"Double Cut" saws. Anybody here use one?

John Pollman

Member
Messages
1,332
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Hi folks!

A while ago I saw an infomercial for a "double cut" saw which is basically a small 5" circular saw with twin counter rotating blades. It looked pretty good but being the type of commercial that it was, I didn't think much of it. I was in Harbor Freight the other day and saw that they have them too. Then I was at the BORG this morning and I saw that RIDGID has one also. I would think that the RIDGID would be much nicer than the HF flavor one. The HF one sells normally for I think $119 but it's on sale for $89. The RIDGID sells for $149 so I think that if I were to take the plunge, I'd spend a few more buck and opt for the RIDGID.

It just looks like a pretty nice little saw and you're supposed to be able to cut wood, plastic, & metal without changing the blades! Anyone here use one? If so, how do you like it?

Thanks for any input!

John
 
That Sears unit looks a lot like the HF one. The HF one is rated at 7 amps and the Sears one is 7.8 amps. The RIDGID unit is a 10 amp unit which is a little beefier and would be nice but I like the design of the HF and Sears units a little better so it's a toss up. The thing of it is that a couple months ago I bought a Ryobi flooring saw that has a motor rated at 7 amps. I figured it would be fine for laminate work but not hardwood. But just today I finished installing 550 square feet of solid 3/4 Oak flooring and that Ryobi 7 amp motor worked just fine. There is one big plus to buying the RIDGID though and that's the warranty is much better than the HF unit I'm sure. ;)

John
 
The idea of the 2 blades which counter rotate is to be able to plunge cut and have little or zero kickback. It originally came out for demolition and rescue work. I have never used one but can certainly see the advantages. If the rigid is within what you want to spend then I would go for it over the other two.

Also with rigid many of their tools are made by name brand manufacturers and they dont always make a design exclusive for rigid but instead cast their outer bodies in the rigid orange and slap a rigid sticker on them.

sears/craftsman on the other hand also has name brand manufacturers but will be made to their specs so that you have to go to sears for any replacement parts and service or worse you have to buy their accessories because no one elses will fit.
just food for thought....
 
One use I could see for a saw like this is in flooring repair. I just finished installing about 550 square feet of hardwood today. After I was about 75% of the way done with the job I discovered one board that had an issue. It wasn't too bad but it was right in the middle of the main living room. I was so mad because I hadn't noticed it earlier. I was installing 5" wide planks and was already several rows beyond where the problem occurred. I wasn't about to rip out those several rows just to replace one plank. I pointed out the problem and told my customer that I'd handle it one way or another. It wasn't a major issue but just a blemish on the very edge of one plank. I was able to correct the issue and the customer was satisfied with the fix. If that hadn't worked, I was going to cut that one plank out and replace it.

A job I did for a client about seven years ago involved installing over a a thousand square feet of 5" oak plank flooring. I finished the job and it came out beautifully. They wanted the floor installed completely before the custom built cherry kitchen cabinets were installed. I finished the install and they were very pleased with the result. The cabinets all showed up and the installers started laying things out to get them installed. It was only at that point that the installers noticed the plumber had placed the gas supply pipe for the island cook top in the wrong location by about 18". So now I had a pipe sticking up right in the walk way by the cabinets. :eek: I happened to be there when the problem was discovered so I headed home and got my tools. It didn't take too long but I was able to patch the hole and you can't even tell there ever was an issue.

If I had one of these double cut saws, it would have made that fix much quicker and easier. Making clean safe plunge cuts in that situation are a must.

John
 
Top