PrincetonBrat

If you're cutting a number of similar tenons, I'd agree with others that the conventional methods they like are fine, be it router, dado blades, band saw, or tenoning jig. This method has worked fine for me for 40 years for singles or a pair, although you really need a flat-cut tooth to get a smooth cheek. To use a standard ABT blade would leave a considerably rough finish.

Why is it that I'm torn between the YES and NO? It's because I've run across many "woodworkers" who are NOT comfortable at the saw. They've got the money to buy the fine equipment, but they don't have the experience or exposure to problem-solving that build up like coats of lacquer on yout skill level. Add to that today's outrageous lawsuit environment where no one is responsible for his own actions anymore, I'd say, "protect yourself" and don't bother to publish it. You've reached the audience most likely to benefit from it here anyway.

My vote does not matter, as I have my first and LAST RA. What others choose for their shop is a personal matter. But I've worked wood for 50 years, and bought my Craftsman RA ten years ago, used. How did I do without it before?

If your RA is trying to "jump out" at you, you probably have a positive-rake blade, WRONG for a RA. You need a negative-rake blade. Forrest make a couple of EXCELLENT blades specifically for RAs. I can peel paper-thin end-cuts at will. Using a table-saw blade in an RA is a BAD practice.

If you saw keeps going out of alignment, you've got something wrong, and you need to spend some time with the tool's manual and instructions. Once I set mine up, it's been DEAD-ON PERFECT ever since.

I always have a high degree of respect for what ANY power too can do to the himan body. The RA is no exception, and, until recently, I thought mine was a bit on the unsafe side, what with an exposed blade, rickety guard assembly that usually got in the way, and poor dust collection provision. But if you own one of many qualifying Craftsman RAs, you can check the sears.com site, keywords "radial saw recall", and you'll find they will send you a VERY NICE kit to replace your blade guard with a much better, safer unit, with integrated dust collection port and a handle-mounted lever to raise it and lower it on demand, new table and fence MDF (!), new mounting hardware, and a GREAT manual to show you how to upgrade the saw and re-align it. You don't need a receipt, but you will need the model and serial. It made my RA like new, and made me feel a LOT safer. and it was FREE!

I've used fixed- and sliding-miter saws, and they have their uses, but for me, this is a shop tool I will NOT release. No need to. It should outlast my lifetime, and maybe my son-in-law will take it then. Until then, it's MINE!