Riving Knife To Become Standard

[Dan Lautner]

This weekend I spoke with a tool supplier in the LA area and was told several companies will be adding a riving knife to there table saws. Delta will have a brand new unisaw design. After a major kick back using a TS I will no longer operate one without a riving knife.

Dan

[Randal Stevenson]

Already federal regulations in place and it's happening. Found out about it via another forum, I believe. But if I remember right (as the original poster thought it was next year), that it takes effect in 2014.

Wondering when the shorter fence regs will take effect in this country?

[Phil Pritchard]

Hi guys!

Welcome to the the 1970s...... I'm always amazed that American woodworking machinery manufacturers (and their copyists) seem mired in the 1960s in engineering design terms. If the date is 2014 that will make the USA just 40 years behind the Brits - it's normally us that are 20 years behind you. Oh well, at least it's a step in the right direction, so a "Well done!" to whoesever got it mandated

BTW we don't mandate the "short" rip fence design in the EU - we do, however, train all our trades woodworkers in it's use and have done so for over 30 years now

Phil

[Martin Shupe]

Hi guys!

Welcome to the the 1970s...... I'm always amazed that American woodworking machinery manufacturers (and their copyists) seem mired in the 1960s in engineering design terms. If the date is 2014 that will make the USA just 40 years behind the Brits - it's normally us that are 20 years behind you. Oh well, at least it's a step in the right direction, so a "Well done!" to whoesever got it mandated

BTW we don't mandate the "short" rip fence design in the EU - we do, however, train all our trades woodworkers in it's use and have done so for over 30 years now

Phil

Hi Phil,

Please tell me what you mean by "short" rip fence. Short in height? or short in length? If you can post a pic, please do. Sorry I am so naive about this topic, but it sounds interesting.

Thanks,

[Mark Carlson]

I was wondering if General had any plans to add a riving knike to the 350/650. Even though General makes one of the best saws (quality wise) most people are looking for a riving knife so that limits the choices to a PM 2000, a SawStop, or a european slider style saw.

~mark

[Ed Falis]

Short in length (you can use a Unifence the same way). Since the fence doesn't reach to the back of the blade, less chance of binding and kickback.

[Bruce Benjamin]

Hi guys!

Welcome to the the 1970s...... I'm always amazed that American woodworking machinery manufacturers (and their copyists) seem mired in the 1960s in engineering design terms. If the date is 2014 that will make the USA just 40 years behind the Brits - it's normally us that are 20 years behind you. Oh well, at least it's a step in the right direction, so a "Well done!" to whoesever got it mandated

BTW we don't mandate the "short" rip fence design in the EU - we do, however, train all our trades woodworkers in it's use and have done so for over 30 years now

Phil

Riving Knife on a Table Saw: Advantage, EU.

Everything else: Advantage, USA.

Bruce

[Nissim Avrahami]

That's a drawing from the UK OSHA.

My table saw came with short fence that can be moved forward or back for different blade heights.

Bruce, we have also the advantage of Euro prices...that are double than in USA

Short fence.jpg

[Greg Peterson]

The riving knife is one of the reasons I am considering the PM2000 over anything else (sorry, but Sawstop is out of my range).

I'm not sure why the other TS manufacturers are dragging their heels, but it doesn't seem that putting a riving knife onto a TS would be a major overhaul.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

New Jet cabinet saws have riving knife options. Check out the promo flyer at www.jettools.com

[George Lesniak]

I spoke to a Steel City rep this past weekend. SC will have a line of table saws with riving knives starting in September. The real news was they are working on a retrofit kit for SC saws already in the field.

[Chris Friesen]

I'm not sure why the other TS manufacturers are dragging their heels, but it doesn't seem that putting a riving knife onto a TS would be a major overhaul.

A real riving knife stays just below the top of the blade regardless of blade height. This generally requires that the arbour moves vertically rather than rotating around a pivot like it does on most north american-style saws. This means they have to redesign all the mechanical guts of the saw.

[Andrew Williams]

Having spent quite a bit of time looking very closely at my new SawStop trunnions I can honestly say that I believe it involves a great many design changes to implement a true riving knife on an old-style saw trunnion. I can see why Delta and Steel City are jumping on the riving knife bandwagon (cannot say the same for WMH since the PM2000 already has one). Personally, the riving knife was pretty high on my list but the real kicker was the emergency brake feature. That also requires a totally redesigned arbor block assembly as well.

[Steve Schoene]

I believe the regulations are a UL requirement for listing. The difference in years is due to a phase in. New models have to have the riving knives earlier, and the later date is when all table saws, newly designed or based on old designs must have the riving knive.

[Larry Conely]

The riving knife was one of the reasons I purchased my Inca 12 inch table saw 14 years ago. Yes, the arbor rises and falls in a straight line. The fence can be used "short" if desired.

I also had a 259 Inca table saw that had only a short fence.

Larry