Reciprocating Saws

[RichZ]

I really need to get a reciprocating saw. It's not a tool that I use often, but when you need it, you need it. I had a Harbor Frieght "heavy duty" model, and for my infrequent use on the farm, it was fine, until I had a roofing project, and spent a few hours cutting the edges off of existing roofing. The head of the saw just broke after several hours of continous use.

So, I think I need something a bit sturdier. Are the cordless reciprocating saws any good? Having one of those sure would come in handy, but I wonder if they have enough power. Anyone have one that they like?

Thanks!!!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

We have a 18v DeWalt we use on our jobsites a lot and it has held up great over the 4 or 5 years we have had it. They have plenty of power and are extremely handy around a farm.

 

[ray66v]

B&D DeWalt make good tools. However; my complaint is, 10 years after the specific type number is out of production, your on your own. They can offer only sympathy if you need parts, even a simple switch. They have done this to me several times now, so I avoid their tools.

If you buy a good tool, you don't expect it to have an expatriation date on it. While I don't expect to be able to use it forever, it is certainly reasonable to expect to be able to buy a switch or brushes, after you have invested good money for a tool.

If you don't use it a lot, you could end up, like me. Tossing a like new, barely used tool, in the trash, over a defective switch you can't get anymore.

Milwaukee on the other hand has gotten me parts for tools over 30 years old. While this is, above and beyond the call, it is appreciated.

 

[gc2310]

Milwaukee is the only one.

 

[SnowRidge]

Bosch makes a 24 volt reciprocating saw I would love to have. You can get in a circular saw/reciprocating saw kit. It gets good reviews. I have never had a problem with Bosch products.

Hmmm, Xmas is coming up.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a Makita 18 volt with the Ion Lithium batteries. I have four batteries and had to have two charging while cutting a cast iron tub in half with it. Any battery powered sawzall tha twill cut a tub in half passes my extreme duty test!!!!

I used to have a Porter Cable sawzall, but I wont recomend that brand to anybody.

My more powerful, corded sawzall is a Milwakee. It's a beast and has more power then I have muscle to control it. With an aggressive blade on it, you can cut through lumber and nails without knowing the difference.

While cutting that tub in half, I kept kicking myself in the rear for forgetting to bring it that day!!!!!!!

Eddie

 

[aczlan]

My more powerful, corded sawzall is a Milwakee. It's a beast and has more power then I have muscle to control it. With an aggressive blade on it, you can cut through lumber and nails without knowing the difference.

While cutting that tub in half, I kept kicking myself in the rear for forgetting to bring it that day!!!!!!!

I cant agree more, I used to work for a guy who had a corded and a 18v cordless Dewalt sawzall, the corded one always had more power, the cordless one was ok, very handy to move around to work on stuff but if you needed to cut something big today, the corded one won hands down.

Aaron Z

 

[SnowRidge]

..........
I used to have a Porter Cable sawzall, but I wont recomend that brand to anybody.

.........

What kind of problems did you have with the Porter Cable saw? You just say you won't recommend the brand. Why not?

I have owned a corded Porter Cable Tiger Saw for years. I have never had any problems with it. I used to use Milwaukee Sawzalls on the job, and my Porter Cable works as well as the Milwaukees did.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've had several Porter Cable tools, and they have all wore out on me fairly quickly. The Tiger Saw, or sawzall, had the metal guard at the end break from fatigue within a year of buying it. Then the motor burned up on me while cutting some rafters in an attic. It was warm up there, but mostly just uncomfortable. The motor started loosing power and then it started smoking.

The quarter sheet sander worked pretty good, but would get hot after allot of use. Then one day, it just didn't turn on for me. I spent a few minutes taking it apart to check out the switch, but that worked fine. The motor was getting power, it just didn't do anything.

The brad nailer was one that I really liked and only had minor issues with it not being 100% on driving the brads in to the same depth all the time. If I was doing trim work with it, I could expect at least two or three brads that wouldn't counter sink like the rest.

Then it got worse. I would stop and add more oil to it and that helped for awhile, but even that stoped helping. A few weeks ago, I gave it to my son to take apart and make into small pieces.

Of those three Porter Cable tools, all three failed on me before I thought they should. I go through tools fairly quickly in my opinion, but some just die sooner then others. I like Makita, Bosch and DeWalt. I'm having good luck with Hitachi, but only have two of them right now. Of the Milwakee stuff that I have, I'm good with some of it, but dissapointed in an orbital sander that I bought. It just doesn't have any power to it. The DeWalt that I bought to replace it is doing great.

Makita is more money then DeWalt, and is a better brand in both power, smoothness and fit. It's a tough call on which one I'll buy, but depending on how often I use it and rely on it really desides which way I'll go.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

One of my brothers had a Milwaukee Sawzall that I've used, and like Eddie said, it was a beast. Personally, I have a corded Makita, a JR3000VT that I've had over 5 years; only cost $95.69 including tax at Lowe's on 7/18/2003, and while I wouldn't say it's been used a lot, I've cut lumber to build a small deck, cut up a older bigger deck to dispose of it, and done a lot of tree pruning.

I've been very happy with my Makita, but it's big enough and heavy enough that I almost need both hands on it while last summer I was helping a son-in-law on a remodeling job and he has a cordless Ryobi that was lighter, easier to use, and so far has held up just fine.