I am considering purchasing the Bork – Ripping Knife for my Craftsman Hybrid Tablesaw. Can some current owners of this device give me your opinion on how well it functions. I know it isn’t a true riving knife but it looks like it would add another dimension of safety to my tablesaw. Please advise. Thank you.
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It doesn't have to be "true" which I interpret as original on the TS to be a riving knife. It only has to perform the exact function of a riving knife to be one. And that is does from what I have heard those that have them say. Hopefully Knotscott will see this thread as he has had one for over a year and signs praise for it when the opportunity arises.
If not.. I might check back by and tell you what I have heard him say about it which is not too difficult to install.. adjust and works fine once you do that! ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..
Good luck...
Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
Edited 11/9/2009 8:39 am ET by SARGEgrinder47
Sarge:
Thanks for the input. I hope KnottScott will respond as well.
Barr
Howdy...sorry if I'm late to the party! When I first heard about the BORK I contacted Bob Ross immediately to order one. I thought it was the coolest thing because I had read so many times that a riving knife couldn't be added to existing saws. After using one for about 15 months, I can tell you that it works as advertised once you get it dialed in complete with a custom cut zero clearance insert. I'd be inclined to call it a true riving knife because it sits in close proximity to the blade, rises, falls, and tilts with the blade, though it's path is an arc (as is the blade's) vs a vertical path that a modern stock riving knife is apt to take, The arc is due being attached to the arbor's swing arm, which means that the blade's height relative to the BORK's isn't always equal because the BORK's arc is slightly larger than the blade's because it's mounted farther down the same swing arm. Envision your blade being set to 1" high, and your BORK also being set to 1" - if you raise your blade to 2", the BORK height might go to roughly 2-1/4", or if you lower your blade to 3/4" the BORK height might be 5/8" (gross estimates as an example). That's not much of an issue if you set the BORK's height equal to the blade when it's raised to cut most common thicknesses, plus you can manually tweak the BORK's height pretty easily in seconds if you wanted...I rarely do. It's not quite as slick as a stock offering would be due to being a retrofit on an existing saw design, but it works well, Bob Ross is great to deal with, and the last I knew he offers a 100% guarantee (possibly including shipping) so there's little risk in trying it. The only issues I've encountered were my fault...by not getting the ZCI cut quite wide enough for the BORK and it was getting hung up. I also forced the bottom of the BORK knife into the blade slightly because it was misaligned, but that's exactly why he made the knife from aluminum and there was no serious damage to the knife and none to the blade. HTH,
Scott
Edited 11/9/2009 8:13 pm ET by Knotscott
Scott:
Thank you very much for the information. That is exactly what I wanted to know. Based on what you have said purchasing the BORK is a no brainer. Safety is always a concern to me and it certainly sounds like this will help.
Have a great night,
Barr
I've also had the BORK for over a year now and I would have to echo everything Scott said. Mine is on an older Unisaw and it works great.
Just be prepared to spend some time setting it up and I think you will find it's time well spent.
Best of luck with the Bork, Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob:
Thank you. I had a pretty good idea that some effort would be required to get the unit setup correctly. Just like tuning a tablesaw. If you make sure it is tuned properly from the start the end result is better performance and a greater degree of safety. I am looking forward to receiving the BORK unit for my saw.
Once again, thank you,
Barr
Bob, I'm a little behind the curve learning about the BORK, but sounds good for an old Unisaw like mine. Do you have to remove it for non-through cuts?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
forestgirl,
I haven't used it when making non-thru cuts so I'm afraid I can't snwer your question. Don't mean to imply that it doesn't work it's just that I haven't had occasion to do that kind of operation with it in place.
Perhaps Scott has tried it?
I can tell you that I haven't had to remove it whilst using my sled though. I know that doesn't offer much in terms of your question. I could try it for you and let you know.
I did have an issue with the bolts being too long but a bit of trimming with a hacksaw and that issue went away. One of the ends of the U-bolt that holds it on the arbor assembly was hitting a rib underneath the top.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
You can use it for non-through cuts as long as the knife height is lower than the blade height...no problem.
I just learned that Bob is moving too...having an open house anytime soon Bob?! ;-)
Does BORK have some literature on the device - pictures, address, email, price etc. Will it accommodate a blade guard?
The BORK is the invention of fellow woodworker Bob Ross. His website is Walnutacre Woodworking. http://shop.walnutacrewoodworking.com/main.scHere's my BORK:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/sawparts/BORK/rt001-1-1.jpg
More BORK pics:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/sawparts/BORK/BORK013-1-1.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/sawparts/BORK/BORK014-2-1.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/sawparts/BORK/BORK016-1-1.jpg
Thank you. Seems as it is limited in the tools it fits. It doesn't look like it fits the PM.
You're welcome.. Looks as if Scott changed into his "superman" costume in a phone booth and showed up to save the day. :>)
Good luck...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
All in a days work Sarge! ;)
Unfortunately, the BORK is off the market for the time being... unless you got your order in before he (temporarily) closed shop!
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=4580037&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=
Was not aware Bob was moving.. I had a few e-mail conversations with him a while back and he is a very sharp guy. Well, as sharp as one could expect from an ex-Marine. :>) Just kidding Jar-heads.. I had the pleasure of serving under tactical command of 3rd Marines on the DMZ in Vietnam and I never saw one I felt I couldn't trust when life depended on trust!
Regards...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
bt and I talked earlier today and I learned of this thread. I'm very grateful for the positive reception for the BORK. It is truly a labor of love.
Yes, we are moving to be closer to our children and grandchildren. Because the house we are buying is a rehab (my last??), I don't expect to have my shop set up until after 1/1/10. I will keep you all posted.
I have kept my marketing efforts to a minimum on purpose. I wanted to be sure the BORK would be found to be useful and would prove to be safe to use over the long haul. I will be revising my website to include more information and photos, also after the first of the year.
Sarge: I would be proud to have served as a Marine but I was a Navy Hospital Corpsman. I was attached to the Marines in I Corps and they gave me free helicopter rides and too many C rats.
HAPPY Veteran's Day to all who served and are serving.
Please Pray For Our Troops
Semper Fi!
Bob Ross
WalnutAcreWoodworking.com
You may have technically been Navy as a corpsman but.. if you had a pair of jungle fatiques and humped the bush with Marines in I Corp.. you were a damn Marine regardless of technicality. A spade is a spade no matter how you disquise it.. ha..ha... ha..ha..ha..
Regards...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
80 lb. ruck plus 12 canteens of water. I couldn't stand up with that load today. Please Pray For Our Troops
Semper Fi!
Bob Ross
WalnutAcreWoodworking.com
And about 50 lbs. of that was additional ammo for your pop-gun.. the 60 mm tube and 7.62 links for the M-60 boys. And entrenching tool.. bar of C-4.. a K-bar and a pancho liner and canteens you mentioned. Not much else needed except a few C's and a P-38 can opener. Now instant kool-aid in those canteens was a plus. And you didn't even need to carry aspirin for when you have a bad day... the medic (in your case Corpman) had plenty of Darvon.
God bless the boys (and we were basically) that carried the Darvon and bandages. And they even knew how to use a plastic cigarette wrapper to fix a sucking chest wound until a dust-off could get in and get the young man back in an attempt to save them.
If you were in I Corp.. we were in the same stomping grounds... Dong Ha.. the Rock-pile.. Con Thien (C-3).. A 1.. A2.. etc.. Khe Sahn and the general terrain known as Leather-neck Square. I was with 75th Ranger tactically under command of 3rd Marine out of Quang Tri fire-base.
Regards my friend... them were the days, huh! Yeah.. right! :>)
Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
Edited 11/12/2009 1:58 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47
Sarge,Did the wrapper trick and a variation on Koolaid on same hill fight. 689 between 881 and 881S.
Sucking chest wound. No water, Spit/blood sealed the wrapper to the wound.Tape. Lung reinflated. Wasn't worried about infection. Thought he would be KIA. He lived.
Different WIA, very minor wounds on forearm. More like E grass cuts. Reached for his battle dressing on back of cartridge belt. (SOP, we always used the Marines BDs before ours as to not exhaust our own med kit)
He had a bunch of Koolaid in the pack. I was ...chagrinned....
I put the Koolaid on his wound (with some sulfa powder that he didn't see) and then put a BD over it.
No Marine in my unit, after that, put Koolaid in the BD pack. Maybe none in the battlion - the story got around.:)Doc
I was team leader on a 6 man hunter-killer team with 75 Ranger, Doc. A bit of variation from Marine Recon as we were both long range recon patrol trained and sniper trained. The Army didn't have a formal sniper school in those days so our cross training included LRRP school and a 6 month stint on the rifle range with 5th Division rifle team at Ft. Carson, Co.
A 6 man team logistically doesn't deem having a medic. Even the PRC 35 man carried a sawed off 9 round 12 gauge shotgun. The team leader was issued a Marine M40 sniper rifle from 3rd as the Army at that time had no official issue sniper rifle. A jazzed up M 14 with range-finder came a little after my time.
Anyhoo... without a medic the team leader had to assume those responsibilities along with other chores as it was impromptu. I did one sucking chest wound... a severed jugular and one open intestine with a green T shirt wetted with canteen water. Those were the major injured while I was on a HK team as the rest (shrapnel.. etc.) I saw were not life threatening. Lost the severed jugular but two out of three ain't bad as I was only informally trained in that arena.
So.. pass that Darvon, would ya... I feel a tooth ache coming on and I can't find my channel lock pliers? ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..
Regards...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
Bob,If you were with the Fleet Marine Force and treated Marines whether at Delta Med or on the line or in a Dust Off you are considered a Marine. No ifs and or buts,That comes, in person, from my ex Batt Commander -- Major Carl Mundy '67, later 4 star General, 30th Commandant of the Marine Corps and Joint Chiefs of Staff. If he said, you can count on it. Every Marine feels the same way about Corpsmen.
"Don't leave home without one :)"
As Sarge said, You are a Marine.
Be proud of it.Semper Fi"Doc T" HM2, I Corps,
Class of 67/68
I was jerking Sarge's chain. I was senior Corpsman for L 3/3 when Krulak (another CMC) was the CO. I admit to being a Marine when with Marines if they're buying.Please Pray For Our Troops
Semper Fi!
Bob Ross
WalnutAcreWoodworking.com
By closing each post with Semper Fi... you're admitting to being a Marine even when nobody is buying. A Corpsman would have to get up a lot earlier than they do to fool "ole Sarge" who is recon and got paid a whopping $13.85 a day (which includes the $55 a month in combat pay) to observe and analyze small details to the point most would consider anal.
BTW.. where ya moving to? No grid square necessary as Google Earth makes things simple these days. :>)
Regards to the MARINE Corpsman posing as Navy... what is it they used to say? Eat the apple and do what to the core? ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..
Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
$13.85, Wow, talk about inflation. I think I worked up to about $100.00 per month. Is that about $3.50 per day? As it was, I took about half of that home. Course, I was state side in the biological laboratories in peace time. About 300 of us worked with 1500 civilians. We did have one fella die (a civilian) from one of our agents though. Have you heard of Reagent Orange? I was honored? to be one of the first to observe it's action from a helicopter.
Edited 11/13/2009 11:00 pm ET by Tinkerer3
I was mistaken on that Tink as it was a figure I roughly calculated in my head years ago. Don't tell my wife as she thinks I have never made a mistake. :>) I made $355 a month of which $55 is combat zone pay as an E-5. So.. I just did the numbers on my calculator and the results are:
$11.83 a day... or $.49 cents an hour as you work 24/7 in a combat zone. The S. Vietnamese Army soldiers only worked 5 days a week and that's fact if you want to call palace gaurd.. gaurding bridges.. etc. work. So... I wasn't making as much as I originally "rough figured". What a dis-appointment to know that after all these years. But.. I will attempt to avoid going into chronic depression over it as I'm just too busy in my shop and life to take time off for that sort of thing. ha..ha..
Regards.... Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
"I made $355 a month of which $55 is combat zone pay as an E-5. So.. I just did the numbers on my calculator and the results are:"Don't forget Sarge, it came with benefits. It was tax free!BB
Tax free... that is a comfort to know. I probably should have taken the $2000 bonus.. upgrade to E-6 and another tour of Nam if I had thought of that!
NOT...
ha..ha..Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
$11.83 a day?! I think I made that last week during bathroom visits on the job! LOL! (of course taxes will take 60% of it, then surcharges will take most of the rest!);-)
Immediately go tell your lovely you guys never had it so good! Just tell her Sarge said so... so it must be true. :>)
Have a good week-end Scott...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
49¢ sure beats 11¢. I should have stayed in the service so I could have gotten rich like you guys. Since everyone was a college graduate and came about the same time, they awarded advancements alphabetically. Unfortunately my last name started with an L instead of H so I never got beyond the E3. I did have a chance of getting a commission but it would have taken another year and I was not all that fond of it so took an early out after some twenty one months. Um, yah, we were talking about riving knives?
What's a riving knife.. ha..ha..
Regards...Sarge..
Woodworkers' Guild of Georgia
" . . . Um, yah, we were talking about riving knives?"Isn't separation from the service just like the purpose of a riving knife? ;-)
Must be. I'm just so slow these days!
Tink
I think a riving knife was what the recruiter stuck in my back when I enlisted and volunteered to be a hospital corpsman. He didn't tell me that Navy corpsmen serve in combat with the Marines
Please Pray For Our Troops
Semper Fi!
Bob Ross
WalnutAcreWoodworking.com
and your orders are....REP.FORDU: Field Medical Service School, Medical Training Battalion, Combat (FMSS), Fleet Marine Force (FMF), Camp Lejeune, NC. on or about 1200 hrs yesterday. No per diem, no transit leave.SAY WHAT!!!What happen to the wooden minesweeper in New York Harbor and the poker games, the carrier? the med cruise? ???So Sorry, NOS
(needs of service)Damn riving knives.
What went wrong? Those riving knives are supposed to protect you not injure you.
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