odd radial saw... whats it do?.

glennster

Well-known Member
was at an auction today and they has this strange dewalt commercialsaw. huge arbor and really thick tapered blades. wood work table had no saw marks on it like a regular radial arm saw from use. what was its purpose. note the thick blades.
a160628.jpg

a160629.jpg

a160630.jpg

a160631.jpg

a160632.jpg

a160633.jpg

a160634.jpg
 
There is a variety of functions there. Some of it is dado cutters, some of it is molding cutters, some saw blades and one is a chamfer cutter. I mean some of the cutters were never really intended to be used on a saw, they were intended to be used on a shaper. I suspect someone turned the shaft straight down and used the saw as a shaper some. I did that with my cheap Craftsman saw until I could afford an actual shaper.
 
Hey Glenn, found some good info for ya!! First, there is an "original" owner's manual for your saw for sale on eBay for $20. Just looking at the cover shows how the cutterhead can be angled, making for some very creative uses!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DeWalt-Mode...540314?hash=item25d05ceada:g:oU4AAOxy4dNSr3Hk


Also, found a free .pdf download that talks about the history of the saw, and then about how to recondition/rebuild the saw. That link is here:
http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/dewaltrebuild.pdf

As all those blades came with it, looks like you got yourself one SWEEEEEEEEET deal!! If you don't mind my asking, what did the saw sell for? It looks to be in amazing condition!!
 
i did not buy the saw, when i saw the size of the blades, i had no idea what it was for. the worktable did not have a saw mark on it, so i assumed
it was for some kind of heave molding fabrication. the saw sold for 180 dollars with all the tooling. there was a lot of huge wordworking
machines there. planers jointers, drum sanders,band saws, foley sharpeners, drill bit grinders, you name it. looked like norm abrams shop. look
on tales at the link to the auction photos. it was all from one guys collection.
 
I saw the site you posted earlier - thanks! From the photos, I thought you had a new toy. Sorry for your loss. *lol*

I saw one on eBay right now on auction - they're trying to get $600 for it. The thing has one standard blade with it, is FILTHY dirty, and the stand looks like it was thrown together out of scraps. Someone at that auction got a GREAT deal!! Just those blade alone are worth far more than what it sold for, even though not as many people would actually use then these days. Boy, those pics you posted really got my blood pumping! :shock: :D
 


Some of those "blades" with the odd teeth and large arbor holes look like cutters for a horizontal metal milling machine. Maybe they are for a big shaper, but they don't look right for that.

The original DeWalt radial arm saw was the top of the line, state of the art back in the day. There are whole books dedicated to the things you can do with them. I've missed several and wish I had the room for one. Outstanding machines, industrial quality, really nice stuff to use.
 
(quoted from post at 06:08:52 05/21/17)

Some of those "blades" with the odd teeth and large arbor holes look like cutters for a horizontal metal milling machine. Maybe they are for a big shaper, but they don't look right for that.

The original DeWalt radial arm saw was the top of the line, state of the art back in the day. There are whole books dedicated to the things you can do with them. I've missed several and wish I had the room for one. Outstanding machines, industrial quality, really nice stuff to use.

Similar thoughts from here. I will venture to guess that not all of those cutters/blades were intended for use with that machine.

Quite often, the folks from the auction company do not know what some of that stuff is, so similar appearing items all get lumped into one pile. I bought a Craftsman radial arm saw several years ago at auction. I had to buy a few boxes of miscellaneous items just to get all of the stuff that SHOULD have been with the saw.
 
I think Brett hit the nail on the head. All the cutters with large center holes are intended for metal work, not on this saw either. But, I've done similar and had bushings made to fit the saw's arbor and blade hole. Using surplus metal tools is much cheaper than new woodworking dado blades. And you can create custom profiles, angles etc.
 
I have experience both in machine shops and Millwork plants, and those sure look like Milling machine cutters to me. I have seen guys using that type of cutters for woodwork, but sometimes the tooth geometry needs to be re-ground, and good luck getting a manufacturer to bless you using a 450 rpm cutter at 3600 rpm. Were they cutting any plastics? Plastics, depending upon type, can take either zero, or negative angle tooling, and thus, can be used without modification. jt
 

Last time I saw a big Dewalt like that was in a professional lumber yard about 30 years ago. They used it for gang cutting massive amounts of lumber.

Carpenter that framed my house had a little smaller one...
 
One of the things that it will do real easy is cut off fingers. While you have one hand on the pull handle, keep your eyes one the OTHER hand that can easily get into the blade!
 
(quoted from post at 15:45:34 05/21/17) One of the things that it will do real easy is cut off fingers. While you have one hand on the pull handle, keep your eyes one the OTHER hand that can easily get into the blade!

Here we go again! Look, ANY SAW is dangerous. I've sen people cut their hands/fingers/legs, etc with table saws, skilsaws, sawzalls, sabre saws, chainsaws, hand saws, hole saws and pretty much any other cutting instrument you can think of, power or not. I don't know what the fascination with telling people that something that obviously requires the brain be engaged before using is, but it seems to be near epidemic these days.

For the record, I've run radial arm saws from 7" to 20" over the years at the hobby and professional level and I still have all my fingers and other body parts. I have a healthy respect for all power tools, but I've gotten hurt with the common 1/2" hand held power drill more than I've ever been hurt with anything else in power tools. Engage brain before using any power tool, leave the booze out of the equation and you'll likely live a long, injury free life.
 
(quoted from post at 04:49:42 05/22/17)
(quoted from post at 15:45:34 05/21/17) One of the things that it will do real easy is cut off fingers. While you have one hand on the pull handle, keep your eyes one the OTHER hand that can easily get into the blade!

Here we go again! Look, ANY SAW is dangerous. I've sen people cut their hands/fingers/legs, etc with table saws, skilsaws, sawzalls, sabre saws, chainsaws, hand saws, hole saws and pretty much any other cutting instrument you can think of, power or not. I don't know what the fascination with telling people that something that obviously requires the brain be engaged before using is, but it seems to be near epidemic these days.

For the record, I've run radial arm saws from 7" to 20" over the years at the hobby and professional level and I still have all my fingers and other body parts. I have a healthy respect for all power tools, but I've gotten hurt with the common 1/2" hand held power drill more than I've ever been hurt with anything else in power tools. Engage brain before using any power tool, leave the booze out of the equation and you'll likely live a long, injury free life.

Power tools scare me, but I use some sort of power tool nearly every day, and so far I've never had an incident. Although I will admit to a few "wake up calls".
 
Those large arbor hole blades with the thick, odd shaped teeth are for a HORIZONTAL MILL , and NOT for the DeWalt Radial-Arm Saw. I think the Auction folks didn't have a clue what they were for, so just lumped everything together with the blades for the Radial-Arm Saw.


:>)
 
Table has no cuts in it because the previous owner was using it as a museum piece, or had dolled it up with a new table thinking it would make the saw sell for more money.

Thing is radial arm saws are mostly obsolete. You can't give 'em away.
 


It may be true that RA saws aren't as popular as they once were, but that doesn't mean they aren't useful. When I was a kid and teen, I didn't know any carpenters, home builders or anyone other than one cabinet maker that had a table saw. Everyone had an RA saw. They are extremely versatile if you take the time to learn to set one up and use it. I know for a fact I've ripped 1000x the lumber on an RA than I have on a table saw. I done moulding, sanding, routing, horizontal boring. I've even used an RA saw as a makeshift surface grinder on metal. People sell the RA short today. If I could only have one stationary power saw, it would be the RA.
 

You want to learn how to really put an RA saw to work for you? This is the is the first book you should get- http://www.mrsawdust.com

This is the second one you should get- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sears-Craftsman-Power-Tool-Know-How-RADIAL-SAW-and-More-Spiral-Softback-/112414299595?hash=item1a2c6a15cb:g:z3oAAOSw8HBZIQuE
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top