Are radial arm saws worth anything these days?

[Michael Yadfar]

My uncle has a Dewalt Powershop radial arm saw he's selling. He offered it to me for free, but I didn't want it. He's had for sale on Craiglist for months, and it's only $100.

Something that came to mind is if radial arm saws are even worth anything at all. They take up so much space, and sliding miter saws do just about everything a radial arm saw does except the ripping function and dado blades, and works a lot better in my opinion. I used a RAS when I was in high school, and never really liked it. That thing was a mean machine, and for some reason that thing always lunged forward on me. Anyway... I guess it's really not a tool of the modern day workshop

[Justin Ludwig]

I use my OMGA everyday. As for value... it's worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

[Mike Henderson]

To a large degree, they've fallen out of favor for the reasons you mentioned.

Mike

[Rich Riddle]

The people who love them seem to truly love them. That said, they don't command a lot of money as a whole.

[John TenEyck]

They climb towards you for a couple of reasons, but mostly because people put the wrong type of blade on them. With a quality blade designed for it, a RAS is a versatile, accurate, and easy to use machine. I use mine most every day, and would not want to be w/o it.

John

[glenn bradley]

Them's fightin' words son! I have no need for one but, those who love them, really love them.

[Bruce Page]

I would have a DeWalt MBF or an OMGA if I had a large shop.

[Dennis Hawkins]

I own one 10" 1hp unit and one 9" 1/2 hp and would not part with either. Total cost for both was under $300.00. I walk up to my 10" with total confidence in cross-cutting accurately.
I suspect a modern compound miter saw would be a better choice for many but those old Dewalts go cheap. I have a thing for old vintage quality tools though.

[John K Jordan]

I agree, not much interest in them now.

I wish I had room in the shop for mine, a 45 year old 10" Craftsman. It will do a variety of things, like drill holes horizontally in the end of a 16' post. I used it often as a drum sander, cut a zillion dados and a made a bunch of picture frame molding from shelving pine. One nice thing is either with crosscuts or ripping you can see the cut in progress. It is in fact not a good tool for the absent minded or accident prone. (BTW, always push, never pull)

It also made a nice work table for small assembly.

But I don't have enough room and have other tools now that will do everything except precision end drilling. My RAS is for sale - I'll take a nickle. Will run on 110/220. I'll even throw in the excellent custom stand with a shelf and a drawer. :-)

JKJ

[Greg Peterson]

I had a Dewalt MBF. I found it very under powered, dust collection virtually impossible to implement and took up far more room than it deserved.
SCMS is a better option, IMO.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Try cutting gable vent louver parts on a SCM.

[Wayne Lomman]

I use one regularly for docking timber ready for machining. It's a 12" 5 horse DeWalt. The most important thing is the correct blade. Negative raked blades are a must - cures most of the complaints above. All the bad stories about grabbing etc are as a result of incorrect blades in my experience. Compound sliders are ok for building sites but they are not an industrial machine unless you spend a lot on a non portable one. They had one in one of the shops I worked in and it was a dream to use. Cheers

[Nick Stokes]

My uncle has a Dewalt Powershop radial arm saw he's selling. He offered it to me for free, but I didn't want it. He's had for sale on Craiglist for months, and it's only $100.

Something that came to mind is if radial arm saws are even worth anything at all. They take up so much space, and sliding miter saws do just about everything a radial arm saw does except the ripping function and dado blades, and works a lot better in my opinion. I used a RAS when I was in high school, and never really liked it. That thing was a mean machine, and for some reason that thing always lunged forward on me. Anyway... I guess it's really not a tool of the modern day workshop

You answered your own question... You dont want it, even for free. And no one on craigslist wants it, even for only $100...

[Adam Herman]

can not be beat in a production Enviroment. I think we had about 3 of the 10 in units in the door shop and one in the warehouse for cutting moulding to length. We even used it to trim narrow doors to height! I would love to have one if I had the space, A nice big 12 in unit would be grand. SCMS just does not do a good arm saw justice.

[Kurt Kintner]

I have a 30 year old 10 inch Craftsman RAS I use almost every day.... It sits next to my DeWalt 12 inch mitersaw that I hardly ever use ....