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SAWZ-ALL Appreciation Thread.

P. Aaron

P. Aaron

Supporting Member
Sep 16, 2002
14,296
9,840
Livin’ on a slab in Plano, TX
#1
I love my Mikita Sawz-all ("reciprocating saw"). Right now we're (the wife and I) replacing steel "Finestra" (made in Detroit!) windows with very nice new ones.

Due to the nature of the steel window install (in 1941), I have to bust out all the glass, and then saw the steel frames with my sawz-all and collapse the suckers.

Then we clean up all the mess, and install the beatiful new Pozzi windows. Which are extemely heavy, but a good architectual replacement.

Without the Sawz-All, it'd be rough going so...

Hip Hip Hooray! For the Sawz-All and it's many fine functions.
 
#2
Sweet! I love my Sawz-All also. Even though I stuck it in my leg right above my knee-cap, and it came put just above my calf several years ago.

Just wondering on the windows if removing the trim around the window, or any siding was a possibility?

-Mike
 
#3
P. Aaron said:
Due to the nature of the steel window install (in 1941), I have to bust out all the glass, and then saw the steel frames with my sawz-all and collapse the suckers.

Then we clean up all the mess, and install the beatiful new Pozzi windows. Which are extemely heavy, but a good architectual replacement.
Click to expand...

Dude, it sounds like you have too much time on your hands. :D

I like the Sawz-All too, but I mainly use it for small tasks (which is a waste of money probably, but it really does work well, in almost all cases).

Wifey and I both work, so we don't have time for major repair jobs like that. (Other than recently, when I've been so sick I haven't been able to even comtemplate anything like that).

We had our windows done by a local guy (an Andersen rep, I believe), and they did a really good job. Increased the AC efficiency by at least fifty percent.

Let's see, the last thing I used the Sawz-All for, was cutting out a ten inch hole in a temporary cab so I could break in someone's Weber speaker. Worked great. :D
 
#5
Sawzall is a Milwaukee tool. All the rest are reciprocating saws. My favorite story is regarding running ambulance. We have a great local paramedic who is 6 feet tall and 325 to 350 pounds and 50 years old. Obviously a prime candidate for a cardiac. He and his wife live in a small single wide behind her beauty shop. I told him that if he ever went down we would have to use the Sawzall to cut a door big enough to get him through. He did and we did. We went back the next day and framed in a bigger door.
 
#6
Mine is the Milwaukee one. Varible speed. A very nice and versatile tool. I've used them for every thing from installing heating and cooling systems in the late 70's. To cutting people out of cars in the late 80's and early 90's.A good sawzall can turn a BMW into a convertabile is less time then you would think.
Hey Aaron, You ever cut the window out of a 3rd story apartment so you could use the bucket to lower a streatcher to the ground?
570 pound patient hadn't left the apartment in 4 years. Wouldn't fit through the doors and wasn't enough room on the stairs for all the people we needed to lift her.
 
#7
Yes! My Milwaukee Sawz all is my favorite tool. I did my own windows as well, it was an invaluable tool for the job. i've also used it to cut sheet metal in cars, remove pipes, open doors, many, many other tasks.
 
#8
My milwaukee sawz-all came out of a dumpster. Someone broke the little clamping screw, so I drilled it out and cleaned the threads with a tap. Then I bought a new little clamp and screw for 4 bucks, and had a perfectly good sawzall. You ever try to remove a sink drain basket that has been corroded on there for 10 years? Just cut the nut with a sawzall, and it comes right out! Hooray for the sawzall!!!
 
#9
Aaron Schiff said:
Sawzall is a Milwaukee tool. All the rest are reciprocating saws.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. Although I love me some DeWalt tools, I went with the real deal when I got my Sawzall.

Man, why are you guys cutting up all your old windows to replace them?? When I replaced mine, I removed the trim and siding around the window. The old aluminum window popped out, and I set the new vinyl one in. Looks like you guys are doing it the hard way. Unless there is something I do not know about how your old windows were installed.

-Mike
 
#10
Milwaukees are the best. I especially like the 25th (or more?) special edition with the black metal case. Truly indestructible. Although I almost chopped off one of my fingers with it...

Actually I almost chopped myself with a DeWalt reciprocating saw, which I don't like as much. DeWalt makes killer drills though.
 
#11
I'm an electrician, and use the Sawzall (Milwaukee Cordless 'Hatchet' model) everday to cut, well, everything, but usually conduit, framing, steel and cast iron parts we need to customize. Never mind a BMW conversion, with the Ax and Torch blades that Milwaukee makes, you can level a building down to the parking lot in less than a day.

Man, I don't know what the construction industry did before these things. Until I could buy one I tore my wrist and arms up using a hacksaw, and I don't see how someone could do that all day on structural iron and steel.
 
#13
Ha ha - my house was first built in 1922, and it's had at least three major additions since then. When it started out, it was just a pied-a-terre, literally a bedroom with a tiny bathroom next to it. It was probably a flop-house for some movie star or something (being just over the hill from Hollywood here). Many, many of the houses out here started out that way. Burbank was like the "bedroom community" for the Hollywood crowd, in the early days. But now, it's become a real nice place. We have two BR's (one of which is actually my home studio), and a pool, and an enormous garage, and so on. The interesting thing though, is that the last owners didn't necessarily do such a great job on home maintenance. They carved their initials into the driveway, but they probably didn't fully understand the concept of "efficiency", in terms of electricity use and heating costs and AC and all that. Windows are one of those things that there are a lot of "scam artists" out there, kinda like vacuum cleaner salesmen or something. You really have to find someone good if you're interested in getting the full benefit. We spent almost six months (literally) shopping around, before we took the plunge. And the results speak for themselves, my electricity costs are down by about 50% (even with inflation), and in the wintertime we can turn on the heater for like 30 minutes, and the whole house is totally cozy. I don't know enough about windows to do that kind of thing by myself, maybe you do, but somehow I don't think a Sawz-All is going to cut it, so to speak. :D
 
#15
jabberwock777 said:
I'm an electrician.
Click to expand...

Yep, I knew I smelled something in this thread. :) :D

Don't forget to mention how you sparky's use your Sawzalls to cut up sheetrock for the boxes you forgot to install, or for the ones you add on after I am prepping the walls for paint. :D I spent 17 years as a drywall finisher.

-Mike
 
#16
MJ5150 said:
Yep, I knew I smelled something in this thread. :) :D

Don't forget to mention how you sparky's use your Sawzalls to cut up sheetrock for the boxes you forgot to install, or for the ones you add on after I am prepping the walls for paint. :D I spent 17 years as a drywall finisher.

-Mike
Click to expand...

So YOU are the one who always leaves hardened mud all over the damn floor for us flooring installers?
 
#17
thats funny...I always used the sawzall to cut out the boxes the sheetrocker covered up because they where piece workers and in such a dang hurry they couldn't be bothered to cut the hole in the first place.

That was the good sheet rockers.

The bad ones didn't know how to read a ruler and couldn't figure out where to cut the hole. :D

A nice waffle head framing hammer works good for that as well...gives sheetrock boy a little wake up call....

Then sheetrock boy come in uses his router on the INSIDE of the box edge...chews the heck out of all the wires.....

the finisher comes in and used the edge of the box the scrape the old mud off the trowel.....fills the box back up....sander comes through and smoothes it all out again....

God I miss construction management.....
 
#19
Whiny sparky's and whiny floor guys.....it always ended up in a truce on my jobs.

Sparky's place all the boxes properly the FIRST time through the building, and we'd send an apprentice through to make sure no mud was on the wires. The floor guys? I had one carpet guy who wanted use to vacuum the floor, and the crack between the bottom sheet and the floor. We couldn't do anything to please those guys short of waxing the floor when we were done. So Tim, you quit your whining before I send some apprentices through your building with mud thin enough to drink. :) :D

-Mike
 
#20
Man, the worst fights in the construction industry are between the electricians and the sheet rock crew.

Last gig I had was running a wing of AAAA High School. My guys went through a floor running systems conduit...Fire Alarm...TV...Communication's...Big, hard to work pipe about a good 18 feet off the ground....had a great two days and ran a BUNCH of it...

We left for the weekend and showed up Monday to find a crew of non english speaking communist block eastern european's pulling it all off the walls so they could run fire wall all the way to the ceilng. The only problem was...they couldn't quite read the blue print where it clearly showed the firewall as being a "SMOKE" wall only which means one side of the wall only and THEY where on the wrong side of the wall.

Thousands of feet of pipe littering the hallway...me freaking out...them on the high lift just smiling and nodding and just ripping away....didn't even understand what STOP! meant.

But I digress...

Sawzall's are one of those tools that you don't need all that often but when you need one..you NEED one. They are a most excellent invention. Those cheap battery operated Bosch ones that you get at Home Depot....the ones with the quick release for blade changing...the blade shakes right out of them about every third time you crank it up. That can be a little annoying.
 

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