Delta Unisaw safety

Chris C

Chris
Senior User
20210323_141000.jpg
 

zdorsch

Zach
Corporate Member
You have a splitter, not a riving knife. By definition a riving knife moves with the blade.
A very good addition.

Your article indicates that a splitter is fixed in relation to the table and must be removed for through cuts.

While I agree that a factory riving knife would be attached to the arbor, the shark guard moves manually by the user changing height with the blade, allowing through cuts while installed and sits closer to the blade than splitters. Seems more like a “manual” riving knife than a splitter.
 

Pop Golden

New User
Pop
I do not have & don't want a blade guard. I find the Shark Guard very interesting and it may change my mind. I find in spite of Stumpy's video that a large number of woodworkers share this thought. A few years ago I was at a woodworker's meeting. This meeting took place in a shop. This shop has 2 Powermatic saws pointing in 2 directions side by side. The subject of guards came up. There were around 30 guys there. The question was asked "how many of you use a blade guard?" Not one hand went up. My gripe is that I want to see the cut and my fingers, and the guard interferes with the view.

Pop
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Kelly Mehler suggested this many years ago at a TWA workshop on the table saw. Only have as much of the blade projecting above the work surface as you want to cut into your hand. Some gaurds, like the Biesemeyer, and be lifted off the work, and pinned to stay there. FYI, the Biesmeyer was patterned after a gaurd developed by NASA to be used when cutting tiles for the space shuttle.
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
I do not have & don't want a blade guard. I find the Shark Guard very interesting and it may change my mind.
I've had a Shark Guard and riving knife for the last 8 years or so. Highly recommended. The riving knife is always in use (except for dado cuts), but I do have to take off the guard when ripping narrow pieces. You need room to see and get a push stick in - nothing is perfect. But for ripping wider boards and crosscuts it's excellent, both in terms of safety as well as dust control.

The key factor is, how quickly can you remove/ put back the guard? If you have to fiddle with it, it'll sit unused in the corner. The Shark Guard takes about 15 seconds to remove/ replace. Hard to make excuses for not doing it.

I damaged one of the rollers on the guard a while back (don't ask...), and since I'm selling it I figured I'd get that fixed. Got a replacement roller sent free of charge. Can't beat that kind of customer service!
 

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