Using the wrong blade is a safety issue indeed. Scroll Down for more stories. Expert advice from Bob Vila, the most trusted name in home ripping blade for radial arm saw, home remodeling, home repair, and DIY. Let me give you a littlebackground information. A positive hook-angle blade will rippingg more aggressively and pull itself along—definitely not what you want from a radial arm saw.

Keep in mind that every change from one operation to another say, from sawing to sanding and back again requires setup time.

The more serious you are about your workshop and the projects you do, the more likely you are to want to acquire specialized tools. Radial-Arm Saw Safety. Take special care when you use a radial-arm saw. The nature of its design — the sawblade itself moves — makes it trickier than, say, a table or band saw. Never position your hand in the path of the saw. The same goes for the area behind the blade, too.

And always wear safety goggles, since Dewalt Ge Radial Arm Saw For Sale the saw has been known to throw out loose stock at an amazing rate. Disclosure: BobVila. You agree that BobVila. All rights reserved. Expert advice from Bob Vila, the most trusted name in home improvement, home remodeling, home repair, and DIY.

By Bob Vila. More From Bob Vila. Getting optimal performance from a radial arm saw requires the blade to take little bites at a time with the edges of the kerf shearing cleanly. A positive hook-angle blade will cut more aggressively and pull itself along—definitely not what you want from a radial arm saw. Instead, choose a blade with no more than a few degrees of positive hook angle down to a negative hook angle.

Remember, too: you can always call or email the technical service folks at these leading blade manufacturers and ask for their advice. Tim Inman : Anybody who has read my books or articles has almost certainly come across my opinion of radial arm saws. Now consider the radial arm saw. Ifthe saw has a positive hook, it will pull itself into the wood as you cut,which means the operator has to use a lot of effort to keep the saw fromfeeding too fast.

But, if we had zero hook, then the saw could be pulled intothe piece being cut by the operator and when halfway through, the operatorcould take his hands off the saw Do not dothis—this is justa visual example and the saw wouldjust sit there. However, we know from experience that a slight negative hookfor the radial arm saw maybe 3 to 6 degrees negative will actually work thebest.

The operator will have to use a little effort to pull the saw into thewood, but the saw will not pull itself. This is indeed a safe procedure. Butlet me repeat that such a saw blade used on a table or ripsaw will push thewood away from the blade toward the operator, so do not use negative hook forthose saws.

Do wewant the saw to pull itself into the wood perhaps it would be out of control alittle bit? So again, zero or negative hook, but not too much negative asthen the saw will be hard to feed and will jump back.

Consider a bandsaw—if Jet Radial Arm Saw For Sale Difference the saw has a 10 Table Saw Blade For Ripping System positive hook, then it is pullingitself toward the wood and it might pull itself off the wheels as it grabs intothe wood, which is a disaster. So, a bandsaw will have zero or slightlynegative hook.

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