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Thread: Do I need a riving knife in a track saw?

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig View Post


    Peter, where the hell have you been?
    Took a hiatus to focus on work and family balance!
    "A good miter set up is like yoga pants: it makes everyone's butts look good." Prashun Patel

  2. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jay Jolliffe View Post
    I must have the older Festool saw. Mine is not spring loaded & it's a real pain to do a plunge cut in plywood..
    Funny story, the one at work IS spring loaded, I watched a guy who had use an older one repeatedly take the knife in and out for plunge cuts, very frustrating...then one day he watched me do a plunge with the knife in....I never said anything, just though he enjoyed taking the knife out?
    "A good miter set up is like yoga pants: it makes everyone's butts look good." Prashun Patel

  3. #18
    Thanks everyone! There's a lot of good insight for me here.

    What I'm trying to do is choose between the Makita and the Dewalt and I thought the riving knife might be a good tie breaker. The fact is, I have a Makita CMS and I just love that saw. And based on everything I read and hear, the Makita track saw is just as nice a tool. So I'm inclined to buy the Makita.

    But while I expect to use it mostly on sheet goods, I want the flexibility to use it anywhere else it makes sense. So I've got some thinkin' to do...

    Either one is going to be a huge step up from my Dad's old Sears circular saw and a home made guide!

    Thanks again,
    Fred
    Last edited by Frederick Skelly; 03-11-2017 at 7:15 AM.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Quinn View Post
    Funny story, the one at work IS spring loaded, I watched a guy who had use an older one repeatedly take the knife in and out for plunge cuts, very frustrating...then one day he watched me do a plunge with the knife in....I never said anything, just though he enjoyed taking the knife out?
    Reminds me of a time when I was a green horn and installing insulation batting in a vaulted roof. I was smashing the bats all the way up to the roof in between trusses. Two guys below watching me were doing the trim work had about 60 yrs accumulated experience and never said anything. I had about 500SF installed when the contractor got back. I was covered in fiberglass. He explained my error and then explained I had to remove and reinstall correctly. I look over at the trim guys and they are laughing. "Why the *&$% didn't you guys say anything?" "Well, we thought you knew what you were doing."
    -Lud

  5. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig View Post
    I left the riving knife on my panel saw - only for those long rips to keep the material from falling on the blade. I can easily loosen and slide it back if it's in the way.
    Make a couple of shims out of something hard and wax them up. Slide one in the kerf towards the beginning of the cut, and push another one in just before the blade clears the material. The riving knife is narrower than the blade, so no matter what you are going to be pinching material in the end if that's all you're relying on.

  6. #21
    I was working with apprentices (with our local college, developing resources) and used this video to impress upon them the need for safety. It's about circular saws, but the point is clear -- if rather graphic.

    https://www.worksafebc.com/en/resour...ckback?lang=en

  7. #22
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    Forgot to mention when the riving knives and circular saws came up that Festools HK saws have what I think is an ingenious riving knife built into the blade guard.

    Festool-HK-55-Carpentry-Saw-04-768x512.jpg
    Last edited by Van Huskey; 03-11-2017 at 9:29 PM.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Wasner View Post
    Make a couple of shims out of something hard and wax them up. Slide one in the kerf towards the beginning of the cut, and push another one in just before the blade clears the material. The riving knife is narrower than the blade, so no matter what you are going to be pinching material in the end if that's all you're relying on.
    I do use shims. I just leave it on anyway cause it doesn't bother me. It has a quick release where I can loosen, slide it up, and tighten back in a matter of seconds if I need it outta the way (cutting solid surface material).
    -Lud

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Quinn View Post
    Funny story, the one at work IS spring loaded, I watched a guy who had use an older one repeatedly take the knife in and out for plunge cuts, very frustrating...then one day he watched me do a plunge with the knife in....I never said anything, just though he enjoyed taking the knife out?
    Peter,
    I read this and thought damm, I been doing this with my Festo when I need to plunge. I feel better now after looking at it. Mine is a old one and appears to be fixed...
    Mafell has some clever knives on their plunge saws. They have one that is retracted when you plunge then drops when the saw starts moving forward a little bit.

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Justin Ludwig View Post
    I do use shims. I just leave it on anyway cause it doesn't bother me. It has a quick release where I can loosen, slide it up, and tighten back in a matter of seconds if I need it outta the way (cutting solid surface material).
    I couldn't afford the scoring attachment for mine when I bought it. So when cross cutting, I did a shallow climb cut to score the material. The riving knife was in the way of that. I don't think I ever tried plunge cutting before taking it off. It's retractable, but why add a step on a machine where the threat of kick back is more or less physically impossible on the vertical plane. On the horizontal it's a non issue, you're against a stop that isn't going anywhere, and a 5hp motor doesn't have enough oomf to do anything drastic when pushing a 700# gantry around.

  11. #26
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    That Work Safe BC video nearly made me ralph. I stopped it after it got stuck and hit the operator's leg. All the more reason to stand to one side out of the line of fire if you're working with a conventional circ saw.
    Howard Rosenberg

  12. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Howard Rosenberg View Post
    That Work Safe BC video nearly made me ralph. I stopped it after it got stuck and hit the operator's leg. All the more reason to stand to one side out of the line of fire if you're working with a conventional circ saw.
    Yeah, that was really gruesome. A very useful reminder for me, for sure. Thanks for posting it Warren.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Wasner View Post
    I couldn't afford the scoring attachment for mine when I bought it. So when cross cutting, I did a shallow climb cut to score the material. The riving knife was in the way of that. I don't think I ever tried plunge cutting before taking it off. It's retractable, but why add a step on a machine where the threat of kick back is more or less physically impossible on the vertical plane. On the horizontal it's a non issue, you're against a stop that isn't going anywhere, and a 5hp motor doesn't have enough oomf to do anything drastic when pushing a 700# gantry around.
    Order a Hi-ATB blade from Carbide Processors and you won't have to score - one pass, even on multiple sheets. My blade is "Saw Blade 254LV080" - a 10" 80T with 30mm bore - $150. The only time is get splintering is if I try to shave a piece of ply with just the kerf or less.
    -Lud

  14. #29
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    I don't have a sliding saw and used my track saw (Festool 75) to rip cut tons of 9 feet 8/4 lumber (maple). The riving knife was indeed useful as sometimes the stress in the wood was strong enough to pintch the knife. For sheet goods it's not needed.
    And yes, as others have said, no issue with plunge cuts.

  15. #30
    I personally have the Makita track saw, and was making some cuts in hardwood when I had it kick back at me. It chewed up the track pretty good and scared the crap out of me.

    A riving knife would have been nice, but it also reminded me that I have other tools that would have been better to use.

    I think tool selection is #1 and riving knife is #2.

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