> The blade guard helps too, but AFAIK, there are many instances where you can't use it.
Blade guards are rarely used in shops I've worked in. I've even worked in a shop that removed the riving knifes on their saws as they got in the way of certain cuts and they didn't want to spend time taking them on and off.
Stumpy Nubs over on YT gave some testimony where he believes that a well-made blade guard could prevent most injuries. He believes that it's a culture around not using them (or poorly-made ones) that is the source of most injuries.
The blade guards on the cheap tablesaws are awful and everyone removes them. The good table saws come with guards that work much better (but still not perfect sometimes you have to remove them but most of the time they work well). You can buy a new table saw for under $100, a good blade guard can be bought separately for $300 so you see why a lot of saws have cheap guards. (note that the cheap tablesaw too light duty to support the good guard)
Plunging cuts, and 'cove' cuts. Also smaller blades like dado stacks.
With a cove cut you move the fence to about a 30 degree angle to the blade, to get an elliptical cove along the length of a board. It's a rare thing to need. But if you really need a wide cove, it might be hard to get a router bit to do that.
Very beginner woodworker here, but dados(or any kind of groove are the ones that immediately come to mind. Essentially anything that has the work piece going over the blade, but not cutting through completely.
You can keep the riving knife for those cuts, it causes no issue. just can't use the blade guard. I honestly can't imagine a cut that would require the riving knife off.
