Why so many Radial Arm Saws for Sale?

[julian abram]

I've noticed for several months in the local papers, CL and other classified ads there are always 2 or 3 RAS for sale. Ratio wise seems like there are always more RAS for sale than other large shop power tools. Some of these are very reasonably priced. I've considered purchasing one at a bargain price but can't figure out what I could use it for except cross cutting materials. Any thoughts on Radial Arm Saws uses that justifies the space they would occupy in a home shop?

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

IMO - you answered your own question.

[Mel Miller]

Radial arm saws are on CL all the time, and can be as cheap as free. I got rid of mine years ago when the yellow Dewalt 12" mitre saws came out and never looked back.

[Jesse Bushman]

I've got one of the old 14" DeWalts. Took a while to get it back into shape after I bought it. Paid $300 for the saw, $200 for a VFD to run that 3 phase 5 hp motor, got a Forrest chop master blade, new bearings and a new table so have about a thousand sunk into it. It's silky smooth and extremely powerful. It's also very messy. I'll keep it just because hey, someday I might want to crosscut 5" timbers. But for most stuff that it does I'd rather use my Festool MFT and track saw. Cleaner and safer and every bit as accurate.

Gotta admit the old monster does have a certain beauty though.

[ian maybury]

I accidentally came into one of the well known small current model yellow ones as a part of a machine deal. Have to say that despite a lot of attempts (at intervals over ten years) i could never get much good of what despite being presented as a 'professional' tool felt like a bit of a toy. Underpowered, lacking in rigidity, hard to keep in adjustment, very sensitive to how the work was presented. Through cuts require cutting up the table! It certainly taught me lots about cutting forces and blade alignment. Not sure if it would have worked better if better built and more powerful, it might just have got scary. Most of the UK suppliers seem to have stopped selling them - could be they are on the way out..

[Peter Quinn]

I deal with a lot of rough lumber, much of it 8/4, the occasional dado that must come from above on long parts better suited to the RAS, so I keep a 14" desalt RAS in the shop. It was given to me free, I have about $500 into making it functional, it's a beast. Miter saws are great for thin flat stock and trim cuts. They don't handle rough lumber especially well, they don't handle dados at all, and 8/4 white oak in 9" widths? But a skill saw will handle this just fine, and a worm drive skill saw will handle just about anything, and a freehand router jig could do the dados. So it depends on your space, your volume, what your needs are. At work I consider the RAS essential to the custom woodworking process as rough lumber cross cut is the first process in most projects and we don't need 4-5 guys standing around waiting for some slower method. But in a home shop space might be more valuable than speed, or if you use mostly prepared 4/4-5/4 stock, a miter saw might get the job done adequately. It's about matching the method to the situation.

[Larry Edgerton]

Most of the ones you see for sale are junk. They were junk when they were new, so twenty years shoved in a corner didn't change that. That does not mean the concept is not valid.

Even when not junk, I do not think they are a tool everyone should own. They require knowledge and respect and if given that they can do the job they were designed for with no drama. But in the hands of the inept, they are dangerous. I suspect that is why the same ones keep being passed around.

I have had a 16" Delta Turret, and now have an OMGA. Both are good tools, but I have used some of the lower line models that you see for sale constantly and I find them scary. Just too loose for my liking.

[Jim Matthews]

How many crosscuts will a home user make in their lifetime?

There are better, safer methods to perform most of the other
cuts that an RAS can do.

Having a blade that turns to push the trunion toward the user?
That's just daft.

[Phillip Dejardin]

I've always wanted to pick up one off CL partly for nostalgic reasons. We had one in High School shop class back in the 70s, and I remember how much fun it was making cuts with that beast. Of course, as a teenager, operating dangerous tools was a kick...still is.

[Matt Day]

I guess we have another RAS rant thread.

To answer the OP's question, I'd guess that 95% of the saws for sale are Craftsmans which are not the best example of a good RAS.

The old Dewalt's and Deltas are much more desirable and better quality. I have a RAS instead of a CMS. The RAS can crosscut more, handle a dado blade, and takes up the same amount of room (assuming it's setup as a stationary tool).

To the OP, do some searching on here and try to learn a bit more about RAS's.

[Joe Calhoon]

RAS is probably not a good choice for the home shop. Like Peter, I like them for rough cutoff. We have had a few through our shop that never held accuracy till we picked up a Graule. It holds accuracy but the downside is you cannot put a dado or grooving blade in this saw. Graule makes a separate trenching saw for this purpose.
photo 1.jpg

The one thing a RAS will do better than most other saws is trenching on tapered sills. We keep our old Dewalt set up with a Systematic dado just for this purpose. It is tough to keep square and needs to be checked often. but good for trenching in the sill.
Double hung frames.jpg

End cuts can be done easily on the shaper but the mid ones a bear to do on a table or sliding table saw.
End cut sill.jpg

Almost every door and window shop we visited in the UK had dedicated trenching saws set up with shaper type adjustable groovers for this purpose. This would be the best setup for doing a lot of this type work.

Trenching saw 1.jpgTrenching saw 2.JPG

[glenn bradley]

Those that love them wouldn't be without them. The rest of us question the value for the footprint required. The same can be said for CMS, SCMS, shaper or drum sanders for that matter. the real estate you are willing to commit to a tool varies with the value of that tool to your work. I have a CMS that gets used about once every 2 years. If I didn't have a shed to store it in, it would be gone. On the other hand I made great concessions to jam a drum sander into my little shop .

[ian maybury]

Interesting that a saw design that started life being pitched as almost a single machine multi-use woodworking centre (so far as I know) has ended up getting most use as almost a dedicated single function machine.

As ever it sounds like proper engineering makes all the difference - that it's not a machine to cut corners on...

[Jim Dwight]

I have a 8 foot long cabinet with a 12 inch dual bevel CMS and an old Ryobi RAS on top. I use the CMS when cutting within it's 8 inch capacity and the RAS when the board is wider. The RAS is accurate if I remember to bias my pressure a little to the left when allowing it to pull through the stock. It needed a negative hook blade to stop trying to move quicker than it could through wood. The nice thing about the RAS is it can sit closer to the wall than any SCMS I've seen. It can sit as close as my 12 inch CMS (Hitachi) so the pairing works well.

In addition to crosscuts 8-12 inches I use it for roughing tenons on long boards (like cross pieces for headboards). Either multiple cuts or fewer cuts with a narrow dado setup (won't do 3/4, OK at 1/4 or a bit more) gives me something to trim to final size with the shoulder plane.

Some people managed to break the plastic housing for the Ryobi so there is a recall. Probably not something to look for used. If you find one that isn't cracked and put a 8 1/2 inch negative hook blade on it, it will work. Probably about the same quality as most Craftsman RAS.

They will do decent work but switching to make angle cuts is a PITA and ripping seems dangerous to me. Square cross cuts is their sweet spot and to do them you have to tune the saw and use it with the right technique.

[Jeff Ramsey]

How many crosscuts will a home user make in their lifetime?

There are better, safer methods to perform most of the other
cuts that an RAS can do.

Having a blade that turns to push the trunion toward the user?
That's just daft.

I make crosscuts with every project I start, and mostly use my very old Rockwell RAS that cuts dead square on both planes. It's safe, and the blade direction just requires the proper technique. Were I to replace it, I'd buy an OMGA. The only other option I'd consider is a cross-sled. A RAS can have its place in a shop providing it's good quality. I would say most of the RASs found on CL aren't very good quality.