Although chop saw and miter saw looks the same and essentially shares the same primary features, both are different from each other.
Both are in the same family of the circular blade, stand-alone tools with a vertically aligned spinning blade, many people use the terms chop saw and miter saw interchangeably.
If you could ask it from a novice, he would not be able to spot any major difference between the two.
But, in genuine, both are significantly different and shares different features.
If you are going to purchase one of them, and are looking forward to understanding the key features to get your hard-earned money spent on an appropriate tool needed, stick to the guide and keep reading it.
What is a Chop Saw?
Whether you are going to set up a new workshop or want to upgrade your cutting tool, it is always recommended to house a powerful saw. A reliable, robust and power-house chop saw is always bring forth unparalleled results for you.
Chop saws are the kind of tools what you find in commercial and industrial shops or services to cut large metal objects. It looks identical to the miter-saw, due to the round spinning blade resembles.
A chop saw is a powerful power saw what is used to cut through hard metals at 90-degree angles. It is used with a mounted-circular pull down blade, which makes a cross-cut through a hard metal. Chop-saw usually generates sparks, and lot of them. Be careful while cutting through hard-metals using a chop saw, you are going to burn through your clothes or skin.
The major difference between the two is that Chop saw is always recommended to give a perpendicular cut to an item. Although it can render angle cut like miter-saw, it would not be an easy controllable tool as miter-saw.
It is the recommended tool to cut large metal pieces. Its magical power makes the cut seamless and effortless.
I have been using it to cut wood items but did not produce impeccable results like the way it poured for metal objects.
Chop saw is a recommended fitting for framing task and home building tasks due to its huge cutting capacity.
They are fast, reliable and robust device and one must take it a serious cutting tool, otherwise, you can get yourself hurt.
What is a chop saw used for?
Chop saw is mainly used to cut large metal pieces. It is an ideal device to make hard material cuts effortlessly. If you are going to deal with a project what entails cutting metal material, along with minor wood cutting, the large blade and robust machine will not only cut almost any metal but do more than a miter saw. The right and handy blade will provide efficient performance in dealing metal as well as woodcutting.
If you are going to construct a home or a building from ground-up, and looking up which tool to go with, have a chop-saw. At that stage of your construction, you need to get something powerful which could cross-cuts large pieces of metals as well as wood without any hiccup.
Can a chop saw used to cut wood?
Chop saw is designed to give 90-degree cuts. It cannot go with angle cuts easily. So, dealing the woods with it would be tedious. If you are meant to give straight cuts to your wood pieces, go ahead, Chop saw is the best tool to cut in a 90-degree angle.
In wood cutting, most of the time, we have to deal with angled-cutting. So, it is quite hard to get seamless results of wood-cutting with a chop saw.
Pros:
- Ideal for cutting a different large piece of metals.
- The large blade will give effortless results with any metal cutting
- The large chop saw comes with a footswitch which makes you cut any piece without the involvement of your hands directly.
Cons:
- Difficult to control while cutting angles.
- The blade only moves up and down with no swivel which means the tool is only designed to make straight cuts.
- A tedious tool for wood-cutting
What is a miter saw?
Being a woodworker, you are not supposed to give only straight cuts. But, most of the time, you have to deal with different angled cuts with a neat and clean way. When it comes to making angled cut in a precise way, miter-saw stands out.
If you ask me to give miter-saw a definition, it would be like.
“A miter saw is a tool which is used to make cross-cuts and miter-cuts on wood and metal pieces which is done pulling a mounted circular saw blade on the workpiece”. A miter-saw comes in two different types, single-beveled and dual beveled.
The style of the saw is to get the blade down onto a piece to cut it, rather running the blade along with the workpiece.
The tool looks identical to the chop saw, with a blade mounted on a hinged arm. But, unlike chop saw, it swivels, to make angled cuts in various different directions.
The blade integrated into the miter-saw can give cuts in any direction, with bevel-cut as well.
I am not saying the device cannot be used for giving straight cut. When a tool is enabling you to get beveled-cuts, why cannot it perform in straight direction?
The tool cannot be replaced by a chop-saw. Chop saw is good to handle large metal pieces, with large cuts. To get some finishing on your carpentry or woodwork while installing a baseboard, a miter-saw is a hands-down option to assist you. You will get the ability to make bevel cuts, different angles cuts, with the locked position.
This power-house miter-saw is a handy tool to give your work neat and clean cuts, on a small-scale. If you are a DIY enthusiast and are not trained as a professional, you need to use a miter-saw, as it is handy to use and a novice can control the tool quite seamlessly.
What is Miter-Saw used for?
Miter saw is designed to give cross-cuts and miter cuts. Crosscuts are simple and straightforward cuts you make on your workpiece. This is the simplest cut you perform across the wood or metal which is parallel with the edges. The advantage of using a miter saw to perform a cross-cut is that you simply drop the blade onto a workpiece in just one motion. The cross-cuts performed using a miter saw are more precise and much easier compare to the other gliding blades.
I mentioned that miter saw is also used to perform angled cuts. The angled cuts are the most important cuts you need to perform in woodworking. The crosscuts run parallel to workpiece’slides, miters cuts run diagonally at any degree.
You should not take it as the blade is angled while doing the task. By using the different tools and equipment, the blade direction of cutting is changed to give an angled cutting.
If you are going to make things such as frames, crown, molding, gates, boxes, and ledges, a miter saw is your primary device.
Pros:
- The main application of the tool is to cut wood, but it can also be used on a small scale for cutting aluminum and other metals, versatile option to go with.
- It’s the ability to make angled cuts makes the tool stand out in the crowd.
- The tool is world-known for its precise and clean cuts.
- It is easy to operate and control
Cons:
- Not an ideal tool for cutting different metals
- Miter saw seems reluctant in cutting through large metal pieces or wood pieces.
Comparison table:
Miter saw:
- Mainly used for cutting wood, aluminum
- make angled cuts
- makes cleaner cuts
- Easy to control
- Ideal to deal with woodworking
- Ideal for bevel cuts
- Low hazard saw
Chop saw:
- Mainly used for cutting hard material
- Cannot give angled cuts, not easily
- Ideal for doing the metal cutting
- Perfect for handling large metal pieces
- Difficult to control
- Not recommended for a novice
- Powerful power saw
The Conclusion:
Being a DIY enthusiast or woodworker you need to ensure that you get the right tool to carry out a job. Knowing the right tool for a job is one thing, choosing the right tool for a job is another.
One of the most confusion decision, many carpenters and woodworker experience is while choosing between a miter-saw and chop saw.
The chop saw is all about brute force and to tackle the massive amount of work with hard metal to go through. The tool is often taken as a construction tool, for building a house from the ground up.
When it comes to giving a final touch, bring a carpenter with a miter saw. The tool will help to trim doors, windows, frames, and other finishing. Like, all apples are fruit but all fruit is not an apple, all miter saws are chop saws, but you cannot say the same for chop saw.
You need to know that chop saw cannot give final touches to your small work. Next, time if someone says you that he has a chop saw which gives angles, you need to congratulate him.