There was a thread talking about this that I chimed in on once I got my Big Foot 10 1/4 circular saw last year, but it was more about whether 10 1/4 saw ripping works at all or not, not a discussion of its limits. I've done limited ripping with my 16 5/16 Makita, which works okay real slow but bogs down in any serious hardwood and needs dead flat wood to not bind up. Works pretty good on pine. My Big Foot 10 1/4 generally works great, but 3-4" thick hardwood it starts vibrating pretty badly in the cut. Was an old used saw so thought the blade was no good, and got a new Big Foot blade. Still seems to be vibrating in deeper cuts of dense hardwood. Thought maybe the Skil wormdrive motor had bad bearings or something, so I switched a compatible Bosch wormdrive motor I had on to it. Still some vibration.
At this point I'm wondering if none of the 10 1/4 blades available are much good for precision ripping hardwood, because of the flex. Think I'm trying to create a silk purse from a sow's ear here on the cheap. Would like to hear from any folks that have done much ripping with their 10 1/4 saws, if they've noticed much vibration at all in deeper cuts, especially in hardwoods.
At this point I'm wondering if none of the 10 1/4 blades available are much good for precision ripping hardwood, because of the flex. Think I'm trying to create a silk purse from a sow's ear here on the cheap. Would like to hear from any folks that have done much ripping with their 10 1/4 saws, if they've noticed much vibration at all in deeper cuts, especially in hardwoods.