Some Guy wrote:
rick frazier wrote:

Whatever you choose, if you're doing rough carpentry, after a while
you'll wonder how you did without one...

I have a Dewalt saw (it's about 6 or 7 years old) and I've really
beat
the **** out of it over time. Like when I'm shallow excavating an
area by hand in clay soil with roots and I just plunge the saw into
the ground and try to cut the roots and loosen the soil. The shaft
is a little wobbly, but it was probably like that when new.

The reason for my question is that I have a 6" x 6" x 8ft spruce
post
set in concrete (7 years ago) and I'm just now getting around to
extending my fence to that post. The post has pulled about 1.75"
out
of level at the top. I would have liked to cut a long, wedge-shaped
piece first, but I don't have a bandsaw, and I don't think it would
been practical to cut such a long piece on it anyways.

So I glued a 2x6 x 8' piece of (I think) pine to the post and now
that
the glue has cured (PL premium) I'm going to set up a couple of
metal
U-channel's on either side to act as a cutting guide and use my new
Milwaukee saw to cut down the new wood to make the post straight and
level. I'll have to do the same on the other side of the post (cut
it
down) to make the post square and level.

So it's not exactly demolition work. I want a nice controlled cut,
hence why I was looking for a saw with little or no wobble in the
blade, but was wondering about the shorter stroke and the orbital
action. Since the Milwaukee 6509 doesn't have orbital action, that's
ok because it's not something that I would want anyways (not for
this
job) but I guess it would have been nice if it had the regular 1.25"
stroke. It'll just take twice as long to make the cut I suppose.

The 6509 also doesn't have a trigger lock, so I'll probably put a
tie-wrap around the trigger during the cut.

It's a pain in the ass that the one I got (6509-22) came with the
plastic carry case - which I have no need for but probably added an
extra $10 to the price.

Cutting six inches deep the blade is going to flex and you won't get a
square cut unless you're very lucky. Might be square enough for your
needs though. I'd be very surprised if it gave a noticeably better
cut than your old deWalt.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)