Crain’s toe-kick saw draws its name from the fact that it fits under the toe-kick of cabinets, which is handy as hell when you need to cut through old material to lay down a new plywood sub-floor — without pulling the cabinets in the process.
I wish we’d have had this saw when my dad and I redid the 30-year-old tile floor in his kitchen a couple of years back. We had to cut through about 3/4” of material, and we tried everything; there just isn’t enough clearance to use any kind of standard saw. Crain’s toe-kick saw would’ve allowed us to slice vertically into the old sub-floor flush with the cabinet’s toe-kicks for a nice clean job.
The No. 795 (pictured) features a 2-1/2 hp motor and helical gears for durability. The large handles also give you lots of control, and the saw offers a maximum cutting depth of 3/4”.
Its street price of around $260 isn’t cheap, but the time you’d save on a job like the one described above is huge. And if you do jobs like this frequently, the Crane would be a money-saver, too.
No. 795 Toe-Kick Saw [Crain Tools]
Street Prices [Google Products]
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7 Responses to Crain’s Toe-Kick Saw Fits Where Other’s Won’t
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This seems like it would be a good rental item for a homeowner. Rent it when you need it.
Maybe I’m not very clever this morning but what does one do when they reach a corner with this thing? It looks like there is a guard on the blade to prevent it cutting into anything but what is directly below the saw. Would I use one of those fancy Japanese pull saws to cut through the rest of the material flush to the corner?
My guess would be a chisel that you’re not too interested in keeping for cleaning up the corners.
I wonder how well this would work for undercutting door jams. That would almost make it worth buying for a big flooring project.
Hey Benjamen,
Crain actually makes a number of specialty saws, including a few undercutting saws. http://www.craintools.com/fs-specialtysaws.html
Much like the toe-kick saw, they’re very specialized, but very good at what they do.
You’re right though, you get a big enough flooring job, and these start to make a whole lot of sense.
Re: jeff
That’s where a multi master comes in handy.
Harbor Freight has toe kick saws too:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94626
For about $40 on sale right now. I wonder if it sucks. But maybe it will get the job done once and you’ll get your money’s worth.
You can rent toe-kick saws at:
http://www.rentaltoolsonline.com/Toe-Kick-Saw-p/101217.htm