Radial arm saw question please

[Bill]

hope it helps

 

[walnutjerry]

Lorraine-------I have had a craftsman ras since the mid 70's. I have done a lot of ripping and cross cutting with it in those 30 some years. It is not the safest tool in the world for ripping but there are features on the saw to make it safer if they are used. Such as adjusting the blade guard down on the infeed side to serve as a hold down and lowering the splitter on the outfeed side to prevent pinching the blade and also serves as a hold down to prevent lifting the material up off the table when ripping.

Even placing the material correctly increases safety. Especially if you are trying to work up rough stock. If you are cross cutting a board that has a bow, turn the board so the ends are up off the table---the weight of the material will "open up" the cut as the ends settle back down to the table instead of pinching the blade if you tried cutting it in an arch position. If the board has a crook-----turn the apex back against the fence at the point you want to make the cut.

If you are getting excessive tearout/splintering on the bottom side of the cut it may be you have a "groove" where the saw blade has traveled often out of square from the fence and the groove gets wider as time goes on. I fill that groove with clear epoxy ocassionally to keep a supporting surface near the blade path.

Keeping sharp tooling on any woodworking machine makes the operation much safer and produces better results. I try to avoid working defective lumber on the ras--------especially ripping if it has deep checking or seperation running somewhat parallel with the face. Pieces will be thrown at you if they are cut free from the rest of the board. BEEN THERE, thus the reason to avoid defective material.

After all that being said-----I no longer use the ras for ripping, haven't for 20 years or more(since it slung a wedge shaped piece that embedded in the end of push stick I was using).:roll: So............get the best blade you can afford for safety.;-)

Jerry

 

[DaveD]

I'm looking into what blade to buy for my RAS right now.
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/forum29/thread2596.html

I'm leaning toward the Forrest Woodworker I (one) but am also considering the Freud that is recommended. I just found out Freud makes bushings to change the arbor hole on 12" blades from 1 to 5/8" so I haven't discounted the Freud recommended in the link.