Woodworker's Journal 2009-33-4, страница 35

| 9225 $79

Skil's fast, powerful and smooth-cutting recip is the author's top pick of the test. Inexpensive and effective — it earns the Best Bet. 877-754-5999

Skil 9225

The heaviest saw in the test group, this 9 lbs. 11!* oz. Skil has the hefty body of a TV wrestler, yet surprisingly, the graceful manners of a dancer. Topping the leader board in my cutting tests, the Skil's quick-cutting performance was in another league from the other saws. Not only could it cut through a 2x8 in a mere 15 seconds, the cutting action felt nearly effortless. The Skil produced so little vibration, the saw ran smooth as silk even during the heaviest cuts. Part of the Skil's aggressive cutting performance is no doubt due to its selectable blade orbit. The pivoting lever works well, but it was not clearly marked.

As low-priced as the Skil is, it includes some nice features, including a power indicator light on the side of the handle, rubber

Ridgid R3002

At (5 lbs. 9 oz., RIDGID's "Fuego" reciprocating saw is the lightest most compact saw in this group. The R3002's narrow body, contoured two-finger trigger and rubber overmold bears some physical resemblance to the Makita saw, as does its rubber-covered blade clamp. But, while the clamp doesn't lock open, it's always useable regardless of blade stroke position — nice. Its pivoting foot takes the prize for the greatest number of adjustment positions at six. Unfortunately, its plastic locking lever felt flimsy and didn't lock the foot firmly.

For aggressive cutting, the RIDGID's orbital blade action worked well and was selectable via

an easy-to-turn dial atop the body. But when I put the saw through my pedal-to-the-metal 2x8 cutting test, the R3002 turned in a third-worst time of 19 seconds. Despite the saw's small 9-amp motor and short 3/4" blade stroke, I'd expected faster cutting performance due to the saw's blade orbit and high top speed of 3,400 strokes per minute (SPM). Most of the other saws have a 2,800 SPM maximum. What the higher SPM did do was create a lot of vibration, which made this saw relatively uncomfortable to use.

Tool Review

An easy-to-use blade clamp and foot that has six adjustments are two of the strong features in RIDGID's Fuego, a 6.91b saw. 800-474-3443

Get to Cutting Without the Cord

Need to cut some studs or joists in an attic or crawl space, or prune trees, cut branches or trim fence posts around your yard without dragging an extension cord around behind you? An 18- or 20-volt cordless reciprocating saw offers decent power, a useful amount of runtime and as much cutting versatility as a corded model. Although most cordless saws are pricier than similarly featured corded models, there are economical choices, including the Porter-Cable PCI8RS and Ryobi P5IO"One+" saws. If you already own cordless tools, you can save money by purchasing a recip saw that uses the same battery pack and charger. For example, the full-featured Craftsman 26314 20v Li-ion Professional recip, shown at left, sells (sans battery) for $79, the same price as the Skil 9225.