# Why didn't I do this sooner



## builtinbkyn

Great review. Though my Unisaw has a true riving knife, the other pros and cons you stated are the same I've experienced with the 4" dust port- no space to the right of the guard for your hand or push block to pass between that and the fence. Almost wish I went with the 2" port so narrower cuts could be achieved more easily. I have the pawls too, but took them off. They're a little flimsy and present more problems than they're worth.

Regarding it's use with a sled, I'm thinking there's a way to do it with an overhead system. William Ng uses a piece of plexiglass over the kerf area on his sled. I'm sure something could be rigged to that to receive the guard so it clips on and get the benefits of dust collection.


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## jamsomito

> Great review. Though my Unisaw has a true riving knife, the other pros and cons you stated are the same I ve experienced with the 4" dust port- no space to the right of the guard for your hand or push block to pass between that and the fence. Almost wish I went with the 2" port so narrower cuts could be achieved more easily. I have the pawls too, but took them off. They re a little flimsy and present more problems than they re worth.
> 
> Regarding it s use with a sled, I m thinking there s a way to do it with an overhead system. William Ng uses a piece of plexiglass over the kerf area on his sled. I m sure something could be rigged to that to receive the guard so it clips on and get the benefits of dust collection.
> 
> - builtinbkyn


Haha, yes, same exact experience here.

I think Shark Guard actually sells a bracket so you can mount this guard as an overhead-style setup. It's $25. Check it out: http://thesharkguard.com/overhead.html

I almost bought this with the rest of the kit because I use my crosscut sled a lot. I thought about switching between the mounts for various cuts, but eventually decided against it. It actually looks easy enough to swtich between the two mounts. The problem with the sled, in my opinion, is not the attachment point of the guard (you could just make a longer sled), but rather as you push the sled forward the front of the guard will ram the tall front fence on the sled and prevent you from completing the cut. If you can fix the guard up higher so it doesn't do that it could work, but then I question the effectiveness of the dust collection doing it that anyway. It would seem you need a wider or different "chute" design to direct airflow better. Much like you describe Mr. Ng's setup to be.


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## fivecodys

Great review. I just added my SharkGuard to my saw last month. Yes, it will slow me down a little but for me that is a good thing. The little time I lose will mean nothing compared to the time it takes to heal.
Thank you for the time you put into this review. I think it will be very helpful to those who read it.


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## Peteybadboy

Brooklyn Bill, I have a Delta 36-L51X table saw. I can't find a riving knife for it. What do you use?

BTW fantastic review. I have been thinking about the safety of no guard for some time know. I will re read your review. Thanks for the review.


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## TheDane

I put a Shark Guard system on my Jet tablesaw … it worked great, and was one of the reasons I was able to sell that saw for more than I paid for it!


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## WayneC

Nice. I need to figure out something similar for my unisaw.


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## jamsomito

I looked at the squareness of the riving knife today and it's actually very slightly out of square in the opposite direction. What I found was it has some forward/backward play between the slot and locking bolt, so it could be adjusted so the front is higher than the rear for those non-thru cuts.


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## Holbs

I had the PM66 only version (splitter) that was not capable of having the ARK due to the forward/rearward motion of the PM66 blade during raising and lowering. 
And now I have the Delta Unisaw version (same as one reviewed here). Yes, there are drawbacks, but the safety and dust collection outweigh the inconvenience of those drawbacks. Due to the mechanical retrofit of pre-riving knife table saws, this would be the best option out there.
I too have that issue where the off-cut gets trapped by the guard. So far, no flinging. I am aware of such a danger and do not stand behind the blade anyways.


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## edapp

Absolutely love my sharkguard. Mounts easily on a sawstop, and I very very rarely remove it.


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## michelletwo

after 30 yrs of a naked blade on my 1986 era delta contractor I got the sharkguard. Best investment in keeping my hands from the blade, and dust collection at the source. No complaints here.


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## Palmguy

Thank you for the detailed review. I am currently considering the Shark Guard system for my saw and your review has answered some of my questions.


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## becikeja

Just recently added a shark Guard back in January. Very happy with it.


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## Leewaythe2nd

Thank you sir for an excellent detailed review. You have referenced almost every issue I have also. I am working to right it. From now on all of our knives will have the tab on the bottom removed so you can easily swap out one thickness for another. The cut offs that get in between the guard and the blade are a worry of mine too, but I try to grab them before the cut is finished now. At our shop, the pic you see on the home page of the website shows our setup on our Saw Stop saw. It has a 2.5" dust port. I have to rip less than 2" polycarbonate for the top plates and front plates of the guard. A 4" port would definitely get in my way also. I really try to recommend a 2.5" port. The base of all ports are the same size. We have a 4" thin wall pipe running to a reducer we made for it. Then there is a blast gate below the reducer. The saw is at the very end of our dust collection schedule and it still sucks very well. When I do cut wood it does exactly like what was described above. One downside is when you tilt the blade and want to make an angled cut, you have an area that is exposed. I am working on a solution for that currently. I'm very detail oriented so anything that doesn't go up the hose I have issues with. I don't use pawls on our guard. I make them so sharp they may dig into the poly. They can stay up and out of the way in the keeper screws though. We make the springs by hand on a turner we made up. If the springs ever have an issue with slipping out of the hole on the clamp assembly, just email and I will send a handful of them free of charge. I appreciate any and all feedback positive or negative. Lee and I have labored over the years to make a perfect product for table saws. I realize it will never be perfect but we can and will make it as close as possible to perfection that each individual saw will allow.


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## WoodInItBeNice

Hey jamsomito, I read your great review and I'm experiencing similar problems and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.

I am a weekend woodworker and I bought the Delta Ark package for my 20 year old Delta 36-477 contractor saw. I bought the Shark Guard for safety reasons. If I could afford a Saw Stop I would get it but I like my saw and the Shark Guard seemed like a no brainer. I like that the SG also has dust collection and it's easy to remove. My problem is with the riving knife. I have never used a riving knife or splitter before. When I ran a 33" board through it would bind up about half way. I checked the blade and fence and all were square. I readjusted the knife using your method of using the fence and removing the blade. Everything looked good so I tried again which was a little better but still couldn't get the board all the way through. I then tried a different table saw blade and it felt a little better but still couldn't run all the way and didn't want to force it. I'm using a Diablo thin kerf blade. The second blade was an old Irwin thin kerf blade. The knife is .090" I'm wondering if the answer is to get a ⅛ inch blade. I would really like to get the SG up and running. I emailed the people at Leeway and they weren't much help. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Steve

Pics of table saw:


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## jamsomito

> Hey jamsomito, I read your great review and I'm experiencing similar problems and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.
> 
> I am a weekend woodworker and I bought the Delta Ark package for my 20 year old Delta 36-477 contractor saw. I bought the Shark Guard for safety reasons. If I could afford a Saw Stop I would get it but I like my saw and the Shark Guard seemed like a no brainer. I like that the SG also has dust collection and it's easy to remove. My problem is with the riving knife. I have never used a riving knife or splitter before. When I ran a 33" board through it would bind up about half way. I checked the blade and fence and all were square. I readjusted the knife using your method of using the fence and removing the blade. Everything looked good so I tried again which was a little better but still couldn't get the board all the way through. I then tried a different table saw blade and it felt a little better but still couldn't run all the way and didn't want to force it. I'm using a Diablo thin kerf blade. The second blade was an old Irwin thin kerf blade. The knife is .090" I'm wondering if the answer is to get a ⅛ inch blade. I would really like to get the SG up and running. I emailed the people at Leeway and they weren't much help. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks Steve
> 
> Pics of table saw:
> *snip*
> 
> - WoodInItBeNice


Hmm. So it's not going through at all? I've had that once or twice and it was because my wood was trying to close in on the kerf due to internal stresses. It was usually with a cut right down the middle of a board like you're demonstrating in your photos because there was so much stock on either side of the kerf. If it wants to close the kerf and you're only making a small slice off the end, I can usually push it through just with a little more resistance and all is ok. These are exactly one of the the kinds of cuts the riving knife protects you from, so despite the inconvenience of stuck lumber, at least it won't kick back on you.

That's the very first thing I would check - make sure your lumber isn't closing in behind the blade as you make the cut. If so, just run it through again, or cut it on the band saw and use a jointer to true up the face, then make a smaller cut to final width at the table saw.

That being said, I have noticed generally a little more resistance because the knife is slightly wider than the blade, especially on thicker stock. But it's only very slight resistance and it's never caused difficulty pushing the stock through on a clean cut.

Are you sure your knife is aligned in both axes? I had to shim the left side of my mounting block to rotate it slightly to make it co-planar with the blade.

Did you check if your knife was bent? Not sure how that could happen, it's a fairly staunch piece of metal, but could be contributing.

Do you visibly see your knife move when your workpiece reaches it during a cut? If so it would indicate something is out of alignment.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Overall I'm still happy with mine, and I think the riving knife is the best feature of the whole set. Let me know if you have any other concerns and I can still try to help out. Good luck.


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## WoodInItBeNice

Hey jamsomito problem solved. This was the culprit:

"Do you visibly see your knife move when your workpiece reaches it during a cut? If so it would indicate something is out of alignment."

So I did see movement and the problem was I didn't tighten the top screw on the knife all the way. When I did the knife and blade were out of alignment. So I reinstalled it again the right way and all works fine. I'm very happy with how it works and I do feel safer using the saw with the SG. You were right about the knife the cuts are much better. The dust collection is the cherry on top. Thanks again for taking your time to answer me back and for all your help. If I didn't find this review I would still be looking for answers.

Thanks Steve


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## jamsomito

Great! Happy to help and glad you got it sorted out. Enjoy it!


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## PatrickMcKinley

Great review, and comments.

My question is regarding the limitation of using a crosscut sled. I can see that a sled with a front rail is just not going to work, and even a sled like the Incra 5000 miter sled (it has no front fence) might be okay until the guard reaches the back fence. However, this seems like a problem even using a miter gauge for cross-cutting. If so then it seems like the SG guard is really only useful for ripping.

Although, even with the SG guard I think I could still use the riving knife on crosscuts with a miter gauge or a crosscut sled, or am I missing something?

...Patrick


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## WoodInItBeNice

Hey Patrick you are correct the SG is mainly for ripping. With a small cut I use a thin push stick or remove the SG. You need to remove the knife for non through cuts and any angled cuts. I use the sled with the knife for cross cutting. I have seen a crosscut sled on YouTube that was made for a guard. The SG removes in seconds however the knife at first had a learning curve but now I'm pretty fast with changing it. Maybe having a new saw would be a lot less hassle but I'm keeping my old Delta for now. The SG is much better than the Delta guard and I feel I have that added protection. I hope this answered your question.

Steve

Picture: My sled with the knife on.


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## jamsomito

> Great review, and comments.
> 
> My question is regarding the limitation of using a crosscut sled. I can see that a sled with a front rail is just not going to work, and even a sled like the Incra 5000 miter sled (it has no front fence) might be okay until the guard reaches the back fence. However, this seems like a problem even using a miter gauge for cross-cutting. If so then it seems like the SG guard is really only useful for ripping.
> 
> Although, even with the SG guard I think I could still use the riving knife on crosscuts with a miter gauge or a crosscut sled, or am I missing something?
> 
> ...Patrick
> 
> - PatrickMcKinley


Yeah, it's mostly for ripping or bigger crosscuts without a sled (like plywood panels). This is really the case for any guard though, not necessarily a deficiency of the SG. The adjustable riving knife is one of the biggest benefits, IMO, since that works on EVERY cut and really limits the chance of kickback. If you still want the guard or dust collection on smaller crosscuts or with a sled, they do sell an overarm attachment that would eliminate the interference problem if you mounted it high enough. Could also mount it to the sled even.

https://www.thesharkguard.com/tail-fin-overhead-mount-instructions/

I also heard tell of a brush attachment that's in development for shaving cuts that spew dust out the side of the guard, but I have not seen this on their website yet. That may work in combination with the overarm attachment for the ideal sled solution. Perhaps this would be easy enough to DIY also.


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## jamsomito

Some more general comments after owning this guard for a while.

1. The anti kickback pawls are nice but I found the springs a bit finicky. They would come apart if I backed the screws out too far to remove the guard from the riving knife. I ended up taking them off because they were more work than they were worth, IMO.

2. I did a batch operation cutting 1.5" strips for a bunch of cutting boards - so thinner rips are definitely possible with the guard. Just use a thin pushstick, and one with an offset handle helps.



















3. I still love this guard and riving knife and use it all the time. Still really happy with the purchase.


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## PatrickMcKinley

Thanks to WoodInitBeNice and jamsomito, your info helped push me in the right direction. I ordered an SG ARK for my 1952 Delta Unisaw and am eager to install it as soon as it comes.

I used this saw for 30+ years with a naked blade. Lucky that I went that long without an accident. However, my luck ran out last month….working when tired I got careless and while I had powered off the saw the blade was still spinning when I thoughtlessly put my hand out to retrieve the work piece. The good news it was just a nick needing 2 stitches and so I expect it will heal up really well…but had I already installed the SG I think there would have been no blood drawn.

So safety first is my new motto….which has always been a priority for me but when you are tired or distracted things just happen.


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## jamsomito

Sorry that happened Patrick. Glad it's not more serious. It's a little extra work but I think you'll really like the guard if safety is a focus


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