"SAWS of LIFE"

[Carl Avery]

Taking a cue from our Moderator (the Subject of this posting) I would Like to conduct a survery of What YOU are using for a cip saw (reciprocating saw)? If you care to give details on why you choose that particular model please do. My Department carries 2-11 amp Tiger (Porter Cable) Saws, We use Lenox blades ( mostly due to accessing them-easy to purchase) At the time of purchase the 11 amp Motors seemed to be the best way to go(You know TIM ALLEN TYPE OF STUFF, More POWER) I now consider Length of Stroke as or maybe more important. OK Now you guys and gals tell us what you USE?

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Carl D. Avery

[RSQLT43]

We carry two 9.6 amp Tiger saws, and two 18 volt DeWalt cordless saws, chose the tiger saws cause they were the first with the keyless chuck, and the porter cable line of tools are very reliable, we use lennox, milwaukee, and morse blades.

[Rich Behling]

We carry two cip saws on the squad, one is a Milwaukee with the quick release, and the other is a new Dewalt with quick release. The Chief is a Milwaukee fan, I personally dont like the Mil. quick release,the saw works fine, we have had to have the chuck reparied three times.the Mil is an 8 amp. motor and the Dewalt is a 10 amp. Te Dewalt was a donation from the hospital for providing a team for the EMS students to do thier practicals. We used the two of them side by side on our last training, and the Dewalt did cut a little faster then the Mil., but I would have expected it to with the bigger motor.

[Lewiston2Capt]

My Department uses 2 DeWalt 18 volt cordless saws with keyless chuck and has 3 Milwaukee 8 amp saws. For blades we have used a variety including: Lennox, Dewalt, and one blade that was labled Fire/Rescue (I think made by Lennox). Of those I personally prefer the DeWalt blades with the alternating 7 and 14 tpi, they seem to cut a little faster

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Shawn M. Cecula
Captain
Lewiston Fire Co. No. 2

[Lewiston2Capt]

Correction to my last post. We have 2-24 volt DeWalt cordless saws.

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Shawn M. Cecula
Captain
Lewiston Fire Co. No. 2

[MetalMedic]

We have a DeWalt 24-volt unit with an extra battery and the AC/DC Converter. Finally got to use it a few weeks ago.. and I LOVE it!



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Richard Nester
Orrville (OH) Fire Dept.

[HAMMER14]

Here is what we have:

2 Heavy Rescue Squads, on each one we have at least 1 18v Dewalt and 2 corded Milwaukee saws. We also have a 24v Dewalt on the primary Rescue Squad. Prior to getting the Dewalts all we had were the corded Milwaukee's. They worked fine, no problems. They rarely get used now though. The cordless saws are now the primary saws, when we us a recip saw. We rely a lot on hydraulics.

We carry the cordless saws in a bag with an extra battery and extra blades. We found that the batteries seem to last longer when not kept in the saw.

We primarily use the Lennox blades. We do have a variety of lengths available in the bag. We also just had the 2 18v saws retro-fitted with the quick release for the blades. Dewalt did it for about $30 a saw, well worth it. You don't have to mess with the allen key to change the blade anymore.

The 24v Dewalt has an adjustable foot. You can change basically change the depth the blade will cut. This saw also has a notch built in that a spare blade can be stored right on the saw.

[ASSTCHIEF102]

We carry 2 9.6v porter cable tiger saws w/ quick release and 2 dewalt 24v cordless w/ ac/dc adapter. The dewalts are a great saw, we run them cordless and if the charge runs out or they are not charged you can go corded just as easily. We also use the lennox "Fire & Rescue" blades. We have found that they are the best blades around. The only down side to them is they are about $15 for two.

[Carl Avery]

Originally posted by ASSTCHIEF102:
We carry 2 9.6v porter cable tiger saws w/ quick release and 2 dewalt 24v cordless w/ ac/dc adapter.

Just a quick Question Did you mean 9.6 AMP for the Tiger saws? Battery Recuip Saws are usually measured buy the Voltage of the Battery System, Corded saws systems are measured by AMPERAGE of the Motor. BTW- I I have spoke with reps from Dewalt and they say that there 18 VOLT saw is comprable to about a 4 AMP corded Saw.


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Carl D. Avery

[F52 Westside]

Our Dept. currently has 2 -Milwaukees, 1 -Bosch (I am not sure what amperage.) and our fourth is a 24 volt cordless, which most of our dept. thinks is Da' Bomb. When January (new budget year) gets here I think we are replacing our older ones with the 24 volt cordless.
The DeWalt has no allen wrench to mess with for changing blades, it has a converter, adjustable foot. We do not even pull our other 'cip saws except for an additional saw (which usually does not happen)


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Eddie C. - a.k.a - PTFD21
Local 3008
"Doin' it for lives n' property"

[N2DFire]

Well - after our almost brand spankin new Milwalkie saw was "borrowed" for an indefinate period of time by an unknown person (or persons) - I FINALLY managed to convince my Squad & FD (who jointly operate our rescue truck) that we desperatly needed to replace this tool.


After doing my "homework" and several hours reading lots of forum threads (including this one) I placed an order yesterday for a DeWalt 24V Cordless and the AC/DC converter. I'll post my opinion on it when I get it into my hot little hands sometime next week.

Take Care - Stay Safe
Stephen

[mark/cvarc]

We use the Porter Cable Tiger saws w/quick change blade feature and the lennox fire/rescue and demolition blades. We also carry two Ryobi gas saws which can be noisey but do have their place, just have to watch the exhaust fumes. We're leery of the Dewalt saws because it's another battery to worry about keeping a charge on or getting a memory and we thougt we'd see how a neighboring dept. does with their recently purchased units with the battery belts over the next six months to a year. Anyone have more input?

[pwc606]

We use an electric Milwaukee with Milwaukee blades. We are possibly going to buy a battery operated saw the first of the year.

[Islander]

We use a Ryobi gas powered recip saw. We have tried a variety of blades in the past and currently using Task metal cutting blades. We also have a pack of wood blades in our box for structural fire fighting etc.

[redbeard21]

my dept has 2 porter cable 9.6's on our resq truck and one pc 9.6 on each of our three pumpers. they use milwaukee torch blades. these blades are for demolition and are thicker than conventional blades so they do not break as easy nor do they dull as fast. but they do not require any modifications to the chuck