so a dummy buys a ras...

[Lee Michaels]

"George" wrote

I have a good friend who was cutting some stock on a band saw. He is one of those guys who doesn't have a very developed sense of pain. Which makes him a super athlete. He doesn't know when to quit. But doesn't help him much with safety and pwer tools.

He was cutting on a band saw and cut one of his fingers in half, the long way. It just split the finger wide open, right down the middle. Just like a hot dog cut in half to grill it.

Wrapped it up, went to the hospital. The surgeon didn't do too much. He said he didn't have to. It healed up nicely. Big gnarly scar down the center of the finger. It is a little bigger than the other fingers. A little stiff. And it acts up when the weather changes.

But it still works. He said he didn't feel it.

[Bob G.]

================= I have owned a RAS for at least 40 years and it has not moved off a 90 degree cut for the last 30 years....I also own a CMS and a couple of Tablesaws..which are both used...

The RAS is pretty useful for dado's especially if they do not need to be dead on accurate...89.90 degrees or so... lol...

Sorry but my old Delta Contractors saw is set up with a dead on adjustabe sled just for doing crosscuts of less then 30 inches in lenght... the RAS is used ONLY for rough cutting crosscuts... anything over 30 inches that I need super accurate cross cuts is done on my Cabinet saw also with a sled....

Actually my CMS is only used ocassionaly and also never for accurate cuts.... I just prefer the feel of using the RAS over the CMS.... BUT If I were a young man and just starting out I would go for the CMS to save space...

Bob G.

[Clint]

Well, that's probably my biggest issue with getting the RAS; the space required for it. But I was thinking that the RAS, CMS, and drill press all have similar "long board" requirements, so maybe they can co-exist on a wall somewhere.

Clint

[Rumpty]

Such useless dribble! Join us an learn how:

Radial Arm Saw Forum:

[Rumpty]

Radial Arm Saw Forum:

know it's a repeated post)

[tom_murphy]

I'd like to see pictures!

Tom

[dadiOH]

You've just never met my wife's step father. He can turn *any* tool - power or not - into something lethal.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[dadiOH]

Add removing the ability to procreate and I'm with you.

[LRod]

I was hoping the second post was going to correct "dribble" to drivel.

[MrSilly]

I built my RAS into an 18 foot workbench. I can rip a 4x8 sheet with one hand (no I didn't chop the other off!) with the help of a couple of rollers. It is my primary saw.

Any saw is dangerous if you don't know how to use it.

[Doug Miller]

TS is my choice when ripping, too, but that's more a matter of convenience than one of safety IMO. It's just easier to reach. And of course a TS offers a wider rip capacity.

As far as safety is concerned, I think they're comparable.

[Doug Miller]

http://69.64.173.24/Accidents/search.htmSearch criteria: tool involved = tablesaw, accident type = needed medical attention. Read the third one. I'm sure there are more.

True - but how does that reflect on the safety of their tools?

So is a table saw.

Nonsense. A radial arm saw with proper guards has *less* blade exposed than a table saw - on mine, unless I lift the guard above the work, the amount of blade exposed is *zero*.

When the conditions that cause work to be pinched between table and blade on a RAS occur on a TS, the result is that the work is thrown back at the operator at over a hundred miles an hour. I do not consider that to be a point in favor of the table saw.

Stupid. Very stupid. But not the fault of the tool.

I hope that you have done more than just stand there watching, mute. If not, shame on you.

Nonetheless, they *are* invalid. The tool is not, in and of itself, inherently unsafe. That stupid people get hurt while using one is not an indictment of the saw but of the dangers of stupidity.

Right - but in the hands of a stupid, careless moron, *any* power tool is dangerous.

Wrong.

SawStop aside, please explain how the safety aspect does *not* rest entirely on the operator with a table saw. Or with a band saw. Or with any other tool, for that matter.

[Rumpty]

I looked in my "How To Master The Radial Saw" by Walley Kunkel

to check for correct spelling but I spilled coffee on that page and couldn't read it.

[Robatoy]

[snipped]

*sigh* That was my point. Now try THAT move with a table saw.

I certainly didn't startle him into a worse situation by yelling at that moment. Then we had a little chat, and I set him adrift on an ice-floe.

[more snippage]

I think you mean to say that you disagree. That's fine.

I'd be arguing against my own position. Why would I do that? Have you read ANYHING I wrote?

[LRod]

You'd have scored a hunnert points if you had said you dribbled coffee on that page...

Oh, well. Opportunity lost.

[eganders]

Everything I did in my 1st 10 years of woodworking was done on the RAS and a wood lathe. I suspended my hobby for about 20 yrs. Started up about 8 yrs ago and bought a jointer, planer, table saw, bandsaw, belt sander, etc, etc. Having these in ADDITION to my RAS speeds things up considerably. The RAS did everything that these do but it took a lot longer because it was my equivalent of a Shopsmith.

I now use it for all my crosscut work over about 20 > I'd like to see pictures!

[Adam]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It looks like I'll need to use the RAS to build another bookcase, Thanks for the links to the literature folks, & thanks for the link to the forum Rumpty - I'll be spending alot of time going through the postings there.

I'm having trouble posting pictures Tom, I haven't done it in awhile and seem to have forgotten how Xnews works.

I spent some time today running through some scrap with the saw & trying out the blades that came with it. It's definitely a new experience but so was everything else at one point.

Again, to everyone who responded I appreciate it (I didn't mean to cause any disagreements with the original post, sorry about that).

Adam

[Prometheus]

Never seen a hole in a concrete wall behind a tablesaw? I've been lucky enough to not have one (a hole in the wall, that is) in my shop, but I've seen a few. They're all dangerous, so it's the operator's responsibility to use caution. Otherwise, we may as well all wrap ourselves in bubblewrap and take up knitting (with dull needles, of course)

And of course, if a stupid, careless moron is using a tool in a stupid, careless way, they'll learn the hard way. Can't save everyone, ya know.

[Doug Miller]

Not relevant. It's a stupid thing to do. You can make similar stupid moves on a table saw. So what? That doesn't mean that radial arm saws are dangerous. It means that stupidity is dangerous.

[snip]

Perhaps then you could explain what you meant, when you said that the safety of a RAS rests entirely with the operator.

Indeed I have. Have you? You've been insisting that radial arm saws are dangerous, and, by implication, more so than other tools. This is a position based more on prejudice than on evidence.

[Robatoy]

This place thrives on that, Adam. We like it like that.... at least I do. That's how you extract subtle differences of opinion.