> When cross cutting (which is what a radial arm saw is for) the blade will
> push down and back since you pull the saw across the board. When ripping,
> you feed the board to the saw and the teeth are on the 'upswing' and will
> tend to lift the board, not push it down. I'm not saying that you can't
> rip with a good radial arm. It's just my opinion that a table saw is
> better. If you have both, use the table saw. If you have neither, and you
> plan to buy one to rip strips, buy a table saw.

Good points on the direction of the blade and cutting action, however my radial arm saw has a few features that make it my tool of choice (I also have a band saw and a table saw, so I really do have a choice).

1.) The blade guard serves as a sawdust collector, and the sawdust flies away from the cut and off to the back of the saw -- away from me.

2.) The blade guard also has a `pawl' arm. This is a metal rod with a few loosely hinged metal leaves at the end. You adjust the pawl so that the leaves barely touch the wood after it has been cut. They rest lightly on the board, allowing it to pass smoothly. But, because of their shape and the angle they are at, should the wood kick back they prevent the pieces from coming back at me.

3.) I can remove the back stop and replace it with a long plank, giving me a very long rip fence.

4.) The table is about 4 feet wide. When the saw is rotated so that the blade is parallel to the fence I have a large feed table, both on the infeed and outfeed sides. If I put a support about 8 feet away from the table on each side I can rip strips from 20 foot planks without needing an assistant. For longer strips I put the supports a bit farther out, and get some help to manage the outfeed.

5.) So far it has been working for me. Probably the most important reason.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson