It can be overwhelming trying to find the right circular saw metal cutting blade. Circular saws can cut just about any material with the correct blade for what you’re cutting.
Cutting metal produces lots of heat through friction. Therefore, cutting metal is much different from cutting wood and other products due to the heat.
Metal circular saws are designed specifically for cutting metal. Most multi-material circular saws can also cut metals with blades made for that task.
Circular saws for cutting metal can be handheld or mounted to a machine for being easier to use. They can be cordless battery-operated or corded electric-powered.
Saws to cut metal use a blade with teeth to transfer the heat created to the chips made by the saw blade. This type of design lets both the metal being cut along with the blade to be cool to touch.
How Circular Saws Work
Blades that are abrasive create heat. These should not be used for cutting metal. As you probably already know, heat cause the metal being cut and the blade to expand. This causes metal to bind or warp generating more wear on the saw using more energy.
Cold saws use circular saw blades for cutting through many types of metal to include sheet metal. The name, cold, is from the action during the cutting process where the metal being cut and the saw’s blade do not get too hot. It’s usually an electric-powered circular saw and stationary rather than being portable.
Circular saw blades are made of high-speed steel. A cold saw might have a tungsten carbide tip. These blades can be resharpened extending the life of the blade.
The cold saws can cut through most metals easily. The electric motor is powerful and the gear reduction helps to reduce the blade’s speed with no torque reduction. This makes for a great consistency with a high chip load for each tooth.
An authentic cold saw weighs about 600-pounds and runs on various phases costing many thousands of dollars so the choice seems clear for the light fabricator to use a good saw such as this Makita® LC1230 12-inch metal cutting saw under $500.
Good Metal Cutting Blades
The USA-made BAILEIGH (say Bailey) Industrial® CS-350M heavy-duty manual circular cold saw, 3-phase 220-Volt, 4 and 3 HP motor, with 14-inch blade diameter costs about $5,556.
The best option for the typical circular saws is solid tooth high-speed steel with teeth having segments having a tungsten carbide tip.
The most popular blade is the IRWIN® 7-1/4-inch, 68-tooth, 4935560 Metal-Cutting Circular Saw Blade and 7-1/4-inch, 48-tooth are great blades for cutting metal with a carbide tip. It won’t vibrate or wobble giving true cuts.
The Evolution® Power Tools 230BLADESS Stainless-Steel Cutting Saw Blade, 9-inch x 60-tooth comes in various tooth and inches as you need. It’s inexpensive and a good low-budget blade.
There are many good metal cutting circular saw blades on the market. However, most of them are expensive. On the other hand, choosing a cheap circular saw blade is also not an efficient option.
Check out the best circular saw blades on Amazon and read customer reviews for comments and opinions.
Check out the impressive DIABLO saw blades for cutting ferrous steel and stainless-steel cool-to-the touch when cut.
DIABLO Cermet II Carbide Metal Cutting Saw Blade demonstration video.
