Thread: Jet Xacta Deluxe riving knife

I've got the same or a similar saw I think. Mine came with a riving knife - I'm not quite sure what the advantage (or even the difference) is with a low profile riving knife? The ky hassle for me is when I change to a dado blade I need to remove the riving knife, then reinstall it when I go back to a normal blade. Not sure if a low profile riving knife would help tht though...


Trav

Originally Posted by Trav

The ky hassle for me is when I change to a dado blade I need to remove the riving knife, then reinstall it when I go back to a normal blade. Not sure if a low profile riving knife would help tht though...

The way I see it, the issue is not really whether the blade is a standard one or a dado blade; its whether its a through cut or not.

Yes, the low profile riving knife depicted can be used when it is not a through cut, so long as the cut is deep enough into the stock, but what is it actually doing?

In a through cut the riving knife can stop the sawcut from closing in on the blade. In a cut going only partially through the stock, the saw cut will not be able to close in on the blade anyway.

The only ting I can think of is that it would be a way to insure that the timber is not twisted while passing over teh blade by providing support directly behind the blade and in the cut, but surely we are all using a fence to do this anyway?

In any case even if it does do anything, you can ad a suitable splitter to the tablesaw insert to do the same thing for a lot less $$$ and customise it to the job.

Cheers

Doug

As luck would have it, I found that I could have used this low profile riving knife today. The riving knife on my saw doesn't retract fully below the table. The blade does, but not the riving knife. So if you want to use the table for something else (like a flat surface for assembly) then you need to remove the knife.

Trav