# Respect the radial saw



## j10c3y25 (Jan 8, 2014)

All over the internet you can find people bashing the radial arm saw for being unsafe in a variety of ways, but I have one, and I have had no problems with it...until I was trying to do something stupid. Whoever had the saw before me built a dust box with a port on the back, so the saw is pretty much dedicated to a 90 degree cut off unless you go to the trouble of removing the box so it can actually swing. I was just taking multiple passes to cut out some rabbets from 2'x4's, which is a fairly easy operation, but a few of them had to be slightly angled. Rather than set the saw for the angled cut, or make a jig, or even just jam a shim between the fence, I decided it would be easy to hold down the piece firmly at an angle to the fence and make my cut. It worked fine for about 2 and a half passes before the blade caught, flinging the piece into the fence and my hand with it, smashed my fingers between the fence and board, and scared me pretty good. I had my hand far enough from the blade that it didn't get flung into it, but my fingers were numb for a good 5 minutes from the impact.

So basically I did the radial arm saw equivalent of free hand cross cutting on a table saw. Unsafe for sure, but not inherently due to the properties of the radial saw. As for the actual reason it grabbed the piece, I'm sure its partly due to some wobble in the saw arbor I have yet to fix. I have been meaning to do something about truing the arbor, and redo the table, and do more than a few cursory adjustments to really tune it up. This incident really gave me a kick in the pants, and reinforced basic safety in my shop.

Things I knew, and apparently forgot.

1. "It'll be fine" is a motto that doesn't belong in the same room with power tools.
2. An improperly set up tool is a dangerous tool.
3. If the safe way is the hard way, you're much less likely to take it

I really enjoy this saw, so I think it deserves some quality time to bring out its true potential, as well as redesign my system to prevent me from doing anything stupid out of laziness. Either way, it now fully commands my respect for the forseeable future.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Glad to hear you weren't hurt worse. Can't go blaming improper operating methods on a 'wobble in the arbor'. If you have that, it's likely that didn't cause the problem. You are aware of what caused the problem. When doing a cut or a setup, you can ask yourself..."Is what I'm doing safe?" If you have doubts at all, reconsider.








 








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## Fred Hargis (Apr 28, 2012)

Can't say much, other than glad it wasn't worse. The title could just as easily be "respect ALL power tools". Anyway, good you weren't injured more severely.


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## TMA Woodworks (Apr 23, 2010)

I had a similar experience with my RAS. I was hogging out a half lap joint on a 4x4 piece of oak. Okay but my fence was only about a 1/2 tall. It grabbed in right out of my hand and stuck it right into the drywall a couple of feet back. I no longer use any old scrap for my fence. 

Bob


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