Montgomery Wards vs Craftsman Radial Arm Saw

[Paul Schaefer]

I have an Craftsman RAS that's probably 1970s vintage. It's my dedicated crosscut machine, and I've been happy with it. It holds adjustment pretty well and only needs occasional tweaking to keep it in line.

A co-worker of mine is cleaning out his father's workshop, and he has a Montgomery Wards RAS for sale. How does the quality of the Craftsman compare to the Montgomery Wards? If they're about the same, I'm sticking with the Craftsman. I'd probably buy the Wards RAS only if it's enough of a step up in quality over the Craftsman to be woth the hassle of getting dust collection set up for the new RAS and selling off the old one.

[Lornie McCullough]

If your Craftsman RAS has the on/off switch located next to your thumb on the handle, then I would keep it over any RAS that didn't.

Just my personal preference.

Lornie

[HANK METZ]

Read about the Wards radial saw here Paul, seems to be enough opinion out there to give you an answer. Myself, I'm totally tendentious about old DeWalts, especially since they can be had cheap.

[Matt Day]

I'd have to agree with Hank. My $100 Dewalt is much better at holding adjustment than my previous C'man.

[Ruperto Mendiones]

I had a mid 60's MW radial arm saw. I could never make dados of consistent depth; the arm sagged the further out the carriage was from the post. It served its purpose for the time I had it but I don't regret letting it go.s

[Rick Potter]

OK,

I have had both. Now, before I get into that I must make the obligatory statement that I also have had a Delta 12" turret, and currently use a DeWalt 7790 for almost all crosscutting.

About 40 years ago, I had a Monkey Ward Shopcraft (?) model. I used it to make bookcase type items and simple furniture (my skill level) as well as remodel my house. The best things I remember about it were that it had a gear drive in the motor that lowered the blade, allowing a 10" saw to cut a 4X4 in one swipe, and that it had a trigger on the handle like a chop saw. I used it for 10 years before the bad problem showed up. There was a plastic gear that raised and lowered the saw. It wore out/broke, and parts were unavailable then. Don't know about it now. As far as accuracy, it was as good as I was, at the time. These days it would be unacceptable.

Two years ago I bought my dedicated dado machine, AKA Craftsman RAS, because I am making many drawers and shelf units in my current remodeling project. It is a very clean mid 70's model, which I had to do a bit of adjusting on, but it has held the adjustments so far. Of course I am not cutting anything wider than 12". I had a bit of trouble getting the dado's for shelves a consistent depth, but it's ok now. I got the free redo kit, but haven't used it yet, because I don't need it. When I am done with it, I can almost recoup my money ($200...clean with new table). Anyway, I like the front mounted crank to raise and lower the arm (I have to get a stepstool to adjust that on my DeWalt), this is more important for this saw's dado use, and I am moving it a lot. I also like that it is a bit easier to move the fence around (again..dado's). My dislike would be the crummy dust collection. I have a simple household 4X10 HVAC hood behind the blade because the saw gets moved around a lot. I didn't expect any miracles from it, but it is hooked to a 3HP DC, and it gets almost none of the dust. Now, this might be because of the dado blade, but years ago I did a lot of dados (thousands actually) with a Delta and the same setup, and it sure worked better. I can hook a shop vac up the the blade guard and collect much of it there, but it is a pain having that hose going back and forth. I will just have to find a hose flexible enough that I can run it back into the DC intake, and figure out a way to keep it there. Right now, I just wheel it to the door and let it shoot outside.

For the record, my 7790 picks up the majority of the dust, with a simple dust hood.

Anyway, that is my experience with the two saws. If both were in the same condition, I would choose the Craftsman, unless I were doing some heavy remodeling. That ability to do 45's on 4X8's or maybe even 4X10's is pretty nice.

EDIT: Looked up Hank's reference. Just wanted to say that my MW saw did not look like the ones in those pictures. I tried to find it, and could only find one pic that looked like mine. It did not have the square box on the bottom of the motor and it had a handle and trigger like a chop saw. My dad got one after I did, and when he died I gave it to my SIL, who still has it. They were both the same saw, one said Monkey Ward. One said PowerKraft, the other said ShopCraft. Can't remember which one was which. Mine had to be early 60's, as it was old when I got it in the early 70's.


Rick Potter
PS: You probably know about the free retro kit for the Craftsman. If not, just bing something like Craftsman radial arm saw recall, or the like, and see if yours qualifies.

PPS: Just noticed......first post...........welcome to the Creek.

[Stephen Cherry]

Just to pile on a little, with radial arm saws priced so cheap, why not get a good one? Many people like the old dewalts, but there is also Original saws, and the italians, OMGA, and maggi. I have a bridgewood, which is a maggi saw, but all of them pop up for dirt cheap prices on occasion. The sears and wards were at best hobby saws, but the others were built as commercial machines, and a quick look and the performance will show this.

[Paul Schaefer]

Everyone, thanks for the replies. You've confirmed what I was originally thinking: as long as the Craftsman works for me, it isn't worth replacing unless a real bargain shows up on a DeWalt or similar saw.

[Doug Herzberg]

Did you get the safety upgrade for your Craftsman from Emerson Electric? New blade guard and all sorts of new parts. The guard isn't much of a PITA and it really does feel safer. They were giving them away a couple years ago, part of a settlement or trying to avoid a lawsuit or something. Try googling your Sears model number and blade guard or something like that.

[Paul Schaefer]

Yes, I got the safety upgrade. It was totally worth the time it took to make the phone call and do the install once the parts came. Frankly, the safety install is another reason why I've decided to keep the Craftsman - I really like the new blade guard.

I've also had pretty good luck with dust collection - I have a 'big gulp' DC port from Woodcraft right behind the support post, feeding into a 4" DC setup. My shop is designed so I can connect my DC to the different tools with a 5' long section of 4" corrugated hose without having to move the DC more than a foot or so. With that setup, I get all the chips and a lot of the fines when crosscutting. Like Rick said above, it degrades significantly once I start cutting dadoes.

[Mr Mike Mills]

Radial Arm Saws are very dangerous machines. I don't know how much he is selling it for, but Personally I would say pick up a sliding miter saw. Some of the larger blade saws can cut up to a 13" wide cut. That is not much shorter than the slide on the radial arm saw. and the blade is guarded much better.


FYI In some states they have outlawed Radial Arm saws in schools. as was the case out west where I did my student teaching.

[HANK METZ]

[QUOTE=Mr Mike Mills;2175408]Radial Arm Saws are very dangerous machines. ...

This is a specious statement.

[Charlie Velasquez]

(snip). . . . In some states they have outlawed Radial Arm saws in schools. as was the case out west where I did my student teaching.

Mike, I had never heard this before. Which states that you know of have done this?

[Bill Geibe]

Mike, I had never heard this before. Which states that you know of have done this?

Not PA. We had RAS's in both the high schools and middle schools of the big school district I taught at. I only recall one RAS accident in my 36 years of teaching there and that was when 9th grader put his index finger in the blade path and cut half-way through it (he forgot that the table was painted orange on either side of the blade for a reason). Now, the table saw safety record was a different story.

I think that RAS's can be hazardous for ripping. For crosscutting I feel they're safe, especially with a negative tooth angle blade.

Bill