07-04-2020, 11:25 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-04-2020, 11:29 AM by kdouglaslee.)
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Bought my Jet table saw way back in 2001, and back then they didn't have riving knives. It did come with a combination splitter/blade guard that would tilt with the saw blade, but trust me, that POS made it almost impossible to use the saw and created its own safety problems. Feel free to disagree, FWIW, but I recently tried to reinstall and use it, took the thing off and threw it in the trash for good. Anyway, I've never had a problem with kick back or kick up, never got injured, but I'm getting older now and starting to think that yeah, it might be nice to have a splitter. So I made the one you see here, from a circular saw blade. The blade I used is a tiny bit thinner than a thin kerf blade (you it can be thinner, you just don't want it thicker) and works perfectly. I think I'll make another one out of an old 1/8" blade to use after I get my general purpose 1/8" blade back from being sharpened, there's just one easily accessible bolt holding it on so it's easy enough to change out. Anyway, I thought I'd also share a pic of the leftover pieces from when I was trying to get my design just right, I guess you could call it an iterative design process. I'm planning on making some marking knives or scrapers or something out of the leftovers. Let me know what you think!
[attachment=28079]
Bought my Jet table saw way back in 2001, and back then they didn't have riving knives. It did come with a combination splitter/blade guard that would tilt with the saw blade, but trust me, that POS made it almost impossible to use the saw and created its own safety problems. Feel free to disagree, FWIW, but I recently tried to reinstall and use it, took the thing off and threw it in the trash for good. Anyway, I've never had a problem with kick back or kick up, never got injured, but I'm getting older now and starting to think that yeah, it might be nice to have a splitter. So I made the one you see here, from a circular saw blade. The blade I used is a tiny bit thinner than a thin kerf blade (you it can be thinner, you just don't want it thicker) and works perfectly. I think I'll make another one out of an old 1/8" blade to use after I get my general purpose 1/8" blade back from being sharpened, there's just one easily accessible bolt holding it on so it's easy enough to change out. Anyway, I thought I'd also share a pic of the leftover pieces from when I was trying to get my design just right, I guess you could call it an iterative design process. I'm planning on making some marking knives or scrapers or something out of the leftovers. Let me know what you think!
[attachment=28079]
"Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped." Andy Weir (in his book The Martian)