The Radial Arm Saw (RAS)

 

Back in the 50’s, when I was a kid, all the other kids’ fathers had shops, in the garage, in the basement, somewhere.  And at least half of them had a radial arm saw in their shop.  It was clear to all us kids that the RAS was the wave of the future and table saws were for old fuddy-duddies.  My father had a table saw, inherited from my grandfather. The radial arm saw remained popular with do-it-yourselfers up thru the 80’s, maybe the 90’s.   Then the safety freaks struck.  They declared the radial arm saw to be dangerous, that using a standard blade was dangerous, that making rip cuts was even more dangerous, and the blade guard didn’t cover enough of the blade.  The wood shop magazines carried the safety freak stories and stopped doing stories about using and buying radial arm saws.   Today, in 2020 there are hardly any new ones for sale, and the price of used ones has sunk down to 50-100 bucks.  You cannot buy a skilsaw for that little. 

   Me, I bought a radial arm saw back in the 70’s and I still have it.  I never did get a table saw.  I still have all my fingers too.  Major benefit of the radial arm saw is it saves space in the shop.  You can push it up against a wall and it works just fine.  The table saw needs clearance all around it to handle big work pieces.  The radial arm saw will make all the cuts a table saw can except for one not too important one.  It will make all the cuts a chop saw can make and in addition it will rip, which the chop saw will not.  You can also use your radial arm saw as a horizontal boring machine, a disc or drum sander, a shaper, a surface planer, and even as a bench grinder to keep your chisels sharp. 

   You do want to be careful.  The tool is dangerous.  The blade on a RAS or a table saw will sever any body part that comes in contact with it.  I keep my hands three inches away from the blade at all times.  If the work piece is too small to allow for three inches clearance, I throw it in the scrap box and find a bigger piece. 

   When ripping I first tilt the blade guard down on the in feed side to allow just enough room for the work to go into the blade but not any fingers that might be sliding or riding along the top of the work.  Then I always set the anti kickback fingers to dig in and prevent the blade from throwing the work back at me.  And I use a wooden shop made push stick for that last bit of push right next to the blade.  If the piece is too narrow to safely push it thru the blade, I throw it in the scrap box and get a bigger piece.  For tricky or difficult rip cuts I will clamp a feather board to the RAS table to keep the work pressed up against the fence. 

   In short I don’t see the RAS as more dangerous than the table saw.  Both machines will take off fingers with the greatest of ease.  You just have to be careful using them.  Right now, a used RAS can be so cheap that you cannot go wrong buying it.  Craigslist is your friend.  If you are starting up a wood shop a RAS makes a fine start.