Table and Circ saw blades for metal

groups.google.com search for "ernie new way to cut steel group:rec.crafts.metalworking" yields this thread

Yep, that's the one. Thanks for all the replies. Dan

I've been cutting 4-inch (!) thick 6061 aluminum slabs on my radial arm saw with a Dewalt carbide 12-inch 32-tooth DW3123 circular blade from Home Depot. It throws out a blizzard of aluminum flakes cutting a few mm/sec.

Critically important to clamp well. I use C-clamps on the edge of the table, or drill for lag screws in the interior of the table and use the milling machine clamping kit arms and step-blocks, like on a slotted machine table.

I recklessly started to cut a short piece of 3 x 3 x 1/4 square aluminum tubing without clamping. A tooth caught the work and bounced it off my hand and thence about 50 feet across the lawn. I had eye protection on, but a flying sharp chunk like that could lacerate you pretty good in the face, arms, or torso.

Richard, are you climb cutting, or conventional?

RJ

Conventional ("mostly"), pushing the radial arm carriage away from you, from front to back of the saw table. This maximizes the length of cut possible. I say, "mostly", because if you (recklessly) hand-hold a piece, the end of the cut turns from conventional to climb cutting, as the last part of the cut tends to push the work against the vertical backstop.