On Sun, 22 Dec 2019 10:47:41 -0600, Terry Coombs wrote:

On 12/22/2019 10:35 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 12/22/2019 11:08 AM, G.B. Cricket wrote:
Hey All,

Been trying to find a new radial arm saw but it looks like nobody builds
them today?* What happened?* ??

I've got a table saw but it's very poor compared to the radial arm I had
a few decades ago.....

You'd do well to upgrade to a nice table saw.* Radial saws often
became problematic over time but not sure why they disappeared.

* I suspect they were lawyered out of existence . Possibly the most
dangerous piece of equipment in the shop .

My high school wood shop class ~45 years ago, Herbie the shop teacher is
talking and it's going like this:
"The radial arm saw can be dangerous, especially if you don't hold your
work properly. For example, never hold it like this or you could lose a
finger. ... GODDAMNIT! Who's got a car? I need a ride to the hospital!"

He took off his left index finger at the first knuckle, just like he
predicted. They were able to sew it back on, but he lost the ability to
bend that finger at the first knuckle. I guess it fused as it healed.

OTOH, every single tool in the shop was dangerous in one way or another. I
never realized that a RAS was more dangerous than the rest. Herbie told us
stories about a guy who took off 4 fingertips on the jointer, a guy who
lost a thumb on the table saw, a guy who got messed up when a handheld
router got out of control, and more. No stories of eye injuries that I can
remember, but Mom was good enough to fill that gap. "You kids stop that!
You're going to take an eye out."