Sawzall

[Finnius]

My dept. is thinking of picking up sawzall's to equip our engine co. so they can get going on extrication while waiting for our engine that has the hydraulics on it.We are looking at the cordless Milwaukee 18v, and the cordless Dewalt 24v with the ac adapter.Does anyone have any experience / recommendations that would help us? Thanks for any help.

[BigRig]

Best bet, stay with the corded models if you've a generator on the engine. Otherwise, I'd suggest the DeWalt with the 110v transformer.

Invest in GOOD blades and train with the tool!

[nmfire]

Two points:

1. Yes, you should definately get a reciprocating saw to supliment your hydrolic tools. They are worth their weight in gold no matter how silly it seems compared the big god-like spreaders and cutters.

2. FORGET THE SAWZALL!! They suck. Get the DeWalt reciprocating saw. It comes with two batteries and AC Power adaptor. The thing cuts a car like a hot knife through butter. We picked up one to demo and actually sawed a Honda in half with it. When it was done, the sawzall was still on the other side of the car. It so much better than the sawall, I wish we have 6 of them.

[Stuart]

We have the 24V Dewalt saw with two batteries and the 110V power pack. It's been great - easy to use - very strong and reliable.

[shammrock54]

We use Bosch 24v saws and love them. definatly a great addition to any extrication scene.

[KAPNKRNCH]

I like the dewalts, but dont forget that a hacksaw with excellent quality blades is almost as fast, and you can put opposing blades in and cut with both strokes, we usually prefer lennox blades for all of our saws.

[NCKSFIRE]

We attended a county wide farm extrication training last week. We were the only department with a sawzall. The other depts used our saw to cut augers, and shafts and sheet metal that the hurst tools wouldn't. They are both looking at buying one. I like the corded ones. We are a volunteer dept, and don't have a huge volume of calls. As long as the generator starts or the inverter on the rescue works we can cut. Depending on batteries to be at full charge would be risky for us. Neighboring rescue dept has a cordless dewalt. When we trained with them last year. The battery went dead about halfway through the training. Someone had forgot to recharge it. They work good on cutting a windshield out.

[Weruj1]

we have a corded Sawz-a-All and we won a cordless 24v Dewalt at a competion here 2 summers ago ...........never really compared the 2 side by side.........we have a 1000W portable Honda generator that we couple the saw with and it does a good job.

[firenresq77]

We have an 11 amp Milwaukee corded recip saw with the orbital cut and it works great. I prefer the corded over the cordless, so I don't have to worry about dead batteries. We have a 200' Cord reel to our Hydraulic generator, plus another probably 150' on 2 separate hand reels. Also have a portable Honda genetator if needed.

[Rescue101]

NM,I hate to bust yer bubble but I've got an 11 amp Supersawsall (corded)that will kick the snot out of your cordless Dewalt on any job.We did saw evaluations two years ago with the intent of buying a pair for the new Engine we have coming.NO ONES cordless out performed this saw,PERIOD.We use Torch blades on it and even a entry level firefighter was cutting two posts to the cordless's one.And that with one of my better extricators running the cordless.Amps is power and it takes power to sever iron.That being said I prefer the Dewalt cordless to the other cordless but so far I haven't found anything that beats the 11 amp Milwaukee.We used this tool fairly extensively at the last BRR in Concord and all that used it were happy with the performance.T.C.

[DFurseth]

We have both Milwaukee (corded) and a DeWalt 24v cordless. My preference is the DeWalt due to the blade holder design. I have NEVER dropped a blade with the DeWalt, however the Milwaukee quick-change holder looses one once in a while. A well respected rescue department in our area hates their Milwaukees due the blades falling out (both corded and cordless). I am very impressed with the battery life and power of the 24v as well.

Anyone out there have some secret place on-line to buy blades cheap? Graingers went from $56 for a pack of 25 Milwaukee 9" Tiorch blades (10 tpi) to $97 in just 8 months!

Daniel Furseth
DeForest WI.

[Bowbreaker]

Daniel,

Im an electrician at my other job. My boss is a electrical and plumbing contractor. We use corded super sawzalls for all of our tough cuts, batteries don't last long enough for continuos cutting, and I don't remember ever dropping a blade that was inserted correctly. One time we had some off breed blades that would not go all of the way to the bottom of the holder, that would sometimes **** off to the side but even those didn't fall out. As for cordless, we have both Dewalt and Milwaukee 18v. I usually grab the Milwaukee. I don't like the lever on the Dewalt. To me it seem left handed. But I grew up using the Milwaukee.

At the fire department we used to have cordless but the batteries were always dead from lack of use. They got used most often when one of the 3 carpenters on the department was working close to the fire hall and need a battery but still not often enough to maintain a full charge.

We use Milwaukee Torch blades both at work and on the department, we can't afford Lennox blades anymore. I pick up the torch blades for $1 to $2 each from tool venders at different farm shows. They usually only have a dozen or so and I buy all they have. They won't tell me their source but seem tickled to sell me all they've got with them. If we need more than I can get this way, we pay about $4/blade at an ag discount store, still cheaper than Lennox blades.
Brad

[nmfire]

Umm, Hello. The DeWalt comes with two batteries AND an AC power adaptor which makes it CORDED saw. The thing is BOTH cordless and corded. It rocks!!

[rescue133lt]

We have two 24v DeWalt saws and a corded DeWalt saw. I have to disagree that putting the adapter on the 24v saws makes them perform as well as the corded saw. While I think the 24v saws are excellent, they are desigened to be cordless and aren't as powerful due to battery conservation concerns. But either choice is excellent.

We found the quick change on the DeWalt to be far easier to use than the Milwaukee. Also, after testing many different types and makes of blades we found that Lennox is far and away the best blade. They area a little more expensive, though.

[Rescue101]

Since we've "blown"up two Dewalt cordless gearboxs in training evolutions I still think I'll stick with my bulletproof Milwakee corded.Chech the weights on these two saws,the Dewalts about 6# lighter.Why you suppose that is?No comparison with AC adapter in,11 amp Milwakee will not hog down like the Dewalt.Don't take my word for it,get your hands on one and do your own test.I'm betting you'll come out with another opinion.T.C.

[firedawg803]

Argue, argue, argue................sound like an old married couple. Truth is, Milwaukee tools are industrial rated. Dewalt is just a division of Black and Decker. I personally have never had any problems with any Dewalt tool. Their cordless tools are real good, but true the batteries don't last long on the sawzall.

Another option that I have not seen discussed is an air saw. I believe they have the same, if not more power than the electric ones.I am not sure of the output rating of airbrake systems, but if it is about 4 cfm, this would certainly be something to consider.

As for cheap saw blades, check out maxtool.com Right now they are running a special. Buy 200 blades, and they will throw in a free Dewalt recip saw.

[Rescue101]

Got one,compared to the 11 amp sawsall;no contest.The air saw is a air hog and most truck systems will be hard pressed to keep up with it's demands.T.C.

[firespec35]

Yes corded saws are always going to have better power than a cordless. But how many departments with corded saws have a saw with the infamous black tape bulge in the middle of the cord from someone cutting the cord and having to get it re-wired?

[lmrchief2]

Dan- do you think the price of blades went up because they found out we were using them in the fire service some how

You know they always charge us more

[Rescue101]

Cut cord?Again,with a Super sawsall,no problem!Cord is replaceable quarter turn lock.T.C.