http://www.radialarmsawrecall.com/
Main reason for the recall is NOT having the entire blade covered - IMO, anybody who uses ANY power tool without understanding the physics involved, runs the risk of injury. If you THINK first, you won'd do things like holding a board in your hand directly under where you're drilling a HOLE in the board
"A question for those in the know I have wondered about for years ..... Why will a radial arm saw cross cut wood so nicely but do such a horrible job of rip cutting wood (Dulls blades quickly, cuts slow, burns the wood, uses too much power, etc.) and a table saw do so much better?"
I've had a Craftsman 12" "Commercial" radial saw since 1972, it's still in my shop right next to the 12" Dewalt sliding miter saw. I also have a 10" and another 12", both CL finds for a TOTAL of $60 - both run and work fine. The 12" cost me $10, guy bought it and ended up moving (job related) into a smaller place and was cleaning house before the move...
Things to remember - just because your radial saw AND table saw both use 10" blades, you definitely should NOT swap blades between them - radial and miter saws cut from the TOP, and have a tendency to LIFT the board because they cut from UNDER the board - for this reason, those saws need a blade with a NEGATIVE hook angle to reduce board lifting AND reduce kickback. On a big enough radial saw, they can actually "run across at you" if you're trying to cut too fast - ONCE was all it took for me to lock THAT "no-no" into my head
Table saws cut as the blade teeth come DOWN onto the board, which tends to KEEP the board against the table - they can still kick back but for different reasons. Blades intended for table saws can and do have a POSITIVE hook angle - this makes for a more agressive cut, which allows for a faster feed.
With EITHER type saw, if it came with a "combination" blade I would recommend putting that on a distant shelf somewhere (maybe AFTER you use it long enough to HATE it) and getting some "single purpose" blades as you need 'em - a finer tooth crosscut blade for (surprise) cross cutting, a coarser tooth RIP blade, and if cutting sheet goods, they make blades specifically for different materials. Yeah, you can get carried away with this - if you NEVER do any "cabinet level" work, that combination blade might work for you til it can't cut any more.
Ripping on a radial saw - did that ONCE before I bought a full face shield (sometimes I learn quicker than others
) - took me about two SECONDS to figger out I didn't appreciate getting slivers stuck in my face
- that was ALSO the day I started saving for a TABLE SAW...
If you try to rip with a combination blade, it takes too much force pushing/blade cuts too slow/tries to LIFT the board, you spend too much effort holding the board DOWN instead of PUSHING, blade gets hot, gets dull faster, you get distracted looking at the slivers sticking out of your chest, etc...
Sooner or later, assuming you stick with it, you learn the "right tool for the job" mantra - if all you have (and can afford) is a radial saw, you WILL own a full face shield AND a leather jacket :laughing: - If all you have is a TABLE saw, eventually you will have built at least one "crosscut sled" - probably more like 2 or 3...
In EITHER case, if you do very much (and have a desire to improve on the results) you'll tend to keep "purpose made" blades, and live with the PITA that's known as blade changing (I'm not trying to "preach" here, I tend to get lazy about this - only makes it MORE embarassing that I KNOW BETTER
)
Personally, the ONE "safety" thing I try to ALWAYS do -
DRY RUN - ANYTHING in my shop that involves power tools, I figure out EXACTLY where BOTH HANDS are gonna be (and move to) BEFORE ever touching a power switch - Initially, this started because of music; I started piano when I was 5, trombone at 12, guitar at 15, organ at 17, drums and bass guitar at about 35, cello (briefly) at 37 - pretty much ALL those work a whole lot better with ALL TEN FINGERS still intact; hard to find any more incentive to be careful than THAT :thumbsup:
Wow, that got a LOT more windy than I intended
- hopefully it answered SOME of the questions... Steve
