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+-- Thread: Anyone Install the Shark Riving Knife? (/showthread.php?tid=7329819)
Anyone Install the Shark Riving Knife? - Israel - 04-27-2017
Hello,
I have a 1983 Unisaw which is great, but lacks the safety advantage of an integral riving knife. The "Shark" company recently introduced a riving knife retrofit for the Unisaw, and I'm wondering if this is an acceptable alternative to purchasing a new saw with an integral riving knife. As careful as one can be, a riving knife seems like an essential safety item to me... So, has anyone installed this on their cabinet saw and if so, how similar is it to a built-it riving knife?
Thanks,
RE: Anyone Install the Shark Riving Knife? - teetomterrific - 04-27-2017
Since it is a manual adjusted device and you can strike it with the blade if you forget that fact, I'm not sure I'd be interested, especially for the price and wait time for delivery. I'd rather turn my Uni into a dedicated dado saw and go buy a Saw Stop. I kind of want to do that anyway it's just not going to happen this year.
RE: Anyone Install the Shark Riving Knife? - djcook50 - 04-27-2017
Israel,
I purchased the Sharkguard spliiter set for my (now sold) Delta Unisaw. This was before the riving knife setup apparently. I bought the standard thickness plates rather than the thin kerf style and they worked great. I used it in combination with the Uniguard setup and it worked quite well. Stable, and provided adequate height options with the three splitters provided in the set. Quite nice.
Dave
RE: Anyone Install the Shark Riving Knife? - Greg Jones - 04-27-2017
I recently bought the Shark Riving Knife as part of a safety/dust collection upgrade I made on my Jet Xacta saw, where I added the riving knife, a Shark Guard basket, and the Excalibur Overarm system. I am extremely pleased with the system, although I agree that being a manual adjustment, there is the potential for damaging the blade/knife if one raises the blade with the saw running. Lee includes a warning label as a reminder, and I trained myself pretty quickly to adapt to only raising the blade when the saw is off. Cutting the slot in the insert to accommodate the blade and the riving knife is different also, but pretty simple to accomplish.
I pondered the decision to upgrade this saw vs. selling it and buying a SawStop, but I've had this saw for 10+ years and I really do like it, so this is the choice I made. I've had 2 conventional Shark Guards w/splitters previously-one on this same saw and another on a Delta and the Shark Riving knife is, in my opinion, far superior to the Shark splitters.