Saw-Zall help needed.

I've beat or burned up three reciprocating saws. The first and second were DeWalts, both died when the plastic gearing up front gave up the ghost. The current one is a Ryobi with an easy to release saw blade grabber that doesn't release. I've beat it, oiled, talked nice to it and still NFG. My neighbor loaned me his Skill to finish the job.

Comparative analysis anyone?

I don't mind using a key to remove the blade. The quick release thing just pissed me off, convenient when it works. Plastic DeWalt gears? C'mon, we're manly men, we abuse things.

"Honey, what do you want for Christmas".

What do I tell her?

Thanx, Dan

From what I understand, the older Milwakee (REAL) sawzalls had all metal gears, and held up real well. I have a Milwakee that is about 10 years old, has been beat to death, but just keeps on going. Might want to check out pawn shops, lot's of tools showing up now. Bad times make for good deals.

I work in the construction industry and all I ever see the contractors using is Milwakee. I figure that'sthe best endorsment there is.

I won't buy a berkeleying thing with the DeWalt name on it. +1 for Milwaukee, or HF "Chicago Electric" if you want to go the "disposable" route. I've found that with the HF sawzall, as long as I lube whatever I'm cutting with a little oil, whiskey dick, pb blast, (whatever's within reach,) it won't bind up.

Try to find an older Milwaukee Sawzall. They were made with nicer guts. (Forged?) We have both kinds and we can't kill the old one.

There are 2 different Milwaukee lines. One is their "professional" grade, and one is their budget grade. They are externally nearly identical- the only good way to tell them apart is by the model numbers.

You guessed it- the budget one's got plastic gears.

I can't tell you how to identify them. I am a Porter Cable fan.

While I understand there are a huge number of fans of the Milwaukee, I've tested them both, and Porter Cable Tiger Saw FTW.

The DeWalt is a throw-away tool. It's not bad, if you understand that about it.

Makita also makes a pretty good saw which no one seems to know about.

You didn't mention whether you needed corded or cordless. I was talking about corded. I use a DeWalt cordless (and plan to throw it away when it dies).

Oh, if you want a sawzall, you'll have to buy a Milwaukee. It's a brand name. The others are reciprocating saws.

Ok, putting my "factory authorized service centre" hat back on. The shop I used to run was a warranty depot for every major brand except Bosch.

Milwaukee takes the cake. 5-year warranty and a damn tough tool.

The "sawzall" is the homeowner grade unit. Plenty tough and reasonably unbreakable.

The "Super Sawzall" is the pro unit, has a reciprocating counterweight to reduce vibration to near nil and only breaks through neglect.

The Sawzalls use an orbital bearing system instead of a gear with an eccentric and connecting rod. It's stronger, period.

The OLD De-Walt recip used an orbit bearing but it has been discontinued and replaced by a cheaper geared eccentric system.

Hitachi is next with a 5 year warranty but the tools aren't as tough.

Makita, De-Walt and Bosch are all about the same level of toughness with 1-year, three-year and one-year warranties respectively.

Next are the "hang it on a wall so my friends know that I own tools" brands like Ridgid, Ryobi, Porter cable (Sorry, they're junk, you must have a very good one or take good care of it), Skil and Black and Decker.

BTW, If you're shopping, here's who owns who:

TTI tool group = Milwaukee, Ridgid, Ryobi

Stanley = De-Walt, Porter-Cable, Delta, Black and Decker

Bosch = Bosch, Skil and Dremel

Makita = Makita

Hitachi = Hitachi

Shawn

Trans_Maro wrote: (Sorry, they're junk, you must have a very good one or take good care of it), Skil and Black and Decker.

Actually, I've owned about 14, abused for decades by crews of 20 or more. Also owned most of the other brand professional grade tools.

We've only retired 2 Porter Cables in 23 years.

Gonna have to respectfully disagree on this one. They were the first ones to incorporate an orbital cut motion, and have a great keyless chuck. Their saw has a larger radius orbit for the orbital action, giving it a more aggressive cut. The quality of their gearhead has, however, dropped a bit since they started marketing through Lowes. Not enough to make me stop buying them.

We've entered competitions with them (kind of like loggers competitions, only builders) and beaten an awful lot of guys yielding Milwaukees.

But, heck I understand a lot of folks don't like them. Suits me- keeps the price down.

Important note again:

I'm talking about CORDED saws. The Porter Cable 18V is trash.

The OP hasn't said whether he meant corded or cordless.

914Driver wrote: "Honey, what do you want for Christmas". What do I tell her? Thanx, Dan

i'd go with PIITB...

i use almost exclusively dewalt power tools. i killed my 18v saw after 5 years, by cutting up a car running nonstop through 7 batteries. melted something inside. bought a new one today.

my corded dewalt isnt the $99 one, it is the step up one with the quick change blade. extremely powerful and we use it 4 days a week doing remodeling work, then it comes home and gets the occasional car to cut up.

SVreX wrote: Makita also makes a pretty good saw which no one seems to know about.

I have one of the corded Makitas. I have had it for 5 years and had no problems.

So far it has pruned lots of trees, cut numerous landscape timbers, dismantled a 26' x 30' pole barn/garage and a 8' x 10' metal storage shed.

It also reduced an older F150 to small enough pieces (frame included)to be put in the trunk of my Focus to go to the scrap dealer.

Nothing cordless please.

I have a plug in black and decker. I love it. reliable as all get out.

I have a Porter Cable that's about 6 years old and I have beat the snot out of it cutting all KINDS of stuff; framing lumber, 1/4"steel plate, thick aluminum etc. So far, so good. FWIW: I also have a Porter Cable pneumatic framing nailer which shoots 'full round' nails and it's been great as well.

All 3 of my DeWalt drills (9.6v cordless, 3/8 and 1/2 corded) have done quite well running hole saws for roll cages, step drills, normal drills, etc. The cordless one's batteries are getting sorta weak (it too is 6 years old) but that's my only complaint. I bought a Black and Decker 1/2 corded drill a few years ago, right out of the warranty period the damn brushes would stick (had to smack it to get it to go) and I replaced it with the DeWalt.

My father had Milwaukee Sawzall that was old when he got it. It's still going strong. I have a newer Milwaukee that's about 15-20 years old. I have yet to break or wear out anything on these two saws.

If you plan on using any kind of power tool alot then try to spend the extra cash for the "Professional" grade of that companies tool line.

Popular Mechanics just tested Sawsalls, and agreed that the Milwaukee unit still rocks.

What they said.

When we signed the papers and became owners of a truly hideous and completely berkeleyed-up 1949 house in 2000, being essentially broke I went to the largest pawn shop and bought the essential tools I didn't have: A used Milwaukee Sawzall Pro and a 14.4 volt Ryobi cordless drill with a pile of batteries.

The Ryobi, to it's credit served yeoman duty through it's abusive 2 or 3 year career, but eventually was completely used up and replaced by an 18V DeWalt XRP which despite being branded a crap product by plenty of experts has been really excellent, I like it enough that when I decided I couldn't live without a hammer drill any longer I bought the 18V XRP hammer drill. Since I have plenty of batteries I got the burliest DeWalt 1/2" impact wrench for tire swapping at the track and autocrosses.

As for that Sawzall (or as a contractor friend says they say down South - a "Sawz-y'all") it's bombproof. I have every kind of saw there is: Horizontal and vertical bandsaws, a multiplicity of angle grinders from 4 to 9 inches, 6-1/2 and 14" cut off saws, compound miter, scroll, jig, circular. There's an oxy-acetylene and a plasma cutter too. Air whiz-wheels and recip hacksaw, nibblers, on and on...

But for some jobs nothing works like a Sawzall with the correct blade. And I've used it really, really hard. Brutally actually, yet it goes on and on and on.

We noticed something interesting this year with some tools.

For a good while there was a distinct difference between B&D, DeWalt and Porter-Cable.

When DeWalt bought B&D and Porter-Cable, they kept the B&D industrial tools but made them black and yellow with the DeWalt name on them, the big framing circ saws are still the old B&D Sawcat design. They pretty much left Porter-Cable alone. The cheap B&D was kept as the low-end homeowner stuff.

This year, the new Porter-Cable circ saw comes out and it is identical to the B&D cheapo circ saw in every way except colour.

Don't spend the extra $$$ for Porter-Cable when all you're getting is B&D in a cheap suit and tie.

Porter-Cable still makes some of the best routers in the business though.

The XRP stuff isn't all that bad. Their cordless angle grinder really impressed me this year. It was the 36V unit though.

One thing with DeWalt, they never post the amp hour rating on their batteries like everyone else. Sure, they're light but is that because there's less cells in the battery?

The best cordless drills going were the old Bosch 12V and 14.4V that don't have brush service covers on the side. These drill actually use the Bosch automotive wiper motor and are damn near indestuctable. When the brushes do finally wear out, they can be replaced even though they're soldered in place. Just buy the brushes for the drill with replaceable brushes, cut the wire and solder the new brushes in.

Shawn

I was working in a junk yard and all we used was ryobi cordless saws, they just work, well until the battery dies anyway....

I do have an sawzall, the original one infact, its a 2 speed model. on and off, it has worked great since new, and now even though all the paint has been rubbed off over the years it still works like new.

Andrew

I have a Porter cable Tiger Saw I got for christmas about 12 years ago. Besides the toolless chuck getting jamed which was replaced for free, it has been great.

I have a 20yr old Milwaukee professional that is ridiculous. It was big bucks back when I got it but looking back it was $ well spent. It has operated flawlessly thru several home renovations (packed full of plaster dust too), concrete destruction, cut 30" of .75 thick steel plate because I had no torch and sawed more than one car into chunks that could be put out for the trash. Its still on its original brushes. The only thing it ever needed was a new power cord because yours-truly got a little over-zealous while taking down a wall and sawed right thru it.