New Tool Gloat -- Flush Cut Power Saw

I don't usually post message on my new purchase of power tool. But
this tool is so useful that I must mention about it here. It is a
flush-cut power saw by Bosch. I bought it from Lowes for $99.

I used it to cut out the outer skin of an area of a fiberglass deck.
It cut relatively easy and didn't generate a lot of dust. But that is
not the reason why I really like this tool. A reciporcating saw
probably would have done better.

The reason why I really like it is that I can use it to remove the
core material from a cored fiberglass deck. It cut very fast and very
clean. It can cut very fast because it is a power tool, and it can
cut very close to the fiberglass deck that my arm just didn't have the
leverage to apply force if I used manpower and hand tool trying to do
the same thing. It can cut very clean because it can get down very
close to the skin of the fiberglass deck and cut the core without
damaging the fiberglass that I want to keep. I could clean up the
core from an area very quickly and effortlessly using this tool. And
it doesn't generate a lot of dust (I didn't even bother to point a
shop vac to it while I was using this tool; I still had my face mask
though).

One interesting use of this tool is to remove the core material from
between the outer skin and the inner skin of a fiberglass deck. When
I removed the outer skin of the deck and removed most of the core
material, I left with the inner skin, and a narrow band of outer
skin. I needed to leave that narrow band of outer skin because I need
to epoxy layers of fiberglass onto that narrow band of outer skin when
I re-construct the outer skin. The core materials between the inner
skin and the narrow band of outer skin were in various degree of
decay. I could use a picking tool to remove the core materials from
there if they were totoally rotten. But I had a hard time removing
those core material if they were just wet but not rotten -- I could
only remove a few here and a few there -- very time consuming and very
exhausting. When I was frustrated, I would use a chisel and a hammer;
but I would risk damaging the inner skin. The flush cut power saw cut
right through the core materials between the fiberglass skin, and
didn't damage the fiberglass skin. I still needed to use a picking
tool to remove core materials that were sticked to the outer skin
(because it cannot cut close to the outer skin). But this was far
easier than without using the flush cut power saw.

Of course, there are some limitations of using this tool. First, it
cannot saw away the epoxy or poly left on the fiberglass skin that was
used to hold the core. I still will need to use a grinder or a sander
to finish preparing the inner skin. Secondly, it could not cut very
close to the upper skin when I used it to remove the core between the
upper and bottom skins of a deck; yes I could have angle it and cut
very close to the underside of the upper skin; but I would run the
risk of damaging the upper skin. Third, it is not designed to start
digging a hole onto the fiberglass skin like what a reciprocating saw
can do. I need to dril holes on the fiberglass in order for the saw
blade to have some room to bite into. Forth, it is designed to saw in
a straight line, not in a curve. Fifth, this is not a commonly used
tool; I may run into a problem when I need to replace the saw blade
(therefore, this is a good idea to only use it for sawing core
material, but not fiberglass skin; for cutting fiberglass skin, we are
probably better off using a reciprocating saw or a jig saw).

But for removing core materials, it is GREAT!

I post this just in case someone may need to remove a lot of core
material from his boat and to buy a power tool to speed thing up.

Jay Chan

What's the Bosch model number?

"Jay Chan" <jaykchan.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193426371.835203.254660@o38g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>I don't usually post message on my new purchase of power tool. But
> this tool is so useful that I must mention about it here. It is a
> flush-cut power saw by Bosch. I bought it from Lowes for $99.
>
> I used it to cut out the outer skin of an area of a fiberglass deck.
> It cut relatively easy and didn't generate a lot of dust. But that is
> not the reason why I really like this tool. A reciporcating saw
> probably would have done better.
>
> The reason why I really like it is that I can use it to remove the
> core material from a cored fiberglass deck. It cut very fast and very
> clean. It can cut very fast because it is a power tool, and it can
> cut very close to the fiberglass deck that my arm just didn't have the
> leverage to apply force if I used manpower and hand tool trying to do
> the same thing. It can cut very clean because it can get down very
> close to the skin of the fiberglass deck and cut the core without
> damaging the fiberglass that I want to keep. I could clean up the
> core from an area very quickly and effortlessly using this tool. And
> it doesn't generate a lot of dust (I didn't even bother to point a
> shop vac to it while I was using this tool; I still had my face mask
> though).
>
> One interesting use of this tool is to remove the core material from
> between the outer skin and the inner skin of a fiberglass deck. When
> I removed the outer skin of the deck and removed most of the core
> material, I left with the inner skin, and a narrow band of outer
> skin. I needed to leave that narrow band of outer skin because I need
> to epoxy layers of fiberglass onto that narrow band of outer skin when
> I re-construct the outer skin. The core materials between the inner
> skin and the narrow band of outer skin were in various degree of
> decay. I could use a picking tool to remove the core materials from
> there if they were totoally rotten. But I had a hard time removing
> those core material if they were just wet but not rotten -- I could
> only remove a few here and a few there -- very time consuming and very
> exhausting. When I was frustrated, I would use a chisel and a hammer;
> but I would risk damaging the inner skin. The flush cut power saw cut
> right through the core materials between the fiberglass skin, and
> didn't damage the fiberglass skin. I still needed to use a picking
> tool to remove core materials that were sticked to the outer skin
> (because it cannot cut close to the outer skin). But this was far
> easier than without using the flush cut power saw.
>
> Of course, there are some limitations of using this tool. First, it
> cannot saw away the epoxy or poly left on the fiberglass skin that was
> used to hold the core. I still will need to use a grinder or a sander
> to finish preparing the inner skin. Secondly, it could not cut very
> close to the upper skin when I used it to remove the core between the
> upper and bottom skins of a deck; yes I could have angle it and cut
> very close to the underside of the upper skin; but I would run the
> risk of damaging the upper skin. Third, it is not designed to start
> digging a hole onto the fiberglass skin like what a reciprocating saw
> can do. I need to dril holes on the fiberglass in order for the saw
> blade to have some room to bite into. Forth, it is designed to saw in
> a straight line, not in a curve. Fifth, this is not a commonly used
> tool; I may run into a problem when I need to replace the saw blade
> (therefore, this is a good idea to only use it for sawing core
> material, but not fiberglass skin; for cutting fiberglass skin, we are
> probably better off using a reciprocating saw or a jig saw).
>
> But for removing core materials, it is GREAT!
>
> I post this just in case someone may need to remove a lot of core
> material from his boat and to buy a power tool to speed thing up.
>
> Jay Chan
>