# sharkguard



## Jim Jakosh

Looks cool, but I , like you, have not used a riving knife or guard since I got my Ryobi saw.
That's great if it works for you. I know the riving knife is necessary if you have wood that closes up and pinches the saw blade. I stick wedge in there when it happens..
But one other place that it guards very well is the back edge of the blade that is coming up out of the table and will violently throw things if they get in that area.

Jim


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## scrollgirl

It looks nice. Yes - that is something that I feel would be important to have.  I hope you are enjoying some warmer weather.

Sheila


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## michelletwo

hey Jim: yep this is a big upgrade for my old saw. One can use it as pictured, or one can remove the cover, and just use the riving knife, depending on circumstances. After 30 yrs of good luck and no huge injuries with just a bare blade, I figured my luck might run out soon, thus the sharkguard. The dust collection is super. I really like not having all that dust shooting back at me.


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## wormil

I was under the impression it is impossible to attach a riving knife to old Delta contractors. I checked sharkguard.com and the website is sparse on info. Is this a splitter or riving knife?


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## michelletwo

Rick: it is a riving knife. Go to the delta section. It will give you model #s he can fit. . He also says if you do not see your # to contact him. He might still be able to fit it. You have options. riving knife and pawls, or not. With cover or not etc. Check the ARK info.


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## dday

Does it improve dust collection? and does it stay clear when cutting? That's the main reason why I 
removed my guard off of my Delta saw.. I could see very well during the cut


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## wormil

> Rick: it is a riving knife. Go to the delta section. It will give you model #s he can fit. . He also says if you do not see your # to contact him. He might still be able to fit it. You have options. riving knife and pawls, or not. With cover or not etc. Check the ARK info.
> 
> - michelletwo


Which Delta saw do you have? Are you sure it's a riving knife, which moves up and down with the blade? Or is it a splitter, which does not move? I have a 36-477 and I'm fairly confident it is impossible to attach a riving knife. He only lists splitters for old Delta contractors.


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## michelletwo

yes it is a riving knife. One must manually open a lever and move it up and down to adj for height of sawblade. totally simple to do..mine is a 34-444..just go look at his site..the #'s are all listed. I have no idea about your saw..talk to Lee.


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## michelletwo

dday: yes the dust collection is wonderful..no more throwing dust in my face
Yes you can see thru the plastic, and at the end it is open, so you can look in and line up your cutline to the blade.


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## WayneC

Thanks. I will have to check this out.


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## ClayandNancy

I have that same 34-444 saw. do you have the part number for the guard.


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## michelletwo

go to the site..there is a listing there. when you order you tell him what you have, what you want i.e. riving knife/cover/ pawls etc…he then makes it for you.


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## Holbs

I bought the Sharkguard splitter, not riving knife. Unsure why..maybe riving knife was more spendy? Or was not available at the time (early this year). Hmm…no, it was available because I remember reading that you had to manually adjust the height when you adjusted saw blade height. Must of been more spendy 
I will say, having a Sharkguard splitter makes a huge mental difference in the safety realm of things. I know it's not a riving knife (which I have on my Bosch 4100) but still…very glad to have bought it.
In regards to the dust collection, at least for the Sharkguard splitter, you get 3 height sizes. I usually have the middle sized one installed all the time and it collects 98% of all saw dust. Installed the tallest one just to see what happens while cutting some 3/4" plywood…not so great but what do you expect when a high splitter on a small piece of wood.


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## wormil

> yes it is a riving knife. One must manually open a lever and move it up and down to adj for height of sawblade. totally simple to do..mine is a 34-444..just go look at his site..the # s are all listed. I have no idea about your saw..talk to Lee.
> 
> - michelletwo


I'm really not trying be argumentative but you are describing a splitter. A riving knife moves on its own as you crank the blade up and down. If you watch the video by Sharkguard, it demonstrates the difference. Link is in my previous post.


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## michelletwo

Rick, call it what you want. Lee Styron calls it an adjustable riving knife. Just because one has to use a lever & move it, is not the important part. It is a retrofit for a 30 yr old saw. I go with the name he calls it.


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## Holbs

It's a "riving knife" as such as the metal piece follows the blade curve by 1/8" distance (since adjustable).
It's not a "riving knife" since it does not crank up along with the blade, but have to manually set it's height.
A new name? A SharkKnife?


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## wormil

Unless there is a section I'm missing, the website calls them splitters. If you know different, link to it. Delta contractors have no mechanism for raising or lowering a riving knife, you'd have to replace everything. In any case, I wasn't trying to start an argument just wanted clarification that he hadn't actually invented a riving knife for a Delta contractor. Years ago I know he was working on it because Delta sold a bajillion of them. Nowadays, even if you could do it I'm sure it would no longer be worth it financially. I'm glad you are happy with your guard.


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## michelletwo

His website calls them DELTA ARK which means: DELTA Adjustable Riving Knife. please contact him to clarify and voice your concerns, ok? I thought sharing this with others was a good thing to do, as a naked blade on a tablesaw is a true safety concern. I am happy he provides us all the option for older saws, and many folks may be able to get an older saw back in service and help it to be much safer to use. Not all of us can afford a 3600.00 sawstop.


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## Ted78

I'm with Holbs, we need a new name. Splitters don't follow the blade up and down only tilt with it, and have to be removed entirely for any non-through cut. And Riving knives follow the blade up and down automatically as you adjust the blade and you can cut say dadoes or rabbets without removing it.


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## Mosquito

For what it's worth, I just got my guard on Monday, and it's for my Walker-Turner 1180B table saw. On mine I would definitely consider it a splitter. Same situation, you can loosen the bolts and move it up and down, but that's still a manual process and not attached to the blade like modern riving knives. Like Holbs said, it's sort of an in-between thing. Shaped like a riving knife, acts like a splitter. Either way, it's what's needed to mount the guard, and goes between the off cut and the keeper piece of wood, and that's a good thing lol

I am planning to post pictures and do my own review, but I was not impressed at all with the splitters, but the guard itself is pretty nice. As long as you're willing to wait a while, it's not a bad option.


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## CyberDyneSystems

Thanks for the review, and looks like a great piece of safety gear for the older saws. I am going to look into this further, we have SawStop at work, and I LOVE the riving knife,.

In my basement however is a very well maintained 1942 Unisaw. I would love the ability to have a "real" riving knife, but there isn't an option out there. For now I use the splitter as often as I can,.

I would welcome this "adjustable riving knife" as the easiest affordable alternative. No it's not following the blade as I set the depth, but it gives me the option of using that kind of safety on non through cuts, for a small amount of time applied.

FYI from Leeway front page;

"We are working on an adjustable riving knife that will work with most Delta models and some Grizzlies, a Bridgewood, a Craftsman a Powermatic and a Dewalt 746. Just email and ask about those if interested.

Click here for New Adjustable riving knife for Delta Unisaw etc. " 
http://thesharkguard.com/orderdeltauniARK.html

I would agree that it does not have all the features of a riving knife's instant auto height adjustment, but it's still not a splitter in that you CAN adjust it to allow for non through cuts.


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## Kentuk55

A very nice addition to your saw and your safety list.


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