alt Hacker NewsThe difference between the accidental damage a knife can do versus what a circular saw can do is night and day. And I say this as someone who needed surgery after cutting through a tendon with a knife. :(
Old school radial saws, for example, basically don't exist anymore at the consumer level. They were simply too dangerous. Slider-type miter saws have almost completely replaced them.
Personally, I would even go so far as to suggest that weekend woodworkers should avoid even having a table saw, period.
The main problem with table saws is that they become a "do all" machine even for those kinds of actions that really shouldn't be done on it. You're already at the table saw, and it's often really convenient to just "sorta kinda" bodge something up on the table saw rather than doing the safe thing and changing the blade, putting together a real jig or using a completely different tool.
If you have a track saw or a cheap CNC instead, the danger level is way, way lower, and the result is probably a lot better.
Radial arm saws vanished because they were a compromise solution that slider miters made inferior. They are pretty safe as the blade is constrained to travel along the arm for cross cuts and for rips is locked in place. The usual problem is simply stalling the saw. Rip cuts can definitely kick back if you don’t take the time to set them up right including the guard and anti kickback device. They can do it all, cross cut, compound miter, rip, dado. There were some sketchy shaping attachments I’d be hesitant to use. But the main problem is they are large as a big table saw and the changeover time. A table saw and sliding miter is the way to go now. But I still own a radial and if I had the space in my shop would set it up Norm Abram style.