A radial arm saw is a cutting machine consisting of a circular saw

Circular saw

The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...

 mounted on a sliding horizontal arm. Invented by Raymond De Walt

Raymond De Walt

Raymond E. DeWalt invented the radial arm saw in 1922. In 1924, he founded DeWALT Products Company in Leola, Pennsylvania, to manufacture and sell the “Wonder-Worker” .DeWALT, Inc is now a subsidiary of Black & Decker....

 in 1922, the radial arm saw was the primary tool used for cutting long pieces of stock to length until the introduction of the miter saw

Miter saw

A miter saw is a saw used to make accurate crosscuts and miters in a workpiece.-Manual miter saw:The basic miter saw is the manual miter saw. It is a saw suspended on rollers in a metal guide that works with a miter box that allows making accurate crosscuts and miter cuts...

 in the 1970s.

In addition to making length cuts a radial arm saw may be configured with a dado blade to create cuts for dado

Dado (joinery)

A dado , housing or trench is a slot or trench cut into the surface of a piece of machinable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a dado has three sides...

, rabbet

Rabbet

A rabbet is a recess or groove cut into the edge of a piece of machineable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a rabbet is two-sided and open to the edge or end of the surface into which it is cut....

 or half lap joints.