Radial arm vs miter saw

[Alan Rutherford]

I had a 10" Craftsman and replaced it with 12" when that was stolen. Loved them both but sold it when we moved. The RAS will do everything the miter saw will do and do it better, except for easily carrying it to a job site. It will also rip, cut moldings and plane, sort of, with the 2-degree beveled sanding disk. I now have a good table saw and a mitre saw and a bunch of attachments for a RAS I can't use any more.

[Chris Schoenthal]

Wow, some really good information here. I guess I should have included more on the saws in question and intended uses.
I currently have an old Delta 12" miter on a Rigid stand that folds up like a 2 wheel dolly. It does have extension wings that slide out and are pretty handy on longer cuts.
It was just what I needed many years ago when I had to take it out to a jobsite, but now I don't do that any more. Now I usually use my tablesaw for miters on small pieces.
A friend offered to sell me his 20 something year old Craftsman RAS (with stand) for $100, and I figured that I could get more space in the shop that way.
I too, used my dad's 1970's RAS when I was just starting and looking back, can't imagine today doing the things on it like ripping and using a molding head.
Primary use would be to crosscut longer pieces with the occasional miter. I figure if I find the need for portability again, I can always get a cheap HF SCMS.

[Matt Day]

Northfield unipoint. Best of both worlds.

Equally portable as well! 😉

[Matt Day]

For general construction and site work, the SCMS or CMS is my pick. For shop work, I’d take the RAS every time. I setup a Bosch Glide for someone and definitely prefer my 12” Delta turret.

Bigger capacities, more versatile, much better dust collection.

[Phillip Gregory]

It depends on what miter saw and what radial arm saw you are talking about. An excellent miter saw will be notably more solid and accurate than a typical homeowner RAS such as a late-1960s and later B&D or Emerson-manufactured radial arm saw (Craftsman, Ridgid, Ryobi, and probably others). But, those mediocre RASes will be at least as accurate but be easier to use and more capable, particularly with width of workpiece being cut, than a typical mediocre to poor mass-market miter saw. If you compare the best of each, such as a cast iron DeWalt/Original Saw Co., Delta/Multiplex, Monarch/Northfield, or OMGA RAS vs. a top quality miter saw, the RAS is a far better tool. A radial arm saw can cut a much wider workpiece, some are able to cut a much thicker workpiece, can use a dado head, is often grossly more powerful, and is more solid/sturdy than a miter saw.

Radial arm saws do not take up all that much room. They take up about as much room as a miter saw on a stand and can be placed along a wall/near a corner just like a miter saw can. They are however generally harder to transport to a jobsite than a miter saw.

I use a 1950s DeWalt GE for essentially all of my crosscutting, mitering, and dadoing, it is an excellent piece of equipment and is easily my most-used circular-bladed saw. I do have a miter saw that I got well before I acquired my GE but today the only person that uses it is my wife for cutting pressure-treated stock outside, since she finds the GE somewhat intimidating to use. I find the miter saw to be messier, noisier, and much less accurate than the GE. If I'm doing any rough carpentry, I just carry my stock inside and cut them with the GE. I've cut everything from popsicle sticks to railroad ties on that saw.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In December, I added a RAS to my collection of tools just for dados. I have a Dewalt 12" CMS that I really like.

[Steve Schoene]

Except for the mortgage needed to buy the unipoint.

[Phillip Gregory]

Except for the mortgage needed to buy the unipoint.

These saws are available used for a much more reasonable price than buying one new from Northfield. There is one on a famous online auction site for $1350, for example.

[Darcy Warner]

Except for the mortgage needed to buy the unipoint.

I have paid anywhere from 40 bucks to 1250 for a unipoint.

Sure you can buy a new one for about 10k or so.

[Terry Therneau]

There is a lot of discussion about radial arm saws on the owwm site. The simple summary is that there are good ones and bad ones, the good ones are very good and the bad ones can be very bad. It takes a certain amount of mass and rigidity to hold a motor and blade steady on the end of along arm, and the mass market RA saws from Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc just don't have it. This goes for the later Dewalts too. Around here (Minn) there isn't much price difference between the good ones (about 1 in 20 of the ads) and the bad ones (19/20), i.e., the good ones are easy to find but you have to do your homework to create a list. Then get a negative hook blade and you are set.

[Cary Falk]

20 something year old Craftsman RAS

This is not considered a good one.

[Phillip Gregory]

There is a lot of discussion about radial arm saws on the owwm site. The simple summary is that there are good ones and bad ones, the good ones are very good and the bad ones can be very bad. It takes a certain amount of mass and rigidity to hold a motor and blade steady on the end of along arm, and the mass market RA saws from Sears, Montgomery Ward, etc just don't have it. This goes for the later Dewalts too. Around here (Minn) there isn't much price difference between the good ones (about 1 in 20 of the ads) and the bad ones (19/20), i.e., the good ones are easy to find but you have to do your homework to create a list.

A list of the good ones I can think of:
- Monarch or Northfield Unipoint
- Most all of the cast-iron arm DeWalts (MMB/MBC/MBF, most of the 1030s, saws with 'G' and another letter, Timber Cutter)
- The B&D badged ex-DeWalt 34xx/35xx series, and the Super Duty square-arm saws
- The Original Saw Company 3xxx and Super Duty saws, based on the B&D/DeWalt units. Also available new, bring lots of money.
- Red Star/Delta Multiplex 20/30/40/50 series
- Later xx-yyy numbered series cast iron arm Delta units which are similar to the old Multiplex models with the center-hinged arm
- The heavier OMGA RN series saws. Also available new, bring lots of money.
- There are also some lesser-known saws such as those made by Walker-Turner and Wadkin that are reputable.

Then get a negative hook blade and you are set.

There is a big debate as to what blades are best on a RAS. Some of it depends on what you want to do with the saw, a good blade for ripping on a RAS is going to be different than a pure crosscut blade, and a blade for cutting deep compound miters will be somewhere in between those two- this is identical to any other kind of saw.

In general the RAS aficionados tend to go with a slightly positively hooked (5-10 degrees) combination or TCG blade. The slightly positive hook allows the saw to be used for ripping and compound miters but without being too grabby on a well-adjusted saw. They also will use a smaller than rated diameter blade on the 10" and smaller saws as these tend to be low-powered (generally no more than 1 1/2 hp running HP, and often less than 1 hp) and the smaller blades put less strain on the saw.

I use a -5 degree blade that was actually made for a SCMS. I got it due to local availability, appropriate tooth count, appropriate size, and moderate cost, although no blade larger than 12" is exactly cheap. It works reasonably well for me but I do not rip with my RAS and my RAS has a 7 1/2 hp motor so a less efficient hook angle is no problem. The saw has never tried to climb at me.

[Martin Siebert]

A list of the good ones I can think of:
- Monarch or Northfield Unipoint
- Most all of the cast-iron arm DeWalts (MMB/MBC/MBF, most of the 1030s, saws with 'G' and another letter, Timber Cutter)
- The B&D badged ex-DeWalt 34xx/35xx series, and the Super Duty square-arm saws
- The Original Saw Company 3xxx and Super Duty saws, based on the B&D/DeWalt units. Also available new, bring lots of money.
- Red Star/Delta Multiplex 20/30/40/50 series
- Later xx-yyy numbered series cast iron arm Delta units which are similar to the old Multiplex models with the center-hinged arm
- The heavier OMGA RN series saws. Also available new, bring lots of money.
- There are also some lesser-known saws such as those made by Walker-Turner and Wadkin that are reputable.



There is a big debate as to what blades are best on a RAS. Some of it depends on what you want to do with the saw, a good blade for ripping on a RAS is going to be different than a pure crosscut blade, and a blade for cutting deep compound miters will be somewhere in between those two- this is identical to any other kind of saw.

In general the RAS aficionados tend to go with a slightly positively hooked (5-10 degrees) combination or TCG blade. The slightly positive hook allows the saw to be used for ripping and compound miters but without being too grabby on a well-adjusted saw. They also will use a smaller than rated diameter blade on the 10" and smaller saws as these tend to be low-powered (generally no more than 1 1/2 hp running HP, and often less than 1 hp) and the smaller blades put less strain on the saw.
I use a -5 degree blade that was actually made for a SCMS. I got it due to local availability, appropriate tooth count, appropriate size, and moderate cost, although no blade larger than 12" is exactly cheap. It works reasonably well for me but I do not rip with my RAS and my RAS has a 7 1/2 hp motor so a less efficient hook angle is no problem. The saw has never tried to climb at me.

.....of "the good ones". I am in the market and scouting out RAS's now. Back in the 70's there was one of the not so good ones in every garage. I kinda like the fact that you can do more with a RAS than a miter saw. I guess the reasons to own one over the other are more personal than anything, but I like versatility as much as possible and a miter saw really only does one thing...crosscuts boards whether angled or not. Thanks again for posting!!!

[Paul Schaefer]

I would take a pass on a 20yo Craftsman for $100. If you want something that has the crosscut depth, dado capability, and repeatability of a good RAS (and those are all things that make the RAS well worth having), hold out for an older DeWalt or Delta.

In a major metro area, you should be able to easily find one of the smaller cast iron DeWalts or turret Deltas for $50-75. They're a little underpowered, but once you dial them in, they'll absolutely stay there. Rock solid. In the $125-$200 range, you should be able to find a bigger DeWalt, like the 12" 7790 if you're willing to wait - I see them at that price point 3-4 times a year in the Colorado Springs/Denver area. Any of these will require some work (cleaning, adjustment, maybe new motor bearings), but no more than a 20yo Cman RAS will require anyway.

For perspective, I had one of the Cman RASs for eight years. I loved deep crosscut capability, long dadoes, and better dust collection. It held adjustments better than my 10" Cman CMS, but I still had to re-adjust it every time I was doing a project that required precision. The Cman RAS did good work, but it was a pain in the but to set it up every time. Two years ago, I bought a small DeWalt (MBF) for $75. Took about $25 in parts to rebuild it and put a new table on. While I sometimes wish for more power, it's a dream in terms of precision and holding adjustment one it's set.

Today, I still have the DeWalt RAS and the CMan CMS RAS. The DeWalt lives in the shop and gets used for precision jobs. The CMan CMS lives on the shelf and gets dragged around for rough jobs (framing, decking, fencing) where I don't want to have to go back and forth to the shop.

[Darcy Warner]

I usually run a 5 degree positive hook blade.