2014-02-01 About Radial Arm Saws - Woodworking Classroom Recording

I just bought a DeWalt RAS identical to the one you have in this video for $45. Works fine. Enjoying your video and looking forward to improving it.

I love this video, very informative.  I've watched it three time now.

Just brought home a 7790...I am thankful for the video. Already have crazy ideas to build a swing blade gantry mill for logs with the saw head. Was a machinist and tool maker, just getting into woodworking. I have 7 acres of locust. Hate to waste it all on firewood.

I just recently bought a old Delta Rockwell for $50. Still works great, I think it was made in 1950. I love it.

I did The Sears recall for mine and got an awesome safety sat with all the things mentioned. The new handle is for the safety "trigger".

My father in law used a weight to retract his saw. His weight was a stack of washers on a threaded rod. This makes it very easy to adjust the weight.

It's great to see so many new videos on the RAS. The RAS seems to be going through a "revival" time, probably because they are cheap to buy from "terrified" users :-) I've had mine since the mid seventies. It was the only (machine type) saw I had to do all my cutting. I used it regularly for rip cuts and never had a problem. I even used it to do 45° rips on top edges of 4" x 2"s. The RAS like all serious power tools requires attention to safety. Used properly and with care the RAS is no more dangerous than any other power tool.

just got me a ras {delta model 10 deluxe radial arm saw with automatic brake}. today and the first thing i did was get on youtube and start picking up ideals on how to run one. don't get me wrong i do have experience in wood working but i figure your never to old to pick up on some good ideals. one i did find very useful was @ 53:01 where you used a string and weight to pull the saw back . i used your ideal on the string and pulley setup i used a water bottle and filled or emptied it to get the feel that i wanted took a little bit but once i found the sweet spot i was happy thanks for the ideals. (((( side note )))))i used fine grain sand reason being in case there is a fire and you can't grab your fire extinguisher then sand will work in a pinch.

Guys, Of all the woodwork kits I have bought over the years, this is the best collection I have. Its an excellent resource for beginners as well as seasoned woodworkers.

Great job Ricky.

Using a radial arm saw or a table saw to rip with is kind of like handling a hand gun.  Always assume that the thing is going to get you if you aren't careful.  Over the years my dad (now gone) and I ripped a mile or two of 1 1/2" #2btr fir on his Craftsman radial arm saw.  Care must be taken:  1) Sharp blade. 2) Blade is parallel to the fence. 3) Rotate the blade guard until it just rubs the material being ripped. 4)  Drop the anti-kickback pawls into proper position. 5) Push the wood through from the correct direction. 6) Don't over tax the saw.  7)  You can tell when the wood starts to be pinched in the kerf cut, ease up, back off and drive a wedge in the kerf.  Some boards pinch others don't.  Just assume that all boards pinch. 8) Use a push stick.  Gosh, kind of like using a table saw.  A lot of guys never learn how to use a radial arm saw because of all the fear hype. My dad never owned a table saw, he didn't have room for one; he probably didn't have enough money either.  It's one thing to point out that care must be taken but to say it is foolish and too dangerous to rip wood using a radial arm saw is, well, foolish.  Just one man's opinion.

The "negative hook" blades are basically trying to "resist" cutting, and they are deflecting and pushing the wood out of the way, instead of shearing into the wood like a sharp knife. If you look at the way the "negative" tooth contacts the wood, the entire tooth hits the wood all at once, meaning much less precise cutting, and more damage is potentially done to the wood. My feeling is that the single most important thing is actually the intermediate "anti-kickback" tooth which is called a "raker" on a chainsaw chain. The inexpensive sawblades have a non-cutting "raker" guide tooth, which is effectively an "anti-kickback" raker. If you look at a Diablo 40T combination blade, or a 24T ripping blade, they both have a substantial intermediate "non-cutting raker" which prevents "over feeding" of the wood. The advent of modern blades with the anti-kickback rakers on them, means that is "might" not be necessary to run a negative hook blade on a radial arm saw. The blades with intermediate rakers are automatically "self limiting" so they cannot be accelerated through the material beyond the height of the raker. The thicker the wood is, the greater the raker limits the cutting speed, which is nice, because it automatically slows down your feed rate in thicker wood. A raker is far more important than people realize, and it is likely far more important than the hook angle. A tall raker will limit the cutting speed, no matter how aggressive the cutting teeth are. On a chainsaw, if you file down a tiny bit of height off the "non-cutting raker" then the chain will become dangerously "grabby" and it makes the saw bog down, because the chain cuts too fast, and the teeth "dig" into the wood more. On professional wood working blades, they are designed with absolutely no "non-cutting" teeth. Expensive saw blades thus have no anti-kickback protection. And because of this, if you're using a professional blade, it will be more likely to "grab" or "jump" on a radial arm saw, unless you use a negative hook angle. As far as I can tell, a blade with conventional sharp forward angled "positive" teeth, with tall rakers in between the cutting teeth, is a better method of preventing "over feeding" because you don't lose the beautiful fine cut of the positive tooth angle, which forms a "shearing" cutter. Clearly, manufacturers are not doing enough research, and they are not willing to share their knowledge with consumers. Because I've never seen a single person mention the "non-cutting rakers" which are only found on some blades, and not others. I am using a 40T Diablo blade on my radial arm saw, and even if you pull the blade into the wood quickly, it doesn't grab, because the blade, although having a very sharp "high-ATB" positive tooth angle, it has non-cutting rakers in between cutting teeth. The anti-kickback rakers actually form a "barrier" in between each tooth, so if you try to "shove" a piece of wood into the blade, the wood hits the raker, thereby limiting the cutting speed. It's curious where the information about "negative hook" blades came from. My feeling is, it came about after there were many legal liabilities and the manufactures tried it as a last resort, to make the saws easier to use. But, there is a Delta Radial Arm Saw manual written in the 1960's, and if you download it online, it shows how to hand sharpen your blades, and it recommends a conventional "positive tooth angle" on their radial arm saws. This was a factory manual, published by Delta. It would be interesting to note, when exactly the "negative tooth" specialty blade became a "necessity" on radial arm saws. I am not an expert at all, but a positive angle tooth is far inferior and wastes way more energy than a conventional blade, because it's not "slicing" into the wood. A negative angle tooth cuts with much less motor horsepower, because less surface area of the tooth is touching the wood at any given time. A negative angle tooth can produce a much finer cut, with all other variables being the same. Although, a negative angle tooth without the "anti-kickback rakers" will have the ability to cut "too fast" if the motion of the blade is not limited by the user, which could be very dangerous on a radial arm saw during crosscutting. In summary, a positive hook blade, or a blade with non-cutting raker teeth in between carbide cutting teeth, would be the only safe blades to use on a radial arm saw. If the manufacturers weren't so worried about lawsuits, they would probably publish more information about this subject, instead of forcing consumers to "guess" and have no idea how a blade even works... See this video at 9:00 minutes, where the owner shows his blade, and talks about blade climb. https://youtu.be/CV4uXtxnOdg

If you look between the blade and the motor the arbor shaft is slotted for the slim wrench to be inserted as a backup to remove the arbor nut. No stress on arm.

Great video, especially since the DeWalt in your classroom is the same as mine in my basement, my grandfather's. I use it as is, but now I see how to adjust it properly. I also need a need table surface, so I'm open to suggestions. Thank you for such a great video!

It's nice to see the enthusiasm these guys have for the RAS of yesteryear. You can see the love in their eyes. At the risk of offending RAS enthusiasts, let me say that for me such enthusiasm although admirable is about as relevant as having a love of say the astrolabe. The RAS was superseded years ago by the other types now available - table saw, mitre saw combined mitre bevel saw. The worst [ and most dangerous ] thing to try with the RAS is the rip cut. There is inherent difficulty in setting up an RAS such that the blade is perfectly parallel with the fence ; and of course the longer the rip the greater the difficulty. Misalignment of blade and fence can cause spectacular mishaps with the workpiece being shot back with impressive force. We all of us have a sentimental side, and others just love to kid themselves that they are saving money by penny-pinching. My personal values include NOT trying to save money by buying on the cheap, or using obsolete equipment.

Great information. Thank you!

to enjoy this video more take a drink on every "ON MY SAW"

For the feeding direction for a rip cut. Doesn't he have it wrong in this video (he says "the blade has to be going down through the wood")? You should use the rising edge of the blade (opposite the anti kick back pawl) NOT the falling edge of the blade as he describes. The falling edge (pawl side) should be used for cross and miter cuts only. Am I correct?

Hey Ricky. I was noticing that in your video when you are discussing heal on your blade, you held a us saw blade. My favorite blades for crosscuttung. I need another 80 tooth. Do you know where I can buy one? Thanks and great video.

Cheers. Great lesson. Just got a dewalt 125. Not set up yet.