My Dad passed along to me the radial arm saw he bought when I was a young teen. After we set it up, we read and re-read the manual for a full 24 hours before making the first cut. So far, so good. I don't use it enough to ever get comfortable with it.

Anyway, I'm very sorry to hear of your accident.

Now to cheer you up a little. Tom Young's question about how it happened reminds me of the joke about the shop foreman who comes in to find a guy standing at the table saw with blood dripping down and a finger missing. The foreman asks him how it happens and the guy says, "Well, I was standing at the saw like this and pushing it through like this and.... (zing!)... Oops, there goes another one.

A relative of mine from Cushing, Maine recalled a story years ago. He used to work in his shop late into the night. Occasionally, he'd get an odd feeling about his fingers and the saw, almost a fascination. Then the cold sweat would come and he'd realize he must shut down and leave IMMEDIATELY! True story!