Adding A Riving Knife To Table Saw

A splitter rides above the cut plane and is thicker than the kerf width.

Adding a riving knife to table saw.

The bork attaches to the arbor swing arm and rises lowers and tilts in unison with the blade much like a true stock riving knife does. In most cases i believe the answer is no. On most table saws the riving knife mounts to the saw s trunnion the sturdy mechanism beneath the saw table that raises and lowers the saw blade. Tools ans materials old riving knife or a template metal file drill bit calipers oil for lubrication steel punch and a hammer jigsaw with metal cutting blade marker clamp for holding your workpiece.

Table saw grizzly 1023 was thinking of purchasing something along the lines of a shark guard or bork but was wondering if there has been any updates over the past several years. An aftermarket retrofit riving knife does exist. Many of us in the woodworking world have been asking the major tool makers to put riving knives on their saws for years. Not only did they avoid producing new saws with riving knives but no aftermarket riving knives were produced as accessories.

I will never kerf a board without a riving knife because i cannot see the blade. Typically the riving knife has a release mechanism that can be accessed by removing the table insert from the top of the saw table. This involves making several zero clearance throat plates each with an integrated splitter at a different location based on the hight of the saw blade. Just the one thing that might save you from a very bad day in the shop.

If you cannot retrofit a riving knife on your older saw there is a less convenient but somewhat viable workaround. I have the 1023sl which was just retired a few months before the new model came out with a riving knife. The bolt on ripping knife bork from bob ross of walnutacre woodworking is a retrofit riving knife that fits several traditional saws that were not originally designed for a riving knife.