I was working on some trim inside the house yesterday, and was cutting
down a piece with nails in it. I was being careful not to cut the
nails, but not careful enough, apparently. I managed to cut through a
nail, but, to my surprise, it didn't seem to cause the blade or saw any
problems. (It's a delta compound miter saw with a 10" Freud 80-tooth
carbide-tipped blade, which does *great* work in wood.) As a matter of
fact, the cut through the nail was near perfect, with a smooth, shiny
surface where it was cut.
This got me to thinking. I'm just about done with a welding class, and
I want to start on my first project, and one of the challenges will be
cutting the metal parts before welding. If I could make the cuts on the
miter saw, it would make life much easier, as there are some angle cuts
to be made. The saw blade doesn't list ferrous metals, and is "not
recommended" for non-ferrous metals. I started searching, and all I
could find were non-ferrous blades in 10".
I did find chop saws, and "multi-cutter" saws with blades that look
similar to my carbide blade, just larger (usually 14", some 12"). I
know there's more to blade design than looks, but that's about all I know.
What I was wondering... if these "multi-cutter" saws can cut metals,
including steel, why aren't there any blades similar to that for 10"
saws? Not that I plan on doing any compound miter cutting on steel
angle iron, but it would be nice to use my existing tool instead of
having to buy a new one from $150-$500+! Heck, both have 15A motors.
What makes a blade good for cutting wood and not good for cutting metal,
when it has the same carbide tips as metal cutting blades?
cmh
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==================================Chris Heerschap=================
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