SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw
SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw
The SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw (full name: SKIL PWRCORE 20™ Brushless 20V 4 ½-Inch Compact Circular Saw, Model CR5435B-10) belongs to that class of tool that for most tradespeople gets occasional use…but is extremely welcome when it’s needed. True, there may be some production uses for it, but for most tradies I think it’s one of those “saves the day” or at least “makes my day a lot easier” tools.
The small size, light weight, and inline design make this saw capable of tasks that for even the lightest 6½-inch sidewinder would be clumsy, if not actually unsafe. SKIL sent this in for us to evaluate, and I only wish it had arrived a couple of months earlier! Then, I was struggling with a small 6½-inch sidewinder to make an overhead, very out-of-position cut with one hand while leaning off a ladder. While the only thing at risk of getting hurt was the saw if I dropped it, I’m glad OSHA wasn’t around! (A hand saw would not have done the job.)
SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw Specs
- 20V CORDLESS CIRCULAR SAW KIT includes a PWRCORE 20™ 2.0Ah lithium battery with PWRASSIST™ USB port, 4 ½-inch 24T carbide-tipped blade, and PWRJUMP™ charger
- DIGITAL BRUSHLESS MOTOR provides high-performance power up to 6,000 RPM and extended tool life
- CUTS 2X IN ONE PASS–Rips through 2x material at 90 degrees and 1x material at 45 degrees
- QUICK AND CLEAN CUTS with included 24-tooth ultra-thin carbide-tipped blade
- INTEGRATED DUST PORT
- LIGHTWEIGHT–Tool is just 4 pounds
- LONGER RUNTIME & BATTERY LIFE—Industry-leading PWRCORE™ 20 lithium battery technology wraps each cell with cooling material to keep the battery powering on
- POWER ON THE GO—Plug in to the battery’s USB port wherever, whenever with PWRASSIST™ mobile charging
- CHARGES IN 5 MINUTES—Automatic PWRJUMP™ charges the battery from 0% to 25% in just 5 minutes
- BEVEL CAPACITY—45 degrees
- ELECTRIC BRAKE
- SPINDLE LOCK
- 3/8-INCH ARBOR
First Impressions
My first impression when unboxing this saw was “this feels like a real tool”. It feels more substantial and sturdy than you might think from looking at the pictures of it online. While SKIL has assigned the SKILSAW brand name to their production-use tools and the SKIL brand to less strenuous uses, this saw nonetheless had that industrial strength feel that was so unmistakable in the SKILSAW sidewinders I reviewed a while ago. I didn’t do a teardown but I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some shared DNA.
SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw Uses
I see the SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw coming in handy in a few common situations. The first is with out-of-position cuts of any kind. The inline design and small blade make for simple and easy-to-see one-hand operation.
The second is in locations where getting a larger saw would be troublesome and/or using and controlling both it and the work piece would be difficult. Think of on a ladder or scaffolding, or on an incline like a roof. I mention crawl spaces and small attics a lot because they are so common in the older houses here in New England, but this saw would make things easier when cuts are required in them.
A third situation is for onesy/twosy cuts in which the SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw is convenient to have with you and easy to access.
SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw Features
The saw itself is four pounds. The 2Ah battery brings the weight to 5.2 pounds, so the saw isn’t as light as say, an impact driver. But it is well-balanced and easy to manipulate.
The trigger and lock-out are in traditional places and work well. There’s a spindle lock (that works well – not all do!) The table tilts to 45-degrees. The bevel lock is a thumb-screw rather than a lever, reflecting the fact that this is probably a sometimes use, not production, tool. The table pivots to adjust depth of cut, and again the lock is a thumb-screw. The LED light comes on when the saw is running.
The barrel-grip configuration delivers a totally different feel from a larger sidewinder or rear-handle saw, in a good way. It provides for greater control and easier manipulation. This saw is a lot more fun to use than a normal circular saw!
SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw Performance
This saw comes with a 2Ah battery and a thin-kerf 24-tooth blade which I used for all my cutting. The small battery keeps the weight down (and the liveliness of the tool up). And while performance of any saw can be optimized by using the best blade for the job, I wanted to give you a feel for how the tool performed out of the box. Note that the 6000 RPM blade speed is higher than many larger saws, but it keeps the smaller-diameter blade’s tooth velocity comparable to them.
I could cut 7/16 OSB faster than I could hold a line, so faster than I would ever cut. If I tried to jam the saw through the OSB as fast as I could, which is way faster than is safe, I could stall it, but that is not relevant to the saw’s use.
The saw plunge-cut 7/16 OSB like butter. You can see me doing that on a scrap piece in the image below.
It cut 2X KD stock easily and quickly at my normal speed. In practice, the blade depth was so close to the 1½-inch 2X depth that if the stock was a little uneven it might leave the slightest sliver of uncut wood at the cut’s bottom. No one makes fussy finish cuts on 2X framing lumber though.
Set to its full 1½-inch cut depth, this saw cut 4×4 PT a little slower than I can hold line, but I don’t see this saw being used much to cut 4x4s only part way through. If you have such an application, it will just be a little slower than with a full-size/full-power saw.
The table was a little off its 90-degree setting, which was the only ding I have for this saw. The 45-degree setting was spot on. I’d want to use an electric pencil to make the precise marks on the bevel indicator to line up the 90-degree setting.
It made extremely clean cuts in molding – see the image below. And this with a 24-tooh blade (!), but remember that those 24 teeth are spread around a smaller circumference than on a larger diameter saw blade, so the teeth are closer together.
All in all, this small saw was easy to manipulate and use, and cut extremely well.
Bottom Line
I said at the beginning that I regarded a small, barrel-grip saw like the SKIL Cordless 20V 4½-inch Circular Saw as a special-use tool. But the more I used it the more I came to appreciate its ease of use, good performance, and greater control relative to even a 6½-inch sidewinder. For smaller jobs this turns out to be the saw I’d reach for so long as it could accommodate the depth-of-cut that I needed.
I do wish that SKIL had a belt clip option for this saw. Impact drivers and other tools come with them for a good reason. In the kinds of awkward positions and situations in which this saw can save the day, a place to hang it would be welcome (think of climbing a ladder or working on a roof).
I recommend this saw, and not just for the special jobs that it can do. Don’t think that because it’s a more compact configuration than your regular circular saw that it’s not capable – it surprised me in how capable and powerful for its size it is. If you get one for special jobs, I bet you’ll find yourself using it for many other jobs as well.
