Circular saws and blades

daivid

I'm looking to buy a circular saw and am thinking of getting the Makita M5802 (the red range) https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-m5802-1050w-190mm-electric-circular-saw-240v/7808r I have the belt sander from that range and it is excellent. The one thing that concerns me is if the blade will be any good or if I will be replacing it straight away, if so I might be better off spending a bit more for a saw that comes with a decent blade. If it helps the first use would be cutting sheets of plywood into sections, hopefully with minimal blowout. After that I'm not sure but probably more of a similar nature on home capentry projects. I would expect to be cutting almost everything square (well trying to...) perhaps occasionally making a 45 degree cut but rarely making use if the angle adjustment, I don't expect to do any heavy duty cutting either.

Mistral001

The blades on circular saws are quite easy to sharpen.  I had a Bosch which I used for about 15 years and never had to change the blade.  In fact the gears wore out before the blade did.

FreeBear

Mistral001 said:  I had a Bosch which I used for about 15 years and never had to change the blade.

Got a cheap B&Q own brand - Still on the original blade after <mumble> years. Also have a couple of fine cut blades that I'll use if/when I need a clean finish.

Unless you are planning on cutting stone or wood with loads of nails in it, the blade supplied should last years.

daivid

Thanks for the input. I should have been clearer in my first post sorry, what I am wondering is will the blade the saw comes with make reasonably clean cuts or need swapping for one that does? And do any come with blades that make fine cuts or do they pretty much all come with a fairly rough cut blade regardless of price. I assume the tooth count is linked (but not the only factor) to fineness of cut and noticed the makita has a 12 tooth blade where others come with 24 (on the same or slightly smaller diameter blade).

Norman_Castle

Can you find out exactly what blade its supplied with then research that? You can ask screwfix on the page you linked to.

https://www.makitauk.com/products/saw-blades

tacpot12

The Makita saw looks like a good saw for the money, but the 12 tooth blade that comes with it is a very coarse blade. You will not get a good cut through plywood even when the blade is brand new. You need to 48-60 Tooth blade for cuts in plywood without tearout. If cutting down plywood sheets is going to be a regular task, you should have a look at the MacAllister Plunge Saw. It's just £10 dearer that the Makita saw you provided the link to, but included the tracks. The tracks don't just guide the blade, they also have a rubber strip that pushes down on the workpeice both to grip it, but also to prevent tearout on the upper surface of the work. 

If you need a fine cut when cutting plywood you want to set the blade height so that it only just cuts through the lower surface of the wood. 

daivid

Thanks both. tacpot12, it seems then whichever saw I get will require a blade upgrade before neat cutting of plywood, that is really helpful to know. I think I will go for the makita and order a finer blade at the same time. I had considered a track saw, or track compatible circular saw but that pushes the price up and I'm not sure how much the track will get used. As for MacAllister tools, I have a mini circular saw from them and whilst I have got more than got my money's worth it is a pretty crude tool that attempts to be far more than it is. I suspect (but don't know) that this is a recuring theme with MacAllister. The plywood cuts don't need to be perfect as I will be sanding and rounding the edges of the finished project, but less tearout will save time and effort sanding. Last time round I cut the plywood by hand after scoring with a knife, the result was fine but cutting out 35 sections took a while! *Edited to correct arithmetic*

daivid

Update incase anyone is interested. Found the Makita I'd mentioned for £72 delivered so got that and a 60 tooth blade from Trend  (£15). Both arrived today so decided to give them a quick test pitting the standard issue 12 tooth against the 60 I bought.

The 1st photo shows both cutting into a board from an old piece of chipboard furniture. Next shows the standard blade making a mess of a scrap of ply, the 3rd pick shows the 60 tooth trend cutting the same piece of ply. The standard blade is not a bad blade: there is just slight chipping on the piece of furniture and it cut straight, very clearly it is not for cutting ply though. The 60 tooth is near perfect on the ply: there was one very small piece blown out close to the left edge, nothing that would worry me on the project I have in mind and had I gone slower I may not even have had that. Very happy with saw and blades on this first small try!

tacpot12

It's great to get feedback so quickly!

Thanks for showing us how you got on with the Trend blade, and well done finding the Makita saw a bit cheaper.

I know what you mean about the MacAllister tools; they are at the lowest end of the market, similar to what you might buy from Aldi or Lidl.  But I'm still using a "DirectPower" brand Circular Saw bought from ScrewFix 15 years ago for about £35, but with a 48 tooth Atkinson Walker blade and it is still going great. I'd expect that Makita to last a lifetime if only being used for DIY.