Circular saws. Mini or full?

Been on my mind for a few years now, but to aid better straight cutting of boards and such, I’ve been looking at circular saws again, as the jigsaw and me don’t get on.

There are a few full size ones for £50-70, and similarly priced mini saws with plunge sawing.

I can see the benefit of plunge sawing in small, hard to otherwise reach areas, but I can also see the benefit of full size for cutting CLS stud and that sort of thing, though I guess it’s not what it’s meant for.

So, full size for boards, or mini? Does full size make it easier? Would make sense that the larger blade would allow a straighter cut.

For stud timber, would a full size be ok? Or am I better off with a cheap chop saw? I do struggle to get a good, flat square edge with a tenon saw, but a good guide is about the same cost as a power tool and I’m not going to qualify as a furniture maker!

Guess I’m trying to make do with as few new bits as possible.

TIA

🙂

There are a few full size ones for £50-70,

Hahaha… I was going to offer advice, but at that price I’ve really no idea.

Plunge or not it doesn’t really make that much difference in the real world.

You could say that a circular saw is for rough work.
Plunge is useful if cutting sinks or hob into worktops.

A track or guide is very useful.

My festool goes to 75mm, but it’s in a slightly different price range.

There’s a Bosch Professional (ie blue, not green) circular saw that I saw in the tool shop the other week that was priced at 120€ and looked decent.

Edit…. When starting out I was cutting stud timber with a jack saw. Use a square and mark two or even three sides to help guide you.

If you end up with a circular saw, you can use a roofing square as a guide to get 90° cuts…

Edit edit…. 8.20 in this vid

We had this discussion a week ago and everyone put me off!

I’m not chopping wood all day long for a living so trying to speed it up seems pointless for the few jobs I have to do. I’ve been chopping up sheets of OSB with a tenon saw (see my other thread for evidence). It’s all in the guide and the clamps and how many times you’re willing to measure and check yourself before you cock it up.

Don’t let me talk you out of buying power tools. It’s one of life’s pleasures after all.

I got a mini Titan one for some decking and odd jobs and it’s not very good. Wish I had brought a full size one.

I’ve got a mini one for flooring etc as it cuts close to the edge, and a track saw for bigger stuff. If you’re cutting cls etc you can do it with a normal circular saw but it’d be easier and more accurate with a chop saw. Even if you’re not going to be using them loads, maybe try and stretch your budget for something half decent because it’ll make your life so much easier in the long run and you’ll have them for ages.

Hey Lovewookie, long time etc!

No expert here but I had to use one a fair bit recently. I don’t know the mini va full size and I’m assuming you are talking about a hand held one. I say get the smallest one you can. I have a 180 (?) Bosch and it’s super easy to use. If the wood pinches it I’m strong enough to hold it and the blade completely stops. Then I needed a 270mm Makita to cut 10×20 sleepers and it’s terrifying. I hate using it, it feels like it wants to kill every time you press the button. If the wood pinches it then it flies back at your face. It’s like holding satan. I regularly use chainsaws but the only tool that scares me is that saw. I’m going to sell it on.

Hi Doug, yeah, been a while, hope things are good and all that. 🙂

Cheers for that. I’m now thinking that for the amount I use it, I’ll likely just get something I can clamp easily as a guide and use the jigsaw with that. Will certainly be cheaper!

Know what you mean about some tools being scary. I’ve acquired a still saw for cutting blocks. The weight of it and the heavy disk spinning feels like it’s got a life of its own. I hate using it so much I’ve put lots of things on top of it in the shed.

🙂

Jigsaws are the tool of the devil.

As to handheld saws it depends on the depths youre going to cut. And how competent you honestly feel you are. A gigantic beast of a saw will cut anything, but kickbacks or any other unplanned events will be more severe.

I’ve had 2 for years, Skil saw 5140 500w with a depth of cut of 40mm, which is great for boards and thinner studding. and a makita 5903, with 85mm depth of cut. Both hands and concentration.

Having the wee one you go to that for smaller jobs. its 500w compared to 1600w industrial, so feels a lot safer too.

The small skil saw is a 130mm blade at 500w and is lightweight and safe to use one handed, keeping in mind what youre holding and where your other hand is 😉 I recently put a quality new bosch TC 32T crosscut blade on, and that cost £7.50 new on ebay. If its mostly studs, its likely to be all crosscut, so more teeth is better than rip blades only. Better for boards too.

For stud timber, would a full size be ok? Or am I better off with a cheap chop saw?

I’d go for a mitre saw every time (my cheap-ish B&Q sliding compound saw is still going strong after about 20 years, and must have made many thousands of cuts).

Since getting a (Lidl) track saw, I haven’t used my circular saw at all.

(DIY / garden / camper stuff mostly).

I’ve got a circular saw I’m selling in the classifieds. Barely used but does the job. Cambridge based off interested.

Please please be careful with them, prep well before starting a job.

The small skil saw is a 130mm blade at 500w and is lightweight and safe to use one handed,

So for a mini circular saw, as a do it all I was thinking that a slightly larger, in between size would do most jobs.

Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/WORX-WX427-WORXSAW-Compact-Circular/dp/B00UAKY060

Should add, that while I’d love the space to keep a track saw, mitre saw, and a whole load of other gubbins, I’ve a 6×3 shed that also needs to house 2 bikes, drills, workbench and bits of offcut that’ll come in handy sometime!

not gonna lie – id never consider using a circular for stud timber

stud timber it would be mitre or even a hand saw .

the circular saw is great for ripping up sheet but i just cannot see the benifit vs danger correlation working on stud… it takes what 30 second to rip through stad timber with a sharp hand saw

I’m just a beginner DIYer and I’ve only got an 85mm circular saw which was super useful for getting floorboards up without risking cutting pipes/cables underneath. Used it when making a bathroom out of an old bedroom. I did have a mitre saw, but sold it and I just use a handsaw for everything else as it’s so much quicker and less faff for the amount i do.

stud timber it would be mitre or even a hand saw .

suppose in reality all I need is a decent guide for the tenon saw. if I use it freehand, even if I cut, turn, cut turn etc to follow my line it somehow ends up not quite square!

think I may have to repair the mitre saw though.

🙂

I make very good quality furniture – mostly wardrobes. I also do other carpentry work.

Some of my first jobs were with a really cheap B&Q small circular saw and if you do it right the quality of cuts is as good as my expensive Festool track saw. The Festool just makes it quicker to get a quality cut.

I’ve never used a chop saw for 2×4 etc. But I have made a jig to make the cuts square and support the saw across the cut. You can make a cheap guide rail for long straight accurate cuts from a couple of lengths of board.

if I use it freehand, even if I cut, turn, cut turn etc to follow my line it somehow ends up not quite square!

When you say stud timber you mean framing timber.

I’d just mark using a square/lazy man’s back of saw… A few pull strokes across the line and then tilt the nose and go for it in a oner.

I suspect the turns are where your getting all out of a funk

Other common issues are forcing the saw and not letting the teeth do the work

Holding the saw wrong…. Pistol grip.

And lastly I’m.not sure a tenon saw is the tool for the job here. They tend to have high tpi fine teeth so will take ages to get through things and have a solid wider spine so limited thoat for cutting.

I’d grab a first fix saw like an Irwin jack as the saw for cutting framing timber. Much courser teeth and no spine to limit depth cuts.

Some good advice above from folk who clearly know a lot more than me about carpentry

I can add my thoughts on a mini plunge saw, great for certain jobs, I use mine for cutting & lifting floorboards and T&G chipboard flooring (work of the devil!), it’s pretty much bang on for this; thin blade sits nicely in the gap, and the small size gets close to walls. For what you describe it’s not the right tool for the job. For full size board i’d definitely go for a full size, work around other trades so I do get to use various makes, they all do a good job and that’s where i’d spend my money

Then I needed a 270mm Makita to cut 10×20 sleepers and it’s terrifying. I hate using it, it feels like it wants to kill every time you press the button. If the wood pinches it then it flies back at your face. It’s like holding satan.

Not just me then, I have a large compound mitre sliding saw and it just terrifies me, one slip and I could lose a hand in half a second. My Bosch track saw is much less frightening to use, feels like you’d only cut through half a finger….

As for using a first fix saw for framing timber, that’s what I use most often for just the odd cut as using a power tool has a lot of faff setting up, including dust extraction etc and its often just quicker to cut by hand unless you’re repeating a whole set of identical cuts.

I realise now what I’d always suspected. I know bugger all about woodworking!

Most of the stuff I do is what I’d consider fairly rough. Function over form, but I’ve built bed frames, pergolas, radiator covers, garden stuff, using a jigsaw (badly) a ‘saw’ (i think is a first fix saw, had to look up the difference) and a tenon saw for stuff that needed a square edge. A couple of plastic a frame saw horse and a really cheap workbench. I did get a new square about 6 months ago, so my square ends are more square than they used to be.

all the info provided so far is really really useful, thanks all for helping.

Off the back of this I’m most likely to just replace some of my old saws and crack on with a saw guides.
🙂

may well have an amble round B&Q later..

When you say stud timber you mean framing timber.

probably. the CLS stuff that’s normally cheap. 63 x 38mm sizes.

Got a Bosch circular saw inherited from my Uncle – you can have it for the price of the postage (think it’d classed as medium parcel).

Second dibs if OP doesn’t want it 😉

@breatheasy thanks muchly, I’ll take you up on that. You should have a message, if they’re working again.

Sorry, missed the edit window..@breatheeasy