Getting a new tool into my basement workshop is always a challenge. I mentioned before how difficult it sometimes is getting finished stuff out of there. My stairs are narrow, the hallways at the top of the stairs is narrow, there’s no room at the bottom of the stairs. I have a sofa in the basement. I had to take it apart to get it down there. No, it’s not the kind that can be taken apart.

Luckily, the radial arm saw was in many pieces and came down the stairs easily.

The last tool that was hard to bring down the stairs was the table saw. John helped with that, as well as with assembling it. The top alone is pretty heavy.

The lathe was easy to bring down the stairs. It is, incidentally, still upside-down on the floor where I left it when I brought it home. Who needs a lathe?

I got my second oldest son to help assemble the saw cabinet and the saw. It took two people to get the arm in position. When it was new, I imagine it would have been easier to do it by yourself, since the motor would not have been mounted when you installed the arm.

I purchased this without having turned it on. In spite of how good it looked, there was part of me thinking it would blow sparks or do nothing at all when the switch was tripped, that maybe the outside was clean and the inside was corroded all to nothing. I’ve seen lots of hollow apples.

But, no, in spite of having spent over 20 years not being turned on, it roared to life immediately. Well, purred to life is more accurate. It makes less noise than my table saw.

Certainly, we all know what comes next. There’s this kind of Christmas morning syndrome, stemming from years of looking at things on display in stores and the sensation of finally getting what you want only to be completely incapable of thinking of anything to do with it.

My saw was brilliantly standing there in an awkward corner of my cluttered basement workshop. Finally acquired and assembled, you’d think it would demand to be used for something.

I could only think of things which could just as easily or more easily be done with the tablesaw and miter saw.

Anyway, I first had to make a little screw clamp to hold the fence in position (for anyone interested, I detailed how I made that little screw clamp in this article). It was over a week before I did that.

That amount of time gave me ample opportunity to read the user’s manual. So, I glanced through that and discovered the author considered there to be real and imminent danger of major body injury by those who decide to actually turn on the saw. Ok, that’s good.

So, tip number one is the most important tip of all: never ever put any part of yourself even for a split second in the path of the blade. The motor sits at the rear of the arm, the blade is spinning like a tire burning rubber at the pole position, any little demon that could potentially make it jump at you will make it jump at you if you put your hand or arm or leg in its projected path.

That’s good news, then. I’d only stand on the saw if it was already off.