What's your favorite 7 1/4" or 8 1/4" saw and why?

I have three Mag 77s, from a few years old to 6 months old, and I can't keep a single one perfectly square. There's a wobble in the base of each, that only seems to have developed recently, in fact since I've been running a bigger crew.

I'm a worm drive fan and can't even imagine having the blade on the saw's right side, but what the heck, try me. I'm looking for advice in the world of tools that diminish in quality and hired help that overall seems to be devolving as well, with an occasional lucky exception.

Oh yeah, what's your favorite blade, too? I like Freuds.


Thanks for sharing.

Zach

Right now I'm running an older makita with a diablo blade without problems.
Was working outdoors the other day and sawed into a rock, making a kerf about 2" long, the old diablo just kept on cutting... the rock was limestone, so not really that hard.

Mark- I used diablos before the freuds. Good blades. And a fine testimonial.
I had an older Makita and it worked well but with old age it got louder and louder. Think I gave it away.

Apparently I have too many tools. I remembered I have a fourth Mag 77 at home, never abused. I checked this afternoon and it's base is solid and cuts beauifully square.

I'm still interested to hear if there are any newer saws that stand up to abuse inflicted by those who don't pay for their own power tools.

I used the cheapest dewalt helping out on an owner build and had no problems. nice light saw. You would do well to have a worm drive and a sidewinder in your kit... blades on both sides.

I haven't done a lot of woodwork in the past, and just recently got into timberframing. I actually work for a power tool manufacturer. What I've noticed lately is that too many circ saws have stamped bases and rip fences. A small router I have has a stamped edge guide. These are "professional grade" power tools and as a user, I think I would much prefer a higher quality machined base, fence, and edge guide. I would also like adjustment in the rip fence to make sure it's square. If you are buying a professional grade saw, I expect a few extra bucks spent on those items. I don't know, maybe too few professionals care about that on portable saws? The festool 75 saw looks really nice, but it does have steep price tag at $560 for the saw and then I'd want some accessories too..like the parallel guide and the extra long 197" guide rail($413).

the more I use a circular saw, the less I care about the base. the base often floats a bit to keep the blade on the lines anyway... that being said, I don't use timbers from a 4 sided planer, I have my own sawmill and also work with a local circular mill. I would imagine if one was using planed timber, the saw base would become more importand.

I have the full set of big and little Makitas like any other shop - but the saw I most use is a left hand Milwaukee magnesium 7 1/4" tilt-lock saw. The blade's on the left so you can see it - just like a worm saw, but it's less then half the weight and it stays square !

I own a dewalt 7 1/4. I can't remember the model # but it has a fiberglass base and the depth set on the saw is located on the left of the handle. its the lightest saw dewalt makes @ a little over 7 lbs. it has positive stops on the bevel gauge @ 22.5 and 45 and will cut up to a 55 degree bevel( and they have maintained their accuracy after much abuse. the visibility on this saw is remarkable you can see both sides of the blade almost as easy. the most remarkable thing about this saw is its base. A coworker of mine dropped it roughly sixteen feet off an extention ladder and it landed right on the corner of the base, full force. not only did it not shatter in to a million pieces, it remained true. as square as the day i bought it. Plenty powerful with 15 amps. A very nice saw. what i can't quite figure out is that it is cheap. about $120. As long as they keep making them i won't ever buy a different saw. Beware though they make another saw with an aluminum base. its cheaper but not quite as good.
bloveland

p.s. sad to say that i can't stand any of the other Dewalt saws

We have a 77, and we often use it for the first pass of a long rip, because it has so much torque. It's just a great general purpose saw to have around the shop and construction site for whatever reason. We also have a dewalt 8-1/4, which we like for that extra little bit of DOC (depth of cut). It cuts almost 3 inches, which is enough for tenon shoulders on an 8" stick. I guess it's a one trick pony, though, because we don't really use if for anything else.

Thanks everyone.

Anyone out there running a Bosch? I guess it's 15 amps versus 11, and the magnesium model is just as light. I'm curious if it's more solid than the Skil 77 and Mag 77 particularly the base. Bosch owns Skill but they seem different.

As for the Dewalt saws, thanks, but I've taken a vow to never buy another yellow powertool. They used to have some quality, and a few tools may still, but I got burned one too many times.

This is a good discussion. Somewhat needs to start a favorite handsaw thread.

Zach