Hire or buy recip saw for brick

[bsr]

Hello

I need to widen an opening. A response to my post in the building forum suggested a reciprocating saw with a TCT blade to make a neat cut and keep down the dust. In total I estimate having to cut 60 bricks.

Hire or buy? I could buy a cheap Titan saw for £50 but would that have the guts for the job?

Do the brick blades work well for plunge cuts?

Thanks


bsr

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If you try to plunge cut with a TCT blade on a recip saw probably all you will do is to bend twenty odd quids's worth of TCT blade into a useless pretzel shape. For masonry cuts you generally need a starter hole to work from. One of the differences between a cheap recip saw and a good one (apart from the price) is that the good ones have more power but they also feature an orbital cutting action which cuts through stuff like masonry far quicker and straighter

 

[SammyInnit]

Wrong tool for the job really.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I've used the TCT blades on softer blockwork and soft brick and they work passably well - nowhere near as fast as a Stihl saw or even a big grinder, but they generate far, far less dust. On hard brick or concrete block, etc they are completely and utterly useless

 

[cdbe]

Chain drill with SDS, sellotape hoover nozzle to drill - the dust doesn't travel that far. Is it masonry on left of that door? Often it's a bit of timber to space away from wall.

 

[Notch7]

A builder would use a stihl petrol with diamond disc or stitch drill.

Sometimes for new window and door openings a 4 1/2" grinder is used for a clean cut line on external brick, then the bricks are drilled and or using a bolster. Typically a window is set 25mm back, which eould show the clean cut part.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

You say that, but you won't often get away using a Stihlly in an already occupied building.

The diamond chainsaws look interesting - yet to see one in use, though

 

[bsr]

No clear answer then on buy or hire... maybe hiring an orbital is the way to go as JobandKnock said. Also thanks for letting me know I can't plunge cut.

Stihl saw is not an option due to dust.

cdbe - it's definitely masonry on the left (if you look closely you'll see I've drilled test holes). Stitch drilling would mean going in at an angle (i.e. drilling in a shallow V) and therefore I assume a lot more making good.

 

[^woody^]

All recip saws have an oscillating blade.

I would expect that titan saw to be ok for this if the bricks are relatively soft and you don't press on but let the saw do the work.

 

[opps]

Why not hire an Arbotech Allsaw?

You can connect it to a dust extractor, however because it uses two reciprocating blades it doesn't create massive amounts of airborne dust in the first place.

https://www.jewson.co.uk/tool-hire/...ting-chasing/products/2321/arbotech-wall-saw/

Slower than a diamond chain saw though.

 

[Notch7]

Why not hire an Arbotech Allsaw?

You can connect it to a dust extractor, however because it uses two reciprocating blades it doesn't create massive amounts of airborne dust in the first place.

https://www.jewson.co.uk/tool-hire/...ting-chasing/products/2321/arbotech-wall-saw/

Slower than a diamond chain saw though.

I considered buying one of these last year but the reviews and comments on forums put me off. I got the impression they were fine, but slow on soft bricks but anything hard they couldnt deal with it......

 

[opps]

I considered buying one of these last year but the reviews and comments on forums put me off. I got the impression they were fine, but slow on soft bricks but anything hard they couldnt deal with it......

Fair play. The only people that I know that have them are brick pointers who generally use them to remove whole bricks rather than cutting bricks.

 

[Notch7]

Fair play. The only people that I know that have them are brick pointers who generally use them to remove whole bricks rather than cutting bricks.

It sounds like they would be good for doing cavity trays etc -when cutting through the mortar