Riving knife and table saw kickback
What a riving knife, a splitter and anti-kickback pawls are, what causes kickback, and what table saw makers and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission say prevents it. Every line names its sources and how many agree; your own saw's manual is the authority for your saw.
Riving knife, splitter and pawls
A splitter sits behind the blade, usually attached to the blade guard, and comes off with it. A riving knife is curved, sits closer to the blade, rises no higher than the top of the blade, and moves up and down with it.
One source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that studied these injuries , sources [1]
Unlike a splitter, a riving knife can stay on for cuts that do not go all the way through the board.
One source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that studied these injuries , sources [1]
Anti-kickback pawls are spring-loaded toothed arms beside the splitter that let the work pass forward but dig in if it starts back toward the operator.
One source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that studied these injuries , sources [1]
The UL 987 voluntary standard required riving knives from January 31, 2014 and modular blade guards from January 31, 2010; both were widely available on new saws from 2008.
One source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that studied these injuries , sources [1]
Sources
What causes kickback, and how to prevent it
The first line is the CPSC's description. The rest are what the saw makers' manuals say; where four agree it says so, where two state a rule both are named.
Kickback is the cut closing up and pinching the back of the blade, which can throw the workpiece up and back toward the operator.
One source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency that studied these injuries , sources [1]
Keep the riving knife (or splitter) on and lined up with the blade: it holds the kerf open so the wood cannot close on the blade.
Set the rip fence parallel to the blade; a fence that toes in squeezes the work against the blade.
Never cut freehand: guide every cut with the rip fence or the miter gauge or sled.
Do not use the rip fence as a length stop while crosscutting with the miter gauge; the offcut binds between fence and blade.
Stand to the side of the blade, not in line with it, where a kicked-back board would fly.
Feed each cut all the way through, past the blade, before letting go of the work.
Sources
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Notice of proposed rulemaking: Safety Standard Addressing Blade-Contact Injuries on Table Saws (staff briefing package, January 17, 2017), read 2026-11-07
- Grizzly, G0451 table saw owner’s manual, "Preventing kickback" (p. 16), read 2026-11-07
- RIDGID, R4550 table saw operator’s manual, "Kickbacks" (p. 9), read 2026-11-07
- SawStop, Safety and General Use Instructions for Table Saws (guarding, cutting procedure and kickback warnings), read 2026-11-07
Fitting the riving knife to the blade
A riving knife only works if the cut can pass it freely and the wood cannot close in behind the blade. That ties it to the blade you use, which matters most with thin-kerf blades.
The blade’s body must be thinner than the riving knife, and the blade’s kerf wider than it; the knife must also match the blade’s diameter.
One source: SawStop, the maker of that saw , sources [1]
A riving knife set at the wrong spacing, height or alignment may not stop kickback, so set it as the saw’s manual describes.
Sources
More on table saw safety
The federal workplace rules for table saws (hood, spreader and nonkickback fingers on hand-fed rip saws) and the CPSC's injury figures are on the woodworking machine safety page. For the rest of the saw, see the table saw guide.