Mitre Saw Blades (2023 Update)

[Cursitor Doom]

Screwfix are doing a mitre saw I quite liked the look of. Had rave reviews online, it did. I was just about to commit to order one when I suddenly thought I'd best check first to see what the availability of spare blades for it was. Turns out there isn't any! This is a 210mm diameter disk and it looks like nobody makes 'em! Looking through the rest of Screwfux's range it appears that all their mitre saws use non-standard diameter blades, replacements for which are either unobtainium or else bleedin' expensive. However, I still need a mitre saw with a sliding whatsit and a single bevel feature. Any suggestions? I'll be cutting wood and mild steel with it, in case that matters. Thoughts?

[GB]

Screwfix have 30 different 210mm circular saw blades for sale. What's the problem?

[GB]

[Andy Burns]

Use a 205mm (or after careful checking, a 215mm)?

[Cursitor Doom]

None of which are specifically designed to cut mild steel. I want the kind of blade with you find in the larger angle grinders. I prefer to buy separate blades for wood and metal as I don't trust these 'multi-material' ones to cut steel for very long before becoming useless.

[nothanks]

If you're serious about mild steel then look at the Evolution Rage range

- the website sometimes has returned items available for a good discount. The metal-cutting blade is good for, errr, metal but not so good for wood. Whatever you choose, if you're going to cut metal with it make sure it's completely sealed. Had you considered using a thin cutting blade in an angle grinder for the metal cutting, and getting a standard mitre saw for wood?

[GB]

So, is this actually anything to do with the blade diameter?

[GB]

Here's yet another 210mm blade that does exactly what you want.

Why whinge instead of googling?

[Andy Burns]

shouldn't a steel cutting saw run a lot slower (half rpm?) of a wood/alu blade?

[GB]

Would the manufacturers of a metal-cutting circular saw blade take into account that few saws have a variable speed?

[Andy Burns]

Dunno, that saxton blade says it's for 2800 rpm, and will fail quicker above that speed, assuming the O/P is looking at the £99 titan, that says no-load 5000 rpm.

[alan_m]

[Cursitor Doom]

I've been doing that for years. I need the mitre feature for the steel more than the wood. I find free-hand cutting steel box section mitres is very hard indeed to get right. So yeah, I already have an angle grinder and a Skill saw for wood. Oh, and the saw I thought about buying was one of their Evolution models. But like I say, they're all irregular size disks.

[Cursitor Doom]

That's not what a metal cutting blade looks like, though. Probably get away with sawing through a couple of rusty nails in a plank of wood, but constant metal cutting?? I doubt it.

[Cursitor Doom]

It was a Titan that I was considering, it was this one:

But like I say, if spare blades are an issue, I'll give it a miss.

>

[nothanks]

If you want to cut MS you need a blade with the appropriate tips (material, hook/rake, etcetera) and, AFAIK, in the hobby or light pro area the only option is Evolution. If you're concerned about how to use it for wood then get a standard wood blade that's the next size down and, if necessary, get bushes for the hub. I guess you could put a metal-cutting blade on a regular mitre saw, but if the saw has any holes the swarf is bound to get in. FWIW, for metal I use an Evolution Rage2 with an "Evolution 66TBLADE 66T TCT Mild Steel Cutting Saw Blade 355mm" blade (much better than the compromise blade that's shipped with the saw); it's a crude saw but does the job well. For wood I use a Bosch GCM8SJL with a "Makita B-09058

216mm x 30mm x 60T Makblade" blade - an excellent combination but the saw is quite noisy.

[Cursitor Doom]

Thanks for that. It's just that you don't cut metal with a blade with teeth. Cutting blades should abrade away the metal, not try to cut into it. If I try using one of those toothed, 'all-round' blades at a

45' angle to cut mild steel box section, it'll just clatter like mad and glance off. Even if you did manage to get it to bite into the metal and cut a slice off, I'll wager the teeth would be *f***ed* as a consequence. That'd get f****ng expensive with a new disk needed each time!

[Andy Burns]

Looks a better saw for metal cutting.

They don't seem to be unobtanium

[nothanks]

Nope, the Evolution Rage metal-cutting blade works very well and I haven't yet had to replace mine - unlike abrasive discs it doesn't generate showers of sparks. I've used it at various angles on: solid bar, round tube, square tube, H-section, C-section and L-section. I suspect the largest was about 3" diameter round bar. Initially I used the compromise blade that came with the saw and that worked but was not as good as the dedicated metal-cutting blade. I'm only recounting my experience and don't care what you buy, but Mr Google probably has a cache of relevant videos.

[Cursitor Doom]

I dunno. Maybe I'm old and out of touch, but the thought of a spinning, toothed blade approaching a bit of steel fills me with dread. This isn't wood we're talking about here. There's absolutely no give in it.