Shopsmith Forums

Radial Arm Saws have been given a bum rap. Let's face it anything that has a whirling blade that can do serious damage is dangerous. There is no way to down play that aspect. However with reasonable safety precautions a RAS can give years of service with excellent results.

I have one that I have owned for over 40 years. It has scared me at times just as my SS has but when I look at each incident it was my poor procedure and not an inherent flaw of the saw that caused the problem.

I think the biggest mistake with a Radial Arm Saw is the idea just any blade will do. I think many first timers of RAS slap on one of their table saw blades or go to Sears and buy a new table saw blade and put it on the RAS. They then find their new RAS to be a raging beast that wants to blade walk the wood and come after them.

A RAS must have a negative hook blade, one made for Radial Arm Saws installed. Even then every operator must be aware of blade climb if they try to force a cut or do it too quickly.

Once again, I'll repeat what is said in most Radial arm instructions. It completely avoids "blade climb". The saw cut should be started on the operator's side of the wood and PUSHED through the wood to make a cut. This also holds the wood tight to the fence.

I know most users pull the spinning blade through the wood, but this is an operator error.

If you have a Shopsmith RAS, carefully read the instructions and you will find the pushing through instruction.

charlese wrote:Once again, I'll repeat what is said in most Radial arm instructions. It completely avoids "blade climb". The saw cut should be started on the operator's side of the wood and PUSHED through the wood to make a cut. This also holds the wood tight to the fence.

I know most users pull the spinning blade through the wood, but this is an operator error.

If you have a Shopsmith RAS, carefully read the instructions and you will find the pushing through instruction.

I thought I remembered reading the exact opposite advice somewhere, but couldn't remember the underlying reason. This is a serious safety consideration, so I took a couple of minutes to find it. (It wasn't too hard, because I've only read 1-1/2 books on radial arm saws. ) It was in How to Master the Radial Saw, by Wally Kunkel (a.k.a. Mr. Sawdust), considered the definitive authority by a lot of DeWalt RAS fans.

In the section on cross-cutting, Wally definitely instructs the RAS user to pull the saw through the board. Then he adds the following advice:

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As I understand it, the problem is that when "push-cutting", the blade engages the workpiece on the up-stroke, and thus can attempt to fling the front edge upward.

This is also the root problem with ripping on a RAS (assuming that you feed the board from the correct direction). DeWalts do have a provision for restraining the board from lifting while ripping (using the leading edge of the blade guard). But a lot of users don't know how to use the saw properly -- thus the hazard.

Perhaps for cross-cutting, the Shopsmith RAS has a safety workpiece hold-down not found on a DeWalt?

I use a negative hook triple chip on the Rockwell we have at work. I never pushed a blade through stock, not how I was taught ?

From Craftsman ras manual.

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Yep, step 9 is how I was taught and always look where your fingers are on the board before making a cut.

Cross-Cut, rip, etc. instructions start on Page 7.

I've done all of these cuts on this RAS. The best safety feature is between my ears.

Never Never push a radial arm blade against the work. On the inboard side of the blade the teeth are rotating up. Pushing the blade into wood so the inboard side of blade contacts the wood first will cause the wood to picked up and hurled pass the fence.

Never saw instruction that even remotely suggested that. The Shopsmith Sawsmith instructions don't, nor does the craftsman radial arm instructions, nor do any radial arm books that I have read.

In fact many instruction suggest turning the saw off after the cut and before returning the blade/carriage back to it's home position.

A negative hook angle blade and good procedure will result in safe and accurate cuts on a RAS. Never put a hand inline with the blade, always keep it safely to either side.

Oh and I might add I have seen a radial arm that snagged the wood on the return with enough force to shear an oak 1x3 fence off even with the table.

The person who will remain nameless was quickly and not very carefully cutting up scraps of wood so they would fit in the garbage can. I was, I mean the person in question was hog feeding the RAS and a piece of wood got caught and was forced back against the fence with so much force it sheared the brand new, nice and shiny oak board I, (Oh sorry I meant) the person had just installed as a new fence.

After said person changed his pants he vowed never to hog feed the RAS again no matter how close the garbage truck was.

Awfully quiet on the western front!:)

Well I'll be!!! I really did think pushing the blade was the proper way. Even thought I read that in the Shopsmith instructions.

Wrong both times:(

Glad I still don't have a RAS 'cause I always pushed the blade into the wood. Never did have a piece of wood picked up when the saw was entering. I liked the feature of the spinning blade ending behind the fence.

P.S. I'll remove my earlier post.