Which saw?

[olp4835]

The Marvell looks interesting. Every time I looked for a circular saw it was always the heavy big skill saw. The battery operated ones all were terrible. I found the perfect 4.5 inch circular saw at Lowes it's the Rockwell at $ 89.00. Worth looking into. It's the best saw I've found. For the jig saw I use to use the mikita. I still have it but the blades are very expensive. I now use the fraud. Been using both saws for two years very satisfied.

[Soundboats]

For those of you interested in getting your exercise while building your boat I can also suggest using Japanese style pull saws to cut curves in plywood.  These saws can be curved as you cut since the blade is so thin.  The smaller blades with 15-20 teeth per inch are good for curves with a radius of 2ft or so in plywood that is 3/8" thick or less.  The large blades are for larger curves and can be used in plywood up to 3/4 inch thick. 

 

I have often used these saws to cut plywood curves when I was too lazy to get out the power tools and only had a few cuts to make.  I have had very good experiences with the Shark Saw brand of pullsaws.  They have more than a dozen sizes of blades that fit into one of three handles, so you can just buy the blades as you wear them out.  I am so pleased with this brand (mostly because it is about half the price of the usual Japanese pull saws), that I convinced Chuck at Duckworks to carry them.  You can check them out on the Duckworks web site.  

 

Tom 

[PAR]

If you're really interested in getting your exercise while building, try a treadle powered generator for your tools.

[LennieG]

Not much to add here that hasn't been said, but don't overlook Pawn shops! I bought a high end Bosch corded jig saw , then got new blades, and it cuts thru wood like butter.

[PAR]

Yeah pawn shops can work, though you really need to know the tools you're about to buy or can get hosed with a near dead piece. I've also found that the tools in pawn shops tend to not be the high end pieces, but the Dewalts and Makita's of the industry. Neither of these companies are producing very good tools any more. Simply put, if you can buy it at the big box store, this is what you'll find in a pawn shop. In other words, you'll never see a sweet Fein orbital sander (or whatever) in a pawn shop, but there'll be lots of Black and Deckers, Craftsmen and Dewalts.