What is a riving knife, and how is “riving” pronounced?
Carol Reed: Pronunciation: rye-ving. It is a thin tapered splitter immediately behind the saw blade on a table saw, often curving with the blade.
Richard Jones: It’s pronounced as you would say arriving at a destination. It’s a European style splitter seen in North America mostly on imported table saws. It’s usually a dagger-like plate of steel mounted on an arm that rises and falls with the saw blade where the dagger’s inside curve closely follows the circumference of the saw blade. The thickness of the riving knife is slightly less than the saw kerf, and slightly thicker than the saw-blade plate. Its purpose is to reduce the chance of kickback.
Michael Dresdner: Here’s an easy way to remember it. Rive or riving rhymes with drive or driving while the past tense riven, which is what wood is after it is split, rhymes with driven.
