Saw blades for Bosch reciprocating saw (PFZ 500 E) / Quietest wood saw tech?

[Tom]

I just bought a Bosch PFZ 500 E reciprocating saw for cutting small blocks of wood to go in my woodburner. It's ok, not as fast as a circular saw but rather less noisy which is good as I will be using it often and it will annoy the neighbours less.

The manual suggests only using replacement blades with an 'M' shank. Are these 'M SHanks blades' some kind of generic fit for other electric saws. I hope so because the replacement Bosch parts are much more expensive than jig-saw blades; I thought they would be similarly priced.

Also, for interest, is there some kind of quiet cutting tool that could slice its way through a floor joist sized piece of wood? I am thinking perhaps of a slow turning saw but with high torque, or maybe rugged highly leveraged guillotine?

[John Rumm]

For faster cutting you need an orbital or pendulum action, which looking at the description I suspect that may not have. Using coarse "green wood" blades (if available) however would also help.

Here I think you may have a problem - it looks like Bosch have set out to produce a clone of the astoundingly useless (but oddly quite well selling) B&D scorpion saw! One of its many failing being its proprietary non standard blades which greatly limit choice.

One of the big attraction of "standard" reciprocating saws is the range of cheap blades available. Looking at the photos the blades pictured for your Bosch they don't look exactly like normal blades (the shank has an extra bit on it). However it would be worth buying a pack of cheap ordinary blades to see if it will take them.

Toolstatation sell the silverline green wood ones, which are fine for hacking firewood:

the plus side, Bosch do usually make good blades, so there are plenty worse brands you could be stuck with.

[Tom]

Thanks John,

I am new to these reciprocating saws and the blades for this Bosch PFZ500E model are a bit of a mystery. I have been searching Google for some kind of cross-reference table, and anything that might suggest alternative blades for this model, but other than a reference in its instruction pamphlet to an 'SDS fastening system' I cannot find anything that helps me identify compatible saw blades. The unit came with a couple of blades, one of which is labeled "Top for Wood M1142H HCS" and, as you say, it looks different from the ones at Toolstation and the only places I could find selling it were charging £11 each.

I bought the Bosch saw it from Argos so I think I will return it and get something with more reliably available blades. I note that Toolstation sell the Green Wood blades for £2.49 for 5, that's a good incentive if I can get a suitable driver. Can you recommend a good model under £100 for cutting firewood logs quickly?

[John Rumm]

Yup I use those for tree pruning and hacking roots in the ground - they seem to work quite nicely.

has worked well. If I were buying again I think I would go for a better one since it has turned out to be far more useful than I anticipated. The Axminster one has enough power and is solidly made, however it has no pendulum action, and the blade change requires an Allen key.

Looking at those available, there are some decent spec ones in that price range, but I can't see any with orbital or pendulum action for the price.

entry level Makita fits the price, but will do rough cuts slower than a pendulum one.

There is some general background here: