Cutting floorboards - cheap reciprocating saw?

[F Murtz]

[The Medway Handyman]

> anyone got/tried one of these?

You just want a new power tool don't you :-)

Admit it, you are amongst friends :-)

[David WE Roberts]

>>> anyone got/tried one of these?

Well, yes - I am suffering from reciprocating saw temptation. However I am having multi-tool temptation waved at me from all directions as well.

Just been told there may be a large stock of pallets going free. I am now wondering of a reciprocating saw would be the thing to chop them up for firewood or if I'm still trying to justify a new toy. :-)

Cheers

Dave R

[ARW]

I use what I can.

I do like

The jigsaw cut has never worked for me, and only results in the

Or I just use a jigsaw:-)

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

The multitool reciprocating saws are meant for small jobs in fiddly places, eg where you want to get the saw blade right up against a wall, so far as I'm aware.

Chopping up pallets for firewood needs something more like a small chainsaw or alligator saw, I would think.

[mike]

Cheap / old circular saw for pallets.

[Bill Wright]

If you are only doing a few an angle grinder with a very thin disk works OK. Alternatively you can modify a jigsaw blade so it is exactly the right length. Cut the end across at an angle so the thing digs in v. slightly rather than bashes the joist. Use the saw on a slow setting. You can cut a jigsaw blade with an angle grinder that has a very thin disk... You might find it easier to plane two lengths of wood to exactly the right thickness and run the jigsaw along them. Then you don't need to shorten the blade.

Multitools are absolute s**te for floorboards. Much too slow.

That works well. But get a recip saw anyway. They're always handy.

Bill

[John Rumm]

>>>>> anyone got/tried one of these?

I think one of these would be really nice for plumbing in those situations where you can't get a pipe slice in:

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Bill, this must mean peace on earth and the end of poverty and starvation. I'm in complete agreement with you. ;-)

[Bill Wright]

I can't believe the uses I find for mine.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite. I can understand a pro being more economical with power tool choice since he wouldn't want to carry lots around if not essential. But in my case at home - where I have all the ones mentioned in this thread and more

- my first choice for cutting a floorboard is the jigsaw. However, if it were on an exposed floor where a perfect cut was needed, because it was going to show afterwards, I'd likely go for something else. Preferably not cut the board at all if possible.

I do have a reciprocating saw - a mains Makita - and it hardly ever comes out of the case. Apart from the odd clearance issue, there's not much it can do that a jigsaw can't. And the jigsaw is smaller and more wieldy.

[Fred]

How are you supposed to use one of these? I bought one but it didn't come with any instructions. What I have done, rightly or wrongly, is use the saw "upside down": using the rounded nose to cut into the floorboard. It has always worked for me, though I wonder if I am doing it right or if there is a better way?

I have tried the snapped off jigsaw but found that it just bounced around everywhere. One thing with using a jigsaw or circular saw is that you need to know how thick the boards are before you begin.

So then, like the OP, I bought a reciprocating saw, just a cheap one from Aldi IIRC. If you get the angle of the blade wrong, that can bounce like the jigsaw too, to but most of the time it is fine and much quicker than doing it by hand.

I have since bought a multi tool, again a budget Lidl model, and cutting floorboards was one of the main excuses to buy it. I have not done so yet. People say it will be slower but you can get wider (60mm ish) blades from ebay, which might speed things up a bit?

HTH

[stuart noble]

I'd almost rather use a router against a straightedge and settle for a

3mm kerf. Certainly fast and neat, and the straight cutters are cheap enough if you hit a nail

[polygonum]

If you are going to use a router, there is an argument in favour of creating a lip/step rather than straight through. That is what things like the Trend floor hole cutter thingy does.

Couldn't help wondering what happens to the price of straight cutters if you don't hit a nail. Do they suddenly go up in price? :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You need to grind the blade so it is more like the original end if it doesn't snap in the correct place. And bring the blade to the work slowly but firmly. It does need a bit of practice (and courage ;-)) to develop the technique, but once mastered is far quicker than any other way.

[John Rumm]

I find the normal MO is to reach into the toolbox, slash your hand on the curvy bit, and then seep claret all over the place ;-)

I think that is the idea...

I tend to use the narrow blades, and just do either 3 or 4 plunge cuts side by side, or you can plunge in at a tilt and then do a travelling cut if you want. Its reasonably quick. Doing it with the round "segment saw" is a bit slower though IME.

[GMM]

heds do the job?

If I was doing a few, the multitool is definitely the way to go. It takes = a while as you have to do a few=20 plunge cuts to get across a board but you lose less in the kerf for when it= goes back. I cut a couple of boards with my Bosch while my brother was watching and he went straight ou= t and bought one for=20 himself.

If you want to go straight along a joist across many boards (where you will= definitely hit a nail=20 somewhere) then probably a circular saw set to the right depth is the thing= to use, with a TCT blade. I=20 saw that Screwfix are doing the evolution rage at half price just now, whic= h for 50 quid looks a good=20 buy (or you can get their blades to fit an existing saw).

Not entirely convinced I'd want to do that though as having all the cuts al= igned on one joist may=20 detract from the strength of the floor when you put the boards back down. = I'd probably want to just=20 cut somewhere to make a start then try to remove the boards conservatively = so they go back with the=20 original overlaps etc. as far as possible.

[Fred]

Yes, it would be very good for this. I understand they are particularly good for demolition tasks, when quickness is more important than quality of cut. I have found mine useful to cut roots when trying to dig up old plants. You can get the blade in the soil without having to worry about it. HTH

[Fred]

Thanks. I can't remember, I only tried it once, but I may not have grinded the end. I'll have another go next time.

[Fred]

Thanks for confirming I was doing it right.

I wasn't thinking of using the round blade; I don't know how you would cut the edges of the floorboard without hitting the adjacent boards with a semicircular one: the same problem you would have with a circular saw. The ones I had seen were flat blades about 60mm long. Like this:

I must admit I have not tried one yet.