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First Impressions: Milwaukee 12amp Sawzall Reciprocating Saw

by on Nov 17, 2011

Ok, so I know I’m late to the game getting a reciprocating saw, and if you already own one or know everything about them, mosey along. But Alicia’s been getting after me to get rid of these ugly metal pipe laundry line posts in our back yard, and today I finally decided to do it. 

Now, for any job there are lots of tools that will work, and usually one or two that are perfect for the task. In this case, I decided on getting a reciprocating saw because I thought it would do the job, and also it’s extremely versatile and would find lots of uses later on. Some quick Googling revealed an oxy-fueled torch would probably be better, but I’d probably never need it again. 

Renting a reciprocating saw (commonly referred to as a sawzall, even though that’s Milwaukee’s particular model name) would cost me about $20 a day. Not bad, but since you can get a decent one for around $100, I figured that made more sense (if I use it five times in the next few years, it’ll be worth it, and I have no doubt that I will).

Next; research models online. Almost everything I read pointed me in the direction of a Milwaukee brand saw (they’re the original, after all). And this write up at Popular Mechanics sealed the deal. I picked up the Milwaukee 12amp Sawzall and a diamond-coated blade, and went to work.

Check out the video below to see how I did (note that in the video I’m calling the material cast iron, but I later figured out that I think it’s actually galvanized steel, so I may have had the wrong tool for the job). 

Conclusion:

This isn’t exactly a straight-up review, since I can’t compare to other brands/models (and there are tons of those out there already). Overall I was impressed by the quality and construction of the Milwaukee saw, and it seemed to have plenty of power. But I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t cut through the pipes a little easier, and my blade wore out (and then broke) long before the 30 uses it claims on the packaging. That could be because I didn’t get the right blade to use on steel, but I still would have expected better.

I’m going to hold off on a final judgement on this one and wait until I get some more uses in on other materials. When that happens, I’ll check back in and let you know how it goes!

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