Hacker News Reader

Comment by quesera | Hacker News Reader

> I had an opportunity last month to buy some shop tools (table, radial arm, band saw, sanding equipment), so I decided to finally give it a real shot.

The radial arm saw doesn't get enough love, probably because it has space planning requirements that table saws can bypass on account of their portability.

I have both, and use them all the time, but the radial arm saw is by far my preference.

Also often-ignored but fully worthwhile: decent dust collection. Not a shop vac.

Nice work there. It gets faster, but the pleasure is in the doing.

View on HN

> The radial arm saw doesn't get enough love, probably because it has space planning requirements that table saws can bypass on account of their portability.

No, the radial arm saw does not get enough love because it is dangerous when used for anything but cross cuts and straight angled cuts, both of which are easily handled by a miter saw, which is safer and more versatile.

I used one for years and was happy when I finally gave it away. A sliding miter saw and a table saw are a safer combination, for sure.

Wholly agree with the dust collection. You can actually get far with a shop vac if you add a cyclone type pre-filter bin to it.

This is analogous to saying, I can tell you Lisp is no good because I used it for a couple of years and was glad to stop. The radial arm saw doesn't get enough love for two reasons: poorly-made department-store versions that don't keep their settings, and ill-informed people who never learned how to maintain and use one properly. The original DeWalt saws and the Northfield saws are amazing machine tools, beautifully made, safe when used properly, tremendously powerful and versatile. owwm.org and the Mr. Sawdust book are great resources.

I really enjoy the radial arm saw, but it does seem like the sliding compound miters are taking their place. I figure if these work for most of the work I need to do, then it'll be easier to justify things like a planer & jointer.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com