Reciprocating Saws

[ERLover]

John B, Saws All is Milwaukees copy righted name, the rest have to call them reciprocating saws. Same thing with Roller Blades skates, the rest have to call them In Line skates.

[JPG]

John B, Saws All is Milwaukees copy righted name, the rest have to call them reciprocating saws. Same thing with Roller Blades skates, the rest have to call them In Line skates.

And we all know how that worked out for 'Frigidaire' and 'skilsaw'.

[ERLover]

I am confused about where Milwaukee stuff is made, there main plant and Corporate Offices is about a half mile from moms house, and they are expanding, I dont know what, offices or some manufacturing. They also have a factory rebuilding/repair shop about 1/4 mile away from it.
I bought my first cordless drill, 12V, Milw. in the mid 90s, I needed some work on it, the trigger went bad, when I dropped it off at there repair place, the guy said, Oh a Panasonic model.

[BuckeyeDennis]

I bought this Ryobi One+ kit a couple weeks ago for $200, was on a better sale then. I needed a recip saw for some yard work, compared to other battery powered, this wasn't much more and often less.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-18 ... /203466936

I paired it with a coarse 9" Diablo limb blade, very easy to insert the blade. I used it a couple weekends ago to trim some ice broken limbs plus some other cleanup. It worked fine cutting some stuff up to maybe 5-6" at largest, although it took awhile. It didn't seem that there was too much vibration, this model is supposed to dampen it. I did find the safety switch a bit awkward to engage in some positions.

I have nothing to compare it against, but was nice to not have to drag an extension cord(s) all around my yard. For me, the price was a good balance of expected quality (probably not as good as Milwaukee, Dewalt; probably better than Harbor Freight if they have a battery powered unit).

Other than the impact driver, which seems fine, I've not used the other tools other than to verify that they do indeed run.

For yard work I have a chain saw. No cord, no batteries, lots of power and large cut capacity. I have never thought of a reciprocating saw as a yard tool.

I have both. Matter if fact, that Ryobi kit is a newer version of the one I have, except that I had to buy the vibratory tool when it came out later.

The recip saw does indeed have it's place in landscape maintenance. Sometimes for light cutting, because it's easier to fire up than the chainsaw, or when you're up on a ladder. I find it handy particularly handy for neatly chopping down my dried ornamental grass in the spring, whereas the chainsaw would sling it all over the place and make a huge mess. But it really shines when you need to cut something down in the dirt. Broken irrigitation pipes, tree roots lifting your sidewalk (or simply in the way of digging a hole) etc. Dirt is bad news for a chainsaw. But for a long reciprocating blade, no big deal.

[Ed in Tampa]

With the exception of the "cheap" reciprocating saws it depends on blades. Excellent blades provide excellent results, good blades good results and junk blades junk results.

I use my Makita recip. for everything cutting pipe, cutting metal, cutting wood, trimming trees to cutting roots.

If I was going to buy today I would get a brand name. I like Dewalt, Makita, Milwakee, Rigid, Porter Cable

[swampgator]

I really hate repeating the same mantra. My 15 year old Dewalt is a horse. It is heavy to me, but the blades are easy to insert and remove. It may be similar to others, but it has a lever on one side and the blades can be inserted either straight up and down or flat so you can cut in almost any direction. Of course, at age 68, it may be heavy to me and not to anyone else. There are many blades to pick from. If you plan on tree and shrubbery trimming, there are pruning blades for that and you can cut a good sized tree down in seconds. I have a couple of palm trees in the yard and it makes a quick job by removing the old freunds. My dear neighbor won't clean her yard and when her rubbish comes across the fence, I get to take it off. Vibration, I allow the saw to pull itself into the tree and just pull on the variable speed trigger until it reaches the speed I prefer. That minimizes the vibration. This type of saw is excellent about reaching in a fence, but you have to be very careful as they will also cut the wire of the fence. These are very reliable and dependable tools. Mine came with a large hinged plastic case and makes it convenient. As long as the blade will reach through a tree like a chain saw, you can cut almost anything like mulberry, pine, mimosa, cedar, magnolia. Also, works well on roots. Blades do break, so safety glasses are advised.

Steve, the old gator

[moose]

Thank you everyone who so thoughtfully responded to my inquiry on this subject. After looking at Lowe's and HD's inventory, I ended up with a $149 Milwaukee. This was more than I intended to spend but for a few bucks more, it got me a longer stroke, orbital action and VS. I felt no need to spend more and enter the professional market. There are some fine saws out there and due to my personal experience with several other Milwaukee power tools, for myself, and with your advice, I feel I have made the correct choice. A battery powered saw would have been nice and as much as battery technology has improved recently, for this application, I don't think battery life would have been adequate.

Thanks again guys.

Moose

[ChrisNeilan]

Good choice

[rlkeeney]

I had a Harbor Freight corded saw that disintegrated while I was using it. As in pieces of metal flying around the back yard. While shopping for a replacement I ran across a posting where some one was using a 20v DeWalt to clear brush. A rave review, I shopped around and found a good price on ebay. I bought the saw two batteries and a charger. I can cut a 6 inch tree down with this thing and cut bush down faster than a second person can drag it off. The really nice thing is that I can cut small trees and brush flush to the ground so there are no stumps to trip over. Expensive but money well spent.

BTW I was going to buy one of the kits but didn't want yet another drill and flashlight. I soon discover that I could get them cheaper buying them individually from eBay.