Jame Fuerstenberg suggests that an air-operated saber saw would be very
nice to own. I agree, because one needs a way of cutting sheet metal
cleanly--both on the car and from sheet stock. I did a lot of it with a
cutoff wheel, but my 2HP compressor could not keep up, so I spent a lot of
time waiting for air. Moreover, those ads that say a cutoff tool "cuts
metal like butter ads" are bull-doodoo. And cutoff tools don't work well
on curves.
Anyway, I was on the point of buying a saber saw, when I noticed that the
local hardware store had hacksaw blades for my electric Sears hand-held
jig saw (jig saw isn't quite the right name--I'm talking about a small saw
that has a reciprocating blade about 4 inches long, used most often to
make inaccurate, wandering, ugly cuts in wood).
I bought a handful of fine-tooth (for sheet metal) blades for the Sears
saw, and have never looked back. This saw is wretched for wood, but fine
for sheet metal. It cuts patches from sheet metal without distorting the
edges as shears do, cuts curves, never runs out of air, is cheap, fast,
etc. etc. Many people already have these saws, and this is a way to get
more use from them. But wear hearing protectors; vibrating sheet metal is
loud.
Ray Gibbons
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