Tennons on the RAS

[ken brueggestrass]

I installed the ol' stacked dado set on the ol' radial arm saw the other day and went to work on some MDF. Since I was working the back side of something that won't be seen, speed was more impsortant than finsish. I started making toward me/away from me passes of the material and ended up with relatively smooth cuts. To get going a little faster, I began taking one swipe pulling the saw towards me and a fresh swipe pushing the saw away from me. Following me? The away from me and the towards me passes gave a different feel and sounds of the machine. That made me start thinking (stand back, here's the question) when using such a set up to make tennons what produces the best cut with the least tear out? Toward me for one dado wodth, away from me per dado width or both toward and away? Speed is not the issue on this project.

[Dan Drager]

In my humble opinion Ken, the saw was meant to be used on the pull, or the towards to movement. Either way, because of the blade rotation, your best chance for tearout is on the saw side of the board. Simply placeing a small width sacraficial board on the saw side of your work peice should keep that from happening. If you're getting a smooth cut from both directions, knock yourself out, just be careful. As a rule, I am not that brave and only use my RAS in the pull mode, not the push.

[glenn bradley]

"To get going a little faster, I began taking one swipe pulling the saw towards me and a fresh swipe pushing the saw away from me. "

Please don't do that. I cringe just thinking about it but, maybe that's just me(?).

[ken brueggestrass]

I hear you on the cringe factor. That's why I stopped and posted. I'm sure there's a right way. Thinking it through, if you cut through a piece, the chips are removed from the cutting process when the blade clears the BOTTOM of the board being cut. But when you're doing something like I am, the chips aren't cleared until later in the revolution when pulling towards you. That's why I can see running the blade in a pushing direction MIGHT make sense. I just don't know. Anyone know for sure. Appreciate the input.

[Don Selke]

Hi Ken:

I am with Dan on this one, It would scare the pants off of me to make a dado cut on a RAS by pushing the blade away from me. Have seen way too many accidents from people using the RAS in a way in which it was not designed. As woodworkers, we all at times seem to push the limits of a piece of equipment but this operation scares the pants off of me.:eek: :eek:

[Eric Mims]

I did a bunch recently for my workbench legs, but I was using a regular kerf blade, not a dado. Because it took so many passes, I was cutting on the pull and the push. I don't know what's the 'right' way to do it, just be careful whichever way. Remember to still hold the piece tight against the fence when you cut on the push. Also, my height adjustment is not capable of fine adjustment, so I just put strips of paper under the workpiece to 'shim' it up when fine tuning the tenon. I also clamped a wood stop on the right side of the fence to set tenon length.

I found the RAS made it very easy to make a tenon on a 7' long apron piece.

edit: I should add that if I had used a dado blade, I probably would have only cut on the pull.