Why so many Radial Arm Saws for Sale?

[jack duren]

Sort of the storm-front I was eluding to when I said "Those that love them wouldn't be without them. The rest of us question the value for the footprint required." earlier in the thread. Certain things are hot buttons for certain folks: Festool, EZ-Smart, Bandsaw drift, etc. Anything to do with a RAS is one of the topics I buckle in and prepare for a ride on; its just one of those things .

I just believe every tool has a place no matter how large,small,old or new. If you have room for something by all means have it. If you don't then use other means to achieve the goal.

A lot of people have had bad luck with these saws but a lot have just had bad saws. Leaves a bad taste and I understand. Others are just ##### in the wind with negative comments because they can and its meaningless.

[Roy Turbett]

I can't imagine what people expected to get for $375 from sears?

The only RAS Sears still sells is $872.99 and 11 of the 46 reviews rate it at one star out of five. Hardly a quality saw and no comparision to the old DeWalts.

[Bob Cooper]

I have a nice Dewalt 5HP 3P RAS I need to sell if anyone is interested. No space for it

[Ole Anderson]

For me, it was a space issue and the fact that my 10" Monkey Wards RAS just wasn't accurate. If I had the room, I would still have the saw. Would a nice 12 or 14" commercial model be better? Sure, but the amount of use I would give it doesn't justify the space it (and the infeed/outfeed) table it takes up.

[jack duren]

For me, it was a space issue and the fact that my 10" Monkey Wards RAS just wasn't accurate. If I had the room, I would still have the saw. Would a nice 12 or 14" commercial model be better? Sure, but the amount of use I would give it doesn't justify the space it (and the infeed/outfeed) table it takes up.

I had a fairly new 10" Delta RAS. It was okay but not the most accurate. Work pulled there 12" Delta RAS for a Whirl wind and stuck it in a corner . I offered to trade the the newer 10" for the aging 12". We traded and I now have an accurate 12" RAS. a little fine tuning and I can now cut door and drawer panels and stock accurately. The main thing for me is dentil molding.. You can put a miter saw and RAS and multiple tools on the same fence if necessary...

[John Lifer]

Well, I've got not one but two..... Never have had both set up in same shop at same time, but hopefully that will be changing soon in my next shop. I crosscut. Yes, 1x4and 1x6 that could be done with a miter saw if I had one.....
But I also crosscut 14" sheet stock. Can't do with any miter on the market. And TS is too dangerous. RAS is the way to go......

[Rollie Meyers]

I have a 12" Rockwell sitting in the back room of my shop, one of these days it's going to be offered on CL, just don't have the room but they do have their place. At the time I bought it at auction a then current Delta 12" was selling for $1500 in the woodworking tool catalogs.

[Jim Andrew]

If I was framing houses again, would mount a big heavy ras along the side of a car trailer, so I could cut headers, cripples, sills and such with it, park it right next to the job where it would be handy. Nice to have square cuts on your framing members. And pretty fast as well if you have a guy cutting all the parts for openings for a wall. I had a sears ras and sent the motor and carriage in for the 100$.Scms for my woodshop.

[Roy Turbett]

If I was framing houses again, would mount a big heavy ras along the side of a car trailer, so I could cut headers, cripples, sills and such with it, park it right next to the job where it would be handy. Nice to have square cuts on your framing members. And pretty fast as well if you have a guy cutting all the parts for openings for a wall. I had a sears ras and sent the motor and carriage in for the 100$.Scms for my woodshop.

Some of the old DeWalts came mounted on their own trailer. I've seen a few come up on CL.

[Michael W. Clark]

Some of the old DeWalts came mounted on their own trailer. I've seen a few come up on CL.

Cool, there is a 16" Dewalt trailer mounted on the Indy CL. I thought it was home brew, but may be original?

[Roy Turbett]

Cool, there is a 16" Dewalt trailer mounted on the Indy CL. I thought it was home brew, but may be original?

From the serial number on the motor the saw appears to be a 1957 which is one of the years trailers were available. The guard looks to be from a later era. The guys at OWWM and the Delphi DeWalt RAS forum could tell for sure if the trailer is original.

[Bill Leonard]

Here's my pint of gasoline to help the blaze.
I started out with a Crapsman RAS well over twenty years ago, and never could come to enjoy its use. I abandoned it about 8 years ago. Really, abandoned it by leaving it behind during a move to a new house. Four or five years ago I bought an old Dewalt 9 in. RAS at auction for $45.00. I took the time to tune it according to "Mr Sawdust" and built a new table per the same document. It sits in my shop between my jointer and planer. It has become my go to saw. I also have a PM66 as well as a Delta tablesaw. The delta is dedicated to dados, the PM66 is for ripping, and the Dewalt has become my utility saw. Now, do I "need" the RAS-No. But then I don't "need" two tablesaws, but I have the luxury of a dedicated woodshop and find the RAS to be a true addition to how I make sawdust. Is it dangerous? Yes, but then so is a drill press, as well as a utility knife if you work with a rectal-cranial inversion attitude. I've added more DNA to my projects with a chisel than any of my saws. Any tool in your shop is of questionable need if you don't/won't use it properly and keep it tuned and respect it.

[Joe Jensen]

Radial Arm saws became a lot more dangerous when table saws became more common. A radial arm saw needs a negative hook angle blade and a table saw needs a positive hook angle blade. When you use a negative hook angle blade on a radial arm saw the hook angle pushes the wood down away from the blade and it's basically neutral on forward and backward pressure. On a table saw the positive hook angle pulls the wood down to the table. Using a negative hook angle on a table saw is very scary too. I have a 14" Dewalt set up as a dedicated 90 degree crosscut system with 8ft of Biesemeyer fence on the left and 10 ft on the right. With the right Forrest blade it's a dream and the best way to precision crosscut at 90 degrees.

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.