An interesting table saw safety innovation that is becoming more and more popular is the inclusion of a riving knife just behind the blade. Though the big feature of the SawStop is the brake mechanism, it also includes a riving knife to minimize the risk of another major table saw danger: kickback.
Kickback occurs when the material that’s being cut gets caught on the back edge of the blade. Typically, the material then gets wedged between the blade and the fence and is then propelled back towards the operator at high speed. This can happen for several reasons, and it is never good; wood that is launched in this way can potentially fly fast enough to become embedded in nearby walls, and many people have been severely injured or even killed by kickback.
The purpose of a riving knife is the same as the purpose of a splitter, which is to prevent the cut from closing up behind the blade. This greatly reduces the risk of kickback. However, riving knives have some nice advantages over splitters; they’re pretty low-profile and sit closer to the blade than a splitter, which means that they’re more effective at preventing material from coming back into the path of the blade and they won’t interfere with blade guards and dust collectors. Additionally, they don’t have to be removed for cross-cutting. Ultimately, this means that a riving knife removes a lot of the inconvenience of a splitter while still providing the safety benefit.
Table saws are inherently dangerous to operate, so it’s good that the SawStop engineers have included so many safety features. With that said, all of the safety features in the world are not going to be able to replace common sense and proper technique, so it is still important to know what you’re doing before you fire up a saw.
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