Yes! It’s easy to do – you just need to select the correct saw blade for the job of cutting through metal. Having said that however, you will probably be better off with a corded power tool rather than a cordless one for obvious reasons – namely the amount of power available to cut through the metal. This will vary from tool to tool so it will be worth the cost of a saw blade to see how well you can cut with a cordless tool.
Does One Type of Circular Saw Cut Metal?
When asking the question, “Can a Circular Saw Cut Metal”, the type of metal you cut will influence the type of saw blade you buy, so let’s take a look at those next.
Non-Ferrous
First of all there is the more common ‘non-ferrous’ metal-cutting saw blade. This blade will only cut metals that don’t contain iron. So typical metals you can cut include:
- aluminum
- copper
- lead
- nickel
- tin
- zinc
- brass
An example of an excellent cutting blade is the DeWalt DW3329 7¼ inch circular saw for non-ferrous metal cutting. I should mention that just because it’s a DeWalt blade doesn’t mean it will only fit DeWalt tools – that’s not true. This particular metal-cutting blade will fit any tool that accepts 7¼ inch blades and has a 5/8 inch arbor (size of the hole in the middle of the saw) or a diamond knockout.
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Iron and Steel
All ferrous metals require a different saw blade to cope with this much tougher material. So when posed with the question “Can a Circular Saw Cut Metal”, this is where a cordless tool is probably going to struggle and the answer is probably ‘no’. In fact, some blade manufacturers suggest that these blades are not meant for cordless tool use, so be warned.
First of all, let’s look at a generally good all-round blade, the DeWalt DW3330 7¼ inch iron and steel cutting segmented saw blade. It’s another DeWalt blade, but these do tend to get good feedback from users. The blade is marked as ‘for cutting galvanised sheets, stove pipe and thin bar stock, so don’t be tempted to go beyond that spec. If you really do have lots of iron and steel to cut, or you have anything beyond ‘thin bar stock’, you’d do well to consider a higher-grade blade saw such as the one shown later on this page. In the meantime, here’s the info for the general steel-cutting blade:
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The above saw blade had limited user reviews, hence the 3.5 star rating. But I suspect some of the lower ratings was due to unreasonable expectations of the blade. It is not masquerading as an expensive blade after all.
If we look at a much beefier blade, you’ll get a different spec (as well as a bigger price tag). Changing from our DeWalt brand for the moment, there is the Irwin Industrial Tools 4935560 7¼ inch iron and steel cutting saw blade that gets rave reviews from users.
Designed for ‘a smooth and fast cut’ as well as give a longer life and safer usage from generated sparks. Users report cutting through 12 sheets of 28 gauge steel in one go as well as solid steel flat bar stock up to 1″ thick. One suggestion is a squirt of WD-40 on both sides of the blade in between cuts. That probably reduces friction somewhat but be careful that the spinning blade doesn’t throw the oil into your face or into the power tool where it’s not wanted! If you want to invest in a decent metal-cutting saw, this seems to be a great example:
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Of course, these are suggestions based on user reviews, if you want to check out other brands, other sizes etc, then check out the following link which displays a page or two of all the options:
Circular Metal-Cutting Saw Blades
[See our page on ‘Safety First When Using a Circular Saw‘. This is particularly relevant when cutting metal since these tools often create metal dust which can be harmful when breathed in as well as very hot sparks, or shards of metal which may fall onto your face or hands. PLEASE WEAR PROTECTIVE GEAR.]
I hope this page on ‘Can a Circular Saw Cut Metal‘ was useful to you.
