As the title says, I used my radial arm saw today for a quick project. Aside from test cuts, this was its first go. Checking with a square, the cuts are perfect.
On another website I read a post that summed up the “dangers” of this saw pretty well. In a day and age where you can go buy a tool off the shelf and use it 5 minutes later without any training, an old tool you just picked up used could be dangerous without proper training. Back when these were popular and first coming out we had people to show us what do. These machines were also factory fresh and all aligned.
Any power tool is dangerous. Tablesaws cut off fingers and send boards threw the wall all the time. When I was 19, fifteen years ago, I bought a cheap tablesaw and immediately went to use it. A board flew over my shoulder and I never touched one again until recently. Now, after watching video instructions, I know I messed up somehow. Sadly I see a lot of videos where they might check the blade is square but they don’t use a guard, a knife, or double check the fence us parallel. Or they reach over blade or decide not to use featherboards or push boards. But yet we are quick to say operator error and not blame the machine. Which is true but why do people blame the machine and not the operator on a radial arm saw?
People have been buying these used for decades without learning their new toy in and out. Tune it back to factory specs, use the CORRECT blade, use the guard like its supposed to be used, use the anti-kickback pawls. These are usually missing so find one or make one. And if ripping, make a push board. I highly recommend looking up Brian Weekley’s youtube videos and the Northern Workshop videos. Very detailed.
Thousand Oaks Toolworks 