On Sun, 17 Jan 2021 13:48:39 -0800 (PST), Michael
wrote:

On Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 9:56:35 AM UTC-6, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 3:48:41 AM UTC-5, Puckdropper wrote:
I'm installing a railing and need to cut the metal. I've got a hacksaw and
a portable circular saw, so naturally which one do I grab? The circular
saw.

I found out why they say not to cut steel with most blades. It throws hot
chips all over and dulls the blade pretty quick.

Lesson #2: Safety glasses aren't the end-all of safety. A chip found its
way past the glasses and while I'm ok it's a little sore there. I should
have been wearing a full face shield but I didn't have one on site.

Learned something else... Sanders are awesome at deburring steel. I tried
doing it with a file, then switched to the sander and wow what a
difference! Got the piece deburred, rounded, and cleaned in a minute
rather than taking 5 or more with the file.

Puckdropper
I've mostly cut metal on my miter saw using a metal cutting wheel. I don't
recall if I ever tried it in a circular but it wouldn't surprised me if I did.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DIABLO-1...L01F/202831056

For a railing, I probably would have grabbed my angle grinder with either
a metal grinding wheel or cut-off wheel.

I was going to get rid of my old Delta miter saw when I bought the Bosch
glider, but I decided to save it for cutting crappy wood and metal. Years ago
I had access to a radial arm saw to cut through steel plates up to a 1/2" thick.
Using slow, shallow cuts on a tightly secured plate, you can make some
surprisingly smooth and accurate cuts.

Second this. You can usually pick up an angle grinder (really) cheap on the sale sites. It's a safe way to go. The right blade might cost something.

Or, in the "any excuse to buy a toy^H^Hool" category, you can get a
plasma cutter on Amazon for about 170 bucks. Wouldn't recommend it
for a production shop, or anybody who does a lot of metal work, but
for once in a blue moon use, should be fine. Does need a compressor
and a 35A circuit though.