing on the blade AND it rises and falls, as well as tilts, with the blade. It maintains its position just below the top of the blade so that it almost never has to be removed, even if not making a through cut.

A splitter is a device that sits behind the blade to prevent the wood from closing on the blade BUT it does not rise and fall, nor tilt, with the blade. Because it is often higher than the top of the blade, it cannot be used for non-through cuts where it would be higher than the top of the blade.

Because of the limitations of a splitter, it often gets removed and may not be put back as assiduously as it should.

Unfortunately, most older table saws cannot be retrofitted to a true riving knife. You can only use a splitter on them.

Mike

[Richard Carner]

We first have to look at the differences between a "riving knife" and a "splitter".

A riving knife is a device that sits behind the blade to prevent the wood from closing on the blade AND it rises and falls, as well as tilts, with the blade. It maintains its position just below the top of the blade so that it almost never has to be removed, even if not making a through cut.

A splitter is a device that sits behind the blade to prevent the wood from closing on the blade BUT it does not rise and fall, nor tilt, with the blade. Because it is often higher than the top of the blade, it cannot be used for non-through cuts where it would be higher than the top of the blade.

Because of the limitations of splitter, it often gets removed and may not be put back as assiduously as it should.

Unfortunately, most older table saws cannot be retrofitted to a true riving knife. You can only use a splitter on them.

Mike

Thank you for the explanation. This differences between a riving knife and a splitter were known to me. It is probable that the length of the throat on my Unisaw may not be long enough to retrofit a riving blade which you mentioned. What I have is one of the early 800 series models when such things as a left tilting arbor and reachable cut off switches were not part of the engineering plan. I may simply ditch this tablesaw - it's paid for itself hundreds of times over and purchase a Grizzly 1023 RL. How ironic that one of these machines costs about the same as what I paid for my Delta Unisaw in 1990 - $1,500. If you factor in inflation the model I purchased today would cost @2,700.

[Cary Falk]

I sold my Uni and bought a G1023RL partially for the riving knife. I couldn't be happier. That being said, Lee and Sharkguard are great to do business with.

[Richard Carner]

I sold my Uni and bought a G1023RL partially for the riving knife. I couldn't be happier. That being said, Lee and Sharkguard are great to do business with.

I'll wait to hear from Sharkguard but I'm am more and more leaning your way. I might be able to get $500 for my saw on Craigslist. I retrofitted it with an Biesemeyer Fence. That might be a plus.

[Mike Henderson]

I'll wait to hear from Sharkguard but I'm am more and more leaning your way. I might be able to get $500 for my saw on Craigslist. I retrofitted it with an Biesemeyer Fence. That might be a plus.

Unless your area is different, you should be able to get more than $500 for your saw. I think yours is a 3HP 240V unit. If it's a 120V with a much smaller motor (less than 2HP) you'd get less, maybe $500.

Mike

[Richard Carner]

Unless your area is different, you should be able to get more than $500 for your saw. I think yours is a 3HP 240V unit. If it's a 120V with a much smaller motor (less than 2HP) you'd get less, maybe $500.

Mike

Your right. Mine is the 3HP 240V unit. I'll do some searching on Craigslist. I've seen some pretty ratty looking beat up Unisaws on EBay. Mine has been used all these years in a 'one off' small shop. Very little sheet goods or production type runs.

[Mike Henderson]

Your right. Mine is the 3HP 240V unit. I'll do some searching on Craigslist. I've seen some pretty ratty looking beat up Unisaws on EBay. Mine has been used all these years in a 'one off' small shop. Very little sheet goods or production type runs.

In this area, a 3HP 240V unit with a Biesemeyer fence would go for about $1,000, plus or minus. Others can chime in for their area.

The major defect of older cabinet saws is the lack of a true riving knife. Many buyers prefer a saw with a riving knife for safety. But there's usually someone who will buy it.

Mike

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Mike, every splitter I've seen did tilt with the blade............Regards, Rod.

P.S. My Euro saw has both a splitter that rises and falls and tilts, yet it's higher than the blade so the guard can mount on it, and a riving knife.

Actually I have 2 riving knives in different thicknesses for different blades..............Regards, Rod.

[Charles Lent]

There is/was a product available called **** (Bolt On Riving Knife - use the first letter of each word) that you can find information on by just Google Searching for this (sorry, but the created word seems to be auto censored).. I know of it's existence, but have never even seen one being used. This is just a suggestion of another riving knife source for you to investigate. It may or may not fill your need.

I have a Delta Pop-Up splitter on my Unisaw that gets used whenever I'm doing long rip cuts in solid wood or find that I'm doing anything where it might be needed, but most of my rip cuts are done with a track saw. so I have found that the splitter on my Unisaw has been adequate for my needs.

Charley

[Cary Falk]

I thought the inventor of the Bolton riving knife past away some years ago? I had a Biesemeyer snap in splitter on my Uni. As easy as it was to use I found it out of the saw more then it was in. A riving knife is soo much nicer.

[Matt Day]

The Shark Guard ARK is a “manual riving knife”, probably the closest aftermarket one you’ll find. There’s a guys over on OWWM who has a very cool shop made true riving knife, not sure if he’ll get into production or not.