All about the radial arm saw

As a petite lady, I’ve always been absolutely petrified of a common, versatile, but big and dangerous woodshop tool called the radial arm saw. My art school woodshop had one of these monsters, and the shock-and-awe-type safety demonstrations from our burly shop manager had me nervous around the thing even when it was off, and scared for the operator when I heard the unmistakable 60dB sound off in the distance. I’ve still never used one, but reading Phil B’s guide showed me it can do a lot more than cross and rip cuts. He uses his for grinding, sanding, drilling, making moulding, and cove cuts for making bowls.