Comments on: Irwin’s New Vinyl Siding Circ Saw Blade

By: Fred

Fred — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:17:22 +0000

The 4-1/2 inch reverse-tooth trim saw blade for teh PC trim saw - also works well

By: The Bull

The Bull — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:50:29 +0000

I have tried this blade. It works well in thin plastic material. I had to cut alto of vinyl soffet to go around my house. It really made a clean cut. And I recommend cutting 2 or 3 stacks at a time… makes short work of the cutting part anyway.

By: Waylan

Waylan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:22:54 +0000

Yep, a cheap blade installed backward was how we did it for the ten years or so that I installed vinyl siding. Often, we would use the underpowered battery powered saws with smaller size blades. They were easier to control and created less damage.

Of course, there were those situations where snips worked better. Or those cuts that run the lenght of the piece which we would scribe with a utility knife and snap apart.

One things for sure, regardless of the method of cutting, it always worked better the warmer the weather. I ruined many a piece on cold days in the Buffalo/Rochester, NY area.

By: Frank Hicinbothem

Frank Hicinbothem — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:04:54 +0000

When I did vinyl siding we used a trim saw with the blade in backwards. Worked like a charm, smooth cuts no splinters. Probably no too high on the safety factor though.

I agree, but make sure you use a cheap stamped blade. The carbide tips will easily fly off an expensive blade, turning it into a “carbine” blade. (Yes, that was bad.)

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:54:32 +0000

Also “no too high on the safety factor though.” is the picture blade guard with a cable tie to hold it up out of the way.

By: Colin

Colin — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:04:10 +0000

When I did vinyl siding we used a trim saw with the blade in backwards. Worked like a charm, smooth cuts no splinters. Probably no too high on the safety factor though.

By: elmegil

elmegil — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:56:42 +0000

I used a circ saw on vinyl lattice, probably like what you were doing. It leaves lots of little balls of vinyl everywhere, and leaves lots of gritty junk at the end of the cut where the vinyl was melting more than cutting. My ends were always hidden, and it was a DIY project, so I didn’t sweat it much (other than the cleanup), but definitely not something I’d recommend. For a solid piece of vinyl I can only imagine it would be worse.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:02:02 +0000

I tried a standard circular saw blade for vinyl siding - once. It made so much mess on the job site, and was so hard to control for detail cuts, that I switched back to using tin-snips. I’ve put siding on a half-dozen houses using all hand tools, and never had any regrets. You have to use snips anyway for the detail cuts, so why not JUST use them for all the cuts? Yes - it can get tedious for the long rip cuts, but these cuts are few and far between, and a good utility knife and straightedge can make for a quick score-and-snap rip cut on the vinyl piece. Given that, I don’t see myself buying this blade for my tool box anytime soon.