Replies

1. 
   JamesC67 | May 18, 2003 10:26pm | #1

   I have a Craftsman "10 RAS and for material that I'm putting tenons on that has any kind of lengh to it at all the RAS is all I use.

   I Just make sure and use a taller fence and if I cant hold it still enough I clamp the stock to the fence.

   Also if the saw wants to pull its way through the stock especially in hardwoods I push the head of the saw through instead of pulling, for me it seems as if I get cleaner cuts and more control of the saw.

    Good Luck,

    Jim Clark

1. 
   eddiefromAustralia | May 19, 2003 03:47pm | #3

   Hi Jim,

   For safety reasons, better to pull than push.  I'd hate to see you lose a finger/hand

   Here's a link to a recent thread that should have all the answers, as well as some google hits I got on using RAS.

   Of course, there's no need to repeat what happened in the other thread - so use the saw however you see fit.

   Cheers,

   eddie

2. 
   MarkRoderick | May 19, 2003 02:42pm | #2

   You're right  on target. This is a perfect use of the radial arm saw.

   Don't try to cut the entire depth at once. Instead, take a couple small passes. Obviously, flip the piece over after each cut, so you take the exact same amount off each side.

   Cutting tenons this way creates lots of dust. To reduce it, I've recently adopted the following procedure:

   1) Make the two shoulder (cheek?) cuts with a regular blade to just a hair's width deeper than the tenon cuts will be.

   2) Using a tenon saw, rough cut the tenons by hand.

   3) Finish with radial arm saw.

   I figure if I do this frequently enough I'll get good enough with the tenon saw that I can do the whole process by hand.