Thread: Circular Saw with Riving Knife

Haven't noticed them myself, will have to investigate. I would love to find a left hander, a lot of the battery saws are leftys but I haven't found a power one yet. I have seen one or two over the years but haven't sen one for sale.

I love riving knives! They should be fitted to every circular saw. Unfortunately they aren't required to be fitted in Australia under Australian Standards, so many manufacturers cut costs and don't bother fitting them. The cheaper saw manufacturers who are building to a price just make each model compatible everwhere.

I have a bit of a thing with Oz Standards in regard to things like this; they really are quite pathetic. Carba-tec still advertise their "industrial" range of bandsaws as "conforming with the CE safety scheme"; they used to say "conforms with the stringent requirements of CE certification". This means that they met the minimum standards required to be allowed to be sold in the not-really-industrialised countries in Europe, like Portugal or the former Easten Block countries. The UK, France and Germany have even higher requirements on top of CE. So basically a machine built only to conform to A.S. probably won't electrocute you, or detonate.

Hama, most of the bigger firms like Makita and DeWalt make left handed circular saws in their most popular models, have a look at their main websites for model information. To get one you may have to either contact the Oz branch directly, or possibly try importing one from the UK where there is a bigger market for them. Plus with the Pound being quite rubbish at the moment you can probably save more money by importing one from there.

AND it'll come with a riving knife!

Hi all!

does the Makita have the necessary screwholes that would normally hold the riving knife? In that case you could order it as a spare part. I would advise it as money well spent; it greatly enhances machine and working safety. Circular saws without riving knives are forbidden on European markets, and for good reason. Especially 1500 Watts plus machines like your 235mm version can cause violent kickbacks although, on the other hand, chances on that must not be exaggerated too much as long as the handling is skilled and within sound nominal limits.

Try to find the exploded view parts drawing of your saw model, to establish if you need to order any additional parts apart from the knife itself (like screws, washers, plates, etc.).

There are plenty of pdf-style manuals on the web explaining how riving knives are to be mounted and adjusted in the proper way, which is easy to do.

good luck

gerhard

I've used both over the years. That being said, as Gerhard mentioned a riving knife is an excellent safety device. It's principal purpose is to reduce or even remove the risk of the saw kerf closing back onto and pinching the rear of the blade. This is especially dangerous on larger, more powerful saws, and most prevalent in rip cuts. As stresses are relieved in ripping along the grain, the two cut pieces of timber can move in unpredictable ways.

However, there are times when a riving knife can be a decided nuisance. In many trades and renovation work it is necessary to perform a plunge cut into, for example, a single floorboard. A riving knife prevents this, and requires adjustment or even removal for a plunge cut to occur. The result? A saw with a dangerously modified or non-existent knife waiting to bite you on your next ripcut.

Some of the better saws (and all specialist Plunge Cutting models) offer a retracting riving knife, that is spring loades to allow plunges, but snaps back int place as the cut progresses. Festool, Mafell Kress and other Euro manufacturers all offer plunge cutting saws. Metabo currently has a superb little plungeing/pivoting saw that offers the best of both worlds, plus it's a great saw for rail cutting also, offering compatibility across a wide variety of guide rails. Unfortunately, it's also obscenely expensive!

I believe that riving knives are an essential safety device in rip cuts in both natural and manufactured wood materials. However I don't believe their use is warranted in cross cutting or limited-depth plungeing (i.e. 19-20mm).

I shudder when I see that mark on a box ,CE should be C rap E xceptional havent seen too much that was any good with this mark on it

Thanks CT, yes have checked most of the big brand web sites and couldn't find much, could import but even though the dollar has been good etc the freight is a real killer. One will turn up.

I do a lot of long rip cuts in 50 and 100mm slab timber, I always pop a little timber wedge in once I have gone a few hundred mm.

Thanks very much you guys for alerting me to the danger of my circular saw which does not have a riving knife. I don't use it very often, and usually for cross cuts, but I have ripped from time to time without enought thought about potential kick back.

Originally Posted by acmegridley

I shudder when I see that mark on a box ,CE should be C rap E xceptional havent seen too much that was any good with this mark on it

Like I said, the cheaper brands make their stuff for worldwide export so they will ensure that they comply with CE certification as a minimum. The bigger brands can afford to remove expensive safety equipment for each individual country they export to. As an example, my Dewalt mitre saw had a material hold down as an optional extra. A Taurus branded mitre saw from Aldi will have one as standard because this is a safety item required under CE certification; but it's not worth their time to downgrade the tool just for the Australian/NZ markets.

I'm not saying I would swap my Dewalt for it, I just wish that either the bigger brands would make CE the minimum standard across the range, or that AS would lift their game so that little things like riving knives, hold downs, work clamps, NVR switches, interlocks and safety guarding were actually an enforceable legal requirement. Although it would make life at the hospital emergency department a bit less interesting.