New Circular saw

[Merlin68F100]

I'm looking at a new circular saw. My Craftsman is 20 years plus and I think I will retire it to framing duty. I have looked at Porter Cable and Hitachi. Looks like you have to spend more than $70 (Hitachi) to get a sole plate that is not pressed steel.
I do like the left hand blade on the Porter Cable 423MAC.

Any thoughts?

[flyboy2610]

If this saw is going to do heavy duty work, get a worm drive saw.

[fordman]

worm drives are really nice. i think the dewalt saws are pretty good also. i have and use a black and decker regular saw and a skil worm drive saw. the worm drive si good for fast cuts or alot of cuts one right after the other and is also good for cuts off with no support to hold the wood onto . like in mid air with one hand ont he saw and the other holding the board. i like the worm drive also because of how easy it is to control and how easy to see the line you are cutting on.

[Merlin68F100]

That is why I am leaning towards the Porter Cable. They have a "left handed" 423 Mag with the blade on the left side of the motor. Not sure why they concider it a left handed saw. When I held it the first thing I thought was hey I can see the blade while I cut without leaning over the saw and throwing my balance off. My worm drive is the same way.

[mad2smile]

i do construction for a living. heres what i would advise:

Skil/Bosch wormdrives are the best in the business. the Skil model 77 has been around since the 1940's, and other than slight tweaks (voltage, material choices, footplate designs, etc), the design of saw itself has remained unchanged throughout that time. ive personally seen multiple Skil model 77 saws that were 40 or more years old and still in use. the only maintenance model 77s require is the occasional oil change and a new power cord from time to time. the triggers can also go bad, but thats pretty rare.

i own a Skil Mag77. it employs a magnesium motor housing to lighten the saw by 2 lbs (14.4lbs vs 16.4lbs for the standard model 77). i absolutely love the saw. been using it for 4+ years. i bet ive made over 10,000 cuts with that thing through a variety of materials, from 2x's to fiber cement siding and trim to plywood to 3/8" steel and more. the saw is bulletproof. and powerful too. i was using my tailgate as a sawhorse one time while cutting a piece of Hardipanel. i accidently cut 4 inches into my tailgate. didnt even know i was doing it until i noticed the sparks. the saw didnt even flinch. i couldnt even feel it... and that was with a 4-tooth fiber cement blade! wormdrives have an insane amount of torque.

the Bosch version of the Skil model 77 saws are offered with a plug instead of a power cord. just plug an extension cord into the handle of the saw and away you go. pretty good design.


if you dont want a wormdrive, DeWalt saws seem to be pretty good. my dad has had his DeWalt saw for over 12 years and made countless cuts with it without fail.

for fiber cement siding, the best circular saw by a mile is the Makita 5057KB. in addition to being very light and compact, the saw also has sealed bearings, which hold up a whole lot better in a masonry environment where fine dust is unavoidable. i normally cant stand to use any saw other than my Mag77, but the Makita really impressed me, and having a saw that lightweight made a big difference when cutting fiber cement.


i can really go crazy with explanations/advise, cant i? i think i'll shut up now and try to get some sleep.

[thebannister8]

i have used my skil 77 worm drive doing things i ought not to...it takes a serious beating and just keeps moving...i've had it for years..

[Merlin68F100]

I have a Skill 825 I think the serial number is 3 or 4. You can hook a chain to it and pull cars out of a ditch with it.

As for a new saw I am going to go with the Porter Cable 423Mag.

[killakobra]

i do construction for a living. heres what i would advise:

Skil/Bosch wormdrives are the best in the business. the Skil model 77 has been around since the 1940's, and other than slight tweaks (voltage, material choices, footplate designs, etc), the design of saw itself has remained unchanged throughout that time. ive personally seen multiple Skil model 77 saws that were 40 or more years old and still in use. the only maintenance model 77s require is the occasional oil change and a new power cord from time to time. the triggers can also go bad, but thats pretty rare.

i own a Skil Mag77. it employs a magnesium motor housing to lighten the saw by 2 lbs (14.4lbs vs 16.4lbs for the standard model 77). i absolutely love the saw. been using it for 4+ years. i bet ive made over 10,000 cuts with that thing through a variety of materials, from 2x's to fiber cement siding and trim to plywood to 3/8" steel and more. the saw is bulletproof. and powerful too. i was using my tailgate as a sawhorse one time while cutting a piece of Hardipanel. i accidently cut 4 inches into my tailgate. didnt even know i was doing it until i noticed the sparks. the saw didnt even flinch. i couldnt even feel it... and that was with a 4-tooth fiber cement blade! wormdrives have an insane amount of torque.

the Bosch version of the Skil model 77 saws are offered with a plug instead of a power cord. just plug an extension cord into the handle of the saw and away you go. pretty good design.


if you dont want a wormdrive, DeWalt saws seem to be pretty good. my dad has had his DeWalt saw for over 12 years and made countless cuts with it without fail.

for fiber cement siding, the best circular saw by a mile is the Makita 5057KB. in addition to being very light and compact, the saw also has sealed bearings, which hold up a whole lot better in a masonry environment where fine dust is unavoidable. i normally cant stand to use any saw other than my Mag77, but the Makita really impressed me, and having a saw that lightweight made a big difference when cutting fiber cement.


i can really go crazy with explanations/advise, cant i? i think i'll shut up now and try to get some sleep.

my dad has an old model 77 that he uses. found it at the dump and swapped out some parts and it works just as well as the newer ones.