Riving knife

[GrahamIreland]

The riving or riding knife is slightly off on my table saw is it essential to have on or can it be used without for a while until I get it sorted from Worx.

 

[wallace]

Very risky, use push sticks and stand to the left so not in the line of fire when you get a kick back

 

[marcros]

When you say slightly off, what do you mean. Can you align it with a shim?

 

[GrahamIreland]

The arm has a bit of a slot on it to hug the machine and line up when you screw it on, so I don't thing a shim would work. I think it must be a little bend at the top, so there is about a 3mm offset when looking online with blade.

 

[TheTiddles]

Bend it back!

You've basically asked if it's ok to drive without a seatbelt, plenty do and you will be fine so long as you don't crash.

Aidan

 

[Jon C]

Please bend back in line or get a new one. It makes me cringe when I see YouTube woodworkers not using a riving knife. Yes, it can be done safely but why invite the possibility of a piece being launched at your face.

When I was an apprentice, we had to use a panel saw with no riving knife. Removed and lost by the shop foreman, total clown. Fortunately, never had a kickback.
However, one day I cut a piece of 3/4” blockboard. As I went to move the piece off the outfeed table, I accidentally nudged the off cut into the rising teeth.
It was a big saw and a big offcut, which hit a set of drawers about 12 ft behind the saw. The drawers were about 5ft tall and had a huge dent at the top. I dread to think of the damage if I’d been stood in front of that :|
My mistake but a riving knife would have stopped that incident happening.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ripping without a RK is a Darwinian activity.
S

 

[Deadeye]

I'vce been rather interested in this and posted a thread a few months ago asking if the startlingly different practise in the US was foolish, or if the EU was over-cautious.

Lots of people will tell you they are right - as is the way with contentious things generally. However, the numbers do tell a story.

The best data I can find for the US is actually very good. It's summarised here:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/741 ... -injuries/

which, in turn is sourced from here:

https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/NEISSQuery/ ... D5xg%3d%3d

So, about 4,700 tablesaw amputations/year in a population of 330M. Rate per 10M population = 142

The UK's data is less well structured. However the HSE publishes *all* amputations (not just saws) in the RIDNAT dataset here:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/index.htm

I've assumed table saw amputations are non fatal, so the upper limit ('cos some are legs and toes) is the total number - 573 in 2018/19 - in a population of 67M. Rate per 10M population = 86

Now, perhaps US folk have wider ownership of table saws, or use them more often, or are more diligent about reporting stats, but the stats show at least a 65% higher rate of table saw amputation in the US than total amputations in the UK.

Two final points:
1. Stats are, by their nature, an accumulation of individual anecdote. It's unlikely to be you, but it shall be someone. And it might be you...
2. Given that it might be you, and the effort required to materially mitigate the risk is quite small... fix the knife.

 

[That would work]

In a commercial setting removal of a RV is illegal. If you are set on using a ts without be sure to use the crown guard (another U.S unknown it seems) and if possible use an anti kickback device.

 

[GrahamIreland]

Knife actually looks straight, I layed it out on table. It must have been manufacturing fault, may send back to evolution once they re-open.

Thanks

 

[Alpha-Dave]

If the knife is straight are there adjustment bolts under the table that have come loose? My 10” saw has 2x bolts that press onto 2x other ones so it can be adjusted to be true with the blade.

 

[Alpha-Dave]

When you say ‘table saw’ and ‘worx’ do you mean this thing: https://www.worx.com/bladerunner-portab ... x572l.html ?

This is an upside down jigsaw in a table-top mount. If this is what you have, the removing the ‘riving knife’ is a very different thing to a ‘table saw’ with a rotating blade.