Hand-Held Electrical Powered Construction Saws
 Learn more... |
Contents
Common Power Saw Examples
JigSaw
A jigsaw power tool is a jigsaw made up of an electric motor and a reciprocating saw blade. They are useful for cutting through thin woods such as plywood. The blades are small, weak and entirely unsupported at the lower end. To guide a jigsaw on curved cut, it must be steered and not forced to move sideways. The usage of sharp blades is important also to get high quality cuts.
Sawzall
This is a type of saw in which the cutting action is achieved through a push and pull reciprocating motion of the blade. The word Sawzall is actually a trademark of the Milwaukee Electric Tool Company. A Sawzall is also known as a reciprocating saw, or Saber Saw. It has a large blade resembling that of a jigsaw, although much larger. The handle is oriented to allow the saw to be used comfortably on vertical surfaces. The saw has a base plate where the blade attaches to the saw body. The user rests base plate against the surface being cut so that the tendency of the blade to push away from or pull towards the cut as the blade travels through its cycle can be countered.
Skilsaw
Also known as a circular saw, the Skilsaw (or Skil Saw) uses a disc blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor. In carpentry the term Skilsaw or circular saw refers specifically to the hand-held type. The word Skilsaw is actually a trademark of SKIL Power Tools Company, currently a subsidiary of the Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. Shop teachers and carpentry schools typically avoid using the legacy term Skilsaw in favor of circular saw. This saw is probably the most frequently used power tool by most carpenters.
Table Saw
Mitre saw
Also known as Miter Saw, this is a powerd Mitre box in the form of a circular blade chop saw used for making precision crosscuts and miter cuts in wood or other materials. Common uses include framing operations and the cutting of molding and trim.
Radial arm saw
When a circular saw is mounted to a frame with a sliding horizontal arm, it is known as a radial arm saw. It is a large chop saw
A Note on Nomenclature
The terms Jig Saw / Jigsaw, Saber Saw (Sabre Saw) and Sawzall have been confused by individuals of different degrees of time in the carpentry trade. It used to be that a Jig Saw was a saw with a blade fastened at both ends with a small table to lay the work onto and do intricate cuts and a sabre saw was a hand held device with a reciprocating blade and a base plate to do free cutting of patterns or straight cuts.
The terminology has changed now and what used to be called a Jig Saw is now called a Scroll Saw and what used to be called a Saber Saw is now called a Jig Saw. Nomenclature changes often result from cultural differences, trademarks, and successful marketing. Younger people tend to call things by different names.
The term Skil Saw, or sometimes written as one word, Skilsaw, refers to a Circular Saw. Many older carpenters say Skil Saw without recognition that the term is a trademark by the company Mitchell Electric, now called Skilsaw Inc. It is neither wrong nor ignorant to say Skil Saw, or Circular Saw. A similar example holds with the Sawzall, a trademark name for a Reciprocating Saw.
