Recommend a reciprocating saw

dnme

I have been looking at reciprocating saws and wonder if you might recommend any or more importantly tell me which ones to avoid.

I have some fibreglass boat restoration work to do but would also like the functionality of cutting wood and metal. It would be used around the home for DIY.

I like the look of the GMC RC1200 one. Any comments most welcome.

Big thanks

paddy147

dnme wrote: »

I have been looking at reciprocating saws and wonder if you might recommend any or more importantly tell me which ones to avoid.

I have some fibreglass boat restoration work to do but would also like the functionality of cutting wood and metal. It would be used around the home for DIY.

I like the look of the GMC RC1200 one. Any comments most welcome.

Big thanks

You will pick a half decent sabre saw up in Woodies,BnQ or Argos for alot cheaper than that 1.

60-80 euro will get you 1.

I got a Powercraft sabre saw in Lidl 2 years ago for 40 euro,and its still going strong,and Ive cut through everything and anything with it.

Ive cut through cars,steel pipe,floorboards even even 9 inch thick old reclaimed railways sleepers soaked in thick creasote.

dnme

paddy147 wrote: »

You will pick a half decent sabre saw iup in Woodies,BnQ or Argos for alot cheaper than that 1.

60-80 euro will get you 1.

I got a Powercraft sabre saw in Lidl 2 years ago,and its still going string,and Ive cut through everything and anything with it.

Even 9 inch thick old reclaimed railways sleepers soaked in thick creasote.

I was in Woodies today, the only saw of this type is this Black & Decker Scorpion. It gets very bad reviews.

yoshytoshy

That saw your looking at on amazon looks good. Try and get something over 1000watts and you shouldn't have any trouble.
I've been using a saw for over fifthteen years and all it's still going ,it's an atlas copco model.

Edit: McQuillans in blanchardstown has a selection of sabre saws ,might be worth a look.

gsxr1

beware of the cheap ones.

This type of saw needs to be decent as they take a good bit of punishment .

Buford T Justice

I have a Makita one and its a beast. If you can afford them, they're one of the best

Carlow52

adjustable/reversible front shoe
>1000 watts
variable speed
comfortable, rubber padded grip in front.
universal type blade holder, beware of custom options

the one u provide the link to looks good, I have the adjustable handle on an angle grinder and it works well.

Just check cost of blades, u may be surprised

scwazrh

I recently bought the same makita sabersaw . It cost €180 and its brilliant last week I used it to cut up a steel attic tank., PVC windows and to remove some 4" timber posts. No problem to it at all. As said above sabre saw do real hard work so no point in buying a cheap one,it simply wont last

beldin

I bought a Ryobi saw in B&Q a couple of years ago and it is fantastic. Great bit of kit.

DublinDilbert

If its only to be used around the home for DIY, you can't really compete with the Power Craft one from Aldi/Lidl for €30. I think mc quillans in blanch have some of these for sale too...

I've had one for the about the last year and have cut anything and everything with it, great bit of kit.

paddy147

DublinDilbert wrote: »

If its only to be used around the home for DIY, you can't really compete with the Power Craft one from Aldi/Lidl for €30. I think mc quillans in blanch have some of these for sale too...

I've had one for the about the last year and have cut anything and everything with it, great bit of kit.

+1

Best 30 euro Ive spent so far on a diy tool in the last 2 years.:D

Buford T Justice

I thought that was you're cordless no?

dnme

Thanks for the replies folks. I might go with my OP suggestion.

paddy147

Fingers McGee wrote: »

I thought that was you're cordless no?

Yeah the Rok 18V cordless from Woodies is very good aswell.

But for 30 euro the Parkside sabre saw wins hands down.

The amount of old reclaimed railway sleepers it went through was unreal,still going strong too.:D

dnme

Now there's a whole new question, should I go for mains or cordless?

paddy147

dnme wrote: »

Now there's a whole new question, should I go for mains or cordless?

Id go with mains and just use an extension lead,if you need to.

Constant recharging can be a right pain,when trying to do alot of work with a power tool or get work done in a limited time scale

dnme

paddy147 wrote: »

Id go with mains and just use an extension lead,if you need to.

Constant recharging can be a right pain,when trying to do alot of work with a power tool or get work done in a limited time scale

Yea you're right

Buford T Justice

If its only for occasional use, then the corded one would be better. Batteries won't hold their charge if idle for long periods.

yoshytoshy

Even the best cordless sabre saws eat the batteries. It's not worth getting a cordless one unless your buying a whole set of tools that use the same batteries.

A corded saw will work faster aswell ,nothing worse than a wasted day.

dnme

What I would really like is a saw where I can either angle the blade (up / down / left / right) or angle the handle. The GMC above does that but it's a brand I never came across before and I cannot get any info on blades for it.

So does anyone know of a brand that will allow blade or handle rotation ?

yoshytoshy

dnme wrote: »

What I would really like is a saw where I can either angle the blade (up / down / left / right) or angle the handle. The GMC above does that but it's a brand I never came across before and I cannot get any info on blades for it.

So does anyone know of a brand that will allow blade or handle rotation ?

Blades for sabre saws are standard ,ranging in price from €3 to about €8 each.

If the blade is strong enough and the saw aswell ,you can usually manouver what way the blade cuts ,but it's never going to be as precise as a jigsaw.

That GMC brand seems to get good reviews on all it's tools ,so it seems to be an ok brand. Their circular saws are very cheap aswell.
EDIT : Your best to go into a toolshop and handle a few saws ,that saw on amazon seems to have a lot of knick knacks. One thing about sabre saws is the less knick knacks the better because they shake like hell and all you can do is hold on for dear life

Antiquo

dnme wrote: »

Now there's a whole new question, should I go for mains or cordless?

I have a Makita and a B&Q own brand which I had to buy a few years ago as some muppet forgot to pack the Makita in the van. The B&Q one is surprisingly still going strong although I did break the sole plate off but a weld soon sorted that.

Both are mains and if you are only DIY'ing with occasional use go for mains as you have more power for heavy/thick wood and metal.

Also as it won't be in regular use you're not faffing around with charging flat batteries.

dnme

Well, in the end I went for a DeWalt DW304PK. It does the 4 position blade clamp that I was after. Got a decent price on Ebay.

Buford T Justice

Good quality tool but not necessarily the cheapest tho. A good buy. Is it 110 or 240?

dnme

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Good quality tool but not necessarily the cheapest tho. A good buy. Is it 110 or 240?

Fingers, it's 240v. I got it for STG£115 delivered

Buford T Justice

That's a good price, good buy. Bet of luck with it... but they are workhorses.