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Cutting steel with a miter saw (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by scutiger@lemmy.world to c/diy@slrpnk.net

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Is it safe to cut steel with a miter saw?

I have a small project and I need to cut 3/4" steel square tube. I already own a miter saw, and I don't have the space or otherwise a need for a dedicated tool for cutting metal. I was hoping to just pick up a metal-cutting circular saw blade and use that.

My googling seems to either tell me it will cut like through butter or it will explode in my face and set fire to the house and my wife will leave me and take the kids with her.

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[–] keepee@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Do you have an angle grinder? If you don't need perfectly clean cuts, that might be a better option (and doesn't take as much space)

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I don't own one, and I have no use for one outside of this one project. I'm gonna need to do maybe a dozen cuts.

I'm not going to buy one, but I know it's the better option if the choice is there.

[–] bryndos@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago

Second this. Why take the risk of abusing a tool designed for different work when there are readily available cheap tools that are more suitable for the job?

If there's only a few cuts to make you can also just use a (metal cutting) handsaw. Hand tools are usually the safest option as they give you much more control and sensitivity/feedback than any power tool. The worst that can happen is a skin deep cut or graze, or a broken blade that is easy to replace. You just need to have a bit of time and a bit of patience.