Riving Knife ?

[2link2]

I just bought a Grizzly G0899 saw (should be here tomorrow). I went to order a thin kerf riving knife from Grizzly & found out they don't make one for this saw ! That really surprised me I would think with a 2hp motor and a lot fans of thin kerf blades out there me included they would make one.
Anyway I'm a retired carpenter & 30 years ago actually made a meager living doing custom furniture & wood work for a few years until kids & family pushed me into a "real" job. 98% of all my table saw time has been done on saws without a riving knife. Used to own a Delta uni-saw
I know RK's are there for safety & the RK is a big reason I bought the G0899 as opposed to an older used saw without the knife. So here's my questions, Anybody using the G0899 and know if any riving knives from a different model will fit ? Or anybody with a 2hp saw using both thin kerf and regular blades can you tell the difference ? I will be able to test this out once I get the saw up & running. Other options obviously is ditch my TK blades (about 200-300 bucks) & buy new blades or ditch the riving knife & I don't like either one of those.
Reason for asking is I've been using an old Craftsman 1 hp saw & it cut much better with a thin kerf blades.
Thanks

[Willyou]

My understanding is that saws with riving knives are specifically designed for them as they are made to both tilt and move up and down with the blade. Saws not designed for this are hard, if not impossible, to retro fit. However, a splitter will accomplish a lot of what a riving knife does while being somewhat less convenient and effective. These can be retro fit to most any saw. My Delta has a mounting point for one below the table surface and it projects through the ZCI. You can also make or buy ones that mount to the ZCI.

Sorry. I don't understand your question regarding the relationship of riving knives and thin/thick kerf blades. I have no issues using either with my splitter.

P.S. Pretty much ignore everything I said above. I misread the OP and so my comment missed the point.

[jteneyck]

Check to see if the stock riving knife is thinner than your thin kerf blades.  If it's not, or it's so close that it hangs up on the kerf, then buy another stock riving knife and grind/sand it down on both sides until it's thin enough to clear the kerf.  In any case, you bought the saw to take advantage of the added safety afforded by the riving knife.  It would be a shame not to take advantage of it.  

John

[greenacres2]

Grizzly's spec sheet shows the stock riving knife to be 0.100", with a kerf thickness range of 0.102" to 0.126". 3/32" kerf should be about 0.9375" so picking up a second RK and a little grinding might work okay.
earl

[Alan S]

The parts list shows the riving knife to have a simple shape cut from a flat piece of stock, and is easily bolted into the mount that rises and tilts with the blade.  ( https://cdn0.grizzly.com/partslists/g0899_pl.pdf part 326)  That means it's easy to make a riving knife by tracing it onto the proper thickness metal, and cutting it out with an angle grinder.  You can change the shape if you want to, as long as the mounting slots and the inside curve by the blade are kept.  An old thin kerf blade is perfect to cut up to make one.

[2link2]

Thanks so much for the comments. The suggestions to make or modify an existing knife sound like a good way to solve the problem & that's what I'll do.
Saw should be here today after I get it up & running I'll post up a review.

[Timberwolf]

I just bought a Grizzly G0899 saw (should be here tomorrow). I went to order a thin kerf riving knife from Grizzly & found out they don't make one for this saw ! That really surprised me I would think with a 2hp motor and a lot fans of thin kerf blades out there me included they would make one.
Anyway I'm a retired carpenter & 30 years ago actually made a meager living doing custom furniture & wood work for a few years until kids & family pushed me into a "real" job. 98% of all my table saw time has been done on saws without a riving knife. Used to own a Delta uni-saw
I know RK's are there for safety & the RK is a big reason I bought the G0899 as opposed to an older used saw without the knife. So here's my questions, Anybody using the G0899 and know if any riving knives from a different model will fit ? Or anybody with a 2hp saw using both thin kerf and regular blades can you tell the difference ? I will be able to test this out once I get the saw up & running. Other options obviously is ditch my TK blades (about 200-300 bucks) & buy new blades or ditch the riving knife & I don't like either one of those.
Reason for asking is I've been using an old Craftsman 1 hp saw & it cut much better with a thin kerf blades.
Thanks

..............
I have an old Craftsman table saw and made my own riving knife out of a cheap Chinese steel square..Made brackets to hold it and mounted them on the cast iron table rear edge. It can swing up and out of the way. You could also attach one to the steel insert.

[Cooler]

If I had that problem, I would bring the riving knife to work and hand it to our tool and die makers.  He would slap it on the magnetic base of our surface grinder and in 5 minutes he would have thinned the knife to the exact thickness I requested. 

It is not as easy as I made it sound.  He would have to remove an equal amount from both sides, so he would have to flip it over and shim up the machined section to finish.

You might not have access to a machine shop, but almost any tool and die shop will have a surface grinder.  It is very basic equipment.

This shows one in action.  If you show up at a shop with cash, you probably can get this done for $20.00 or $30.00.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWj4OcteTk

Note:  There are much better videos online for surface grinders, but most are 20 minutes or longer.  This one's sole advantage is that it is brief.

[kurt18947]

The mounting mechanism looks pretty straight forward, nothing intricate or complex about it. Do you know anyone with a vertical cutting metal bandsaw? Or maybe a metal cutting blade in a jig saw? Just be sure to keep it flat.

[2link2]

More good suggestions, I like the idea of machine shop surface grinder. I also noticed that the Harvey tools table saw & it's guts look exactly like the Grizzly's & they sell a thin kerf RK but in the parts diagram the mounting area of the 2 knifes look different ? I might try the Harvey RK
Big problem now is they "lost" my saw ! I ordered the saw end of July knowing it wouldn't ship until end of Sept. which it did. I've had 3 delivery apts. canceled now Grizzly is giving the shipping company 4 days to "find" the saw or they will ship me another one or refund my money. I guess this is the new normal.
If the Harvey saw wasn't $500 more I'd just buy that one but can't see spending that much more for what appears to be an identical saw except for miter gauge.
https://www.harveywoodworking.com/produc...-table-saw