Reply To: tools to cut metal
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Tools and Tool Maintenance/Restoration / tools to cut metal / Reply To: tools to cut metal
That depends….
1) type of metal (iron, steel, stainless, brass/bronze/copper)
2) form of metal (solid, bar, thick wall tube, thin wall tube)
3) power or hand.
A hacksaw works well for thinner cuts but you need to select a blade appropriate to your material
An angle grinder can take on thicker materials with a cutting disk. And with other ‘blades’ you can do various metal finishing
A power hacksaw or bandsaw can do even heavier cuts but require more space and money. Most band saws don’t seem to have a speed range apropriate for both steel and wood – so it’s not generally a two birds with one stone situation.
There are metal cutting blades for a circle saw although that’s probably hard on the saw
And there are special circle saws designed for cutting metal. Again the blade needs to be matched to the material
There are cold saws which look a bit like a power miter box, but are made to cut off metal stock
You can use an oxy-acetylene cutter or a plasma cutter (which requires electricity and compressed air)
Or you can use a cold chisel with a forge
What I generally use is a hacksaw or rotary grinder. But I’m usually cutting thin wall tubing.
Offer up some more particulars and I’m sure we can give you better guidance