Radial Arm Saw Comments.
The first thing to remember about radial arm saws is that they are politically incorrect. Even though most of the houses the USA were built with them, it is considered very bad taste to even be on talking terms with a radial arm saw.
There are many who are convinced that if you walk into a room with one of these evil radial arms saws, it will grab you and begin to dismember you. It had been demonized for some reason. I guess we all need to forget the many years of useful service these unappreciated saws performed for us. Whatever danger lurks in the radial arm saw also lurks in many other tools as well. Maybe there are just more morons out there who should never handle tools.
I have used radial arm saws for many years. I grew up with them. Every construction site I saw growing up had a radial arm saw on site. Many came on trailers or had their own little shelter built for them. Kinda like the basic shelter for a horse.
I have cut a few miles of dado grooves with a radial arm saw. I don't do much of that any more. I use a router now. But for production runs on standard width lumber, you can't beat the old pull the saw head torwards you radial arm saw.
I also used to work a lot with two by lumber to make various rustic furniture. I doubt if one of those little, puny miter saws could handle very much of the big stuff. I used to go out ofter dinner and fill a garbage can full of sawdust and shavings from a radial arm saw. It is work tool. It works and gets the job done.
Those little miter/chop saws do have limited utility. I have a hitachi I bought to install moulding. It excelled at that. It was fast, accurate and made the job much easier. It doesn't work so good on anything over a 1 X 6 board though. And no dados either.
I understand the space requirements. Which is why I do not have a radial arm saw now. The garage is too small. But as soon as that situation changes, I will get another radial arm saw. A big one this time. An old Dewalt or something similar. I miss it.
That is all I am going to say about radial arm saws.