Diablo 12-Inch Pruning Reciprocating Saw Blades – Item of the Day
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Diablo 12-Inch Pruning Reciprocating Saw Blade. I have always been a fan of using Reciprocating Saws (IE Sawzalls) as a tool for pruning trees or removing small trees where a chain saw would be over kill. It is especially nice for small trees that you want to cut off flush to the ground. They also make a less damaging cut when pruning large branches on fruit trees.
The big thing though is safety. I have used chain saws since I was 12 years old and thank God I have never hurt myself with one. I have seen quite a few injuries though and they are pretty awful. One thing I realized is that these injuries almost never happen when felling large trees, or bucking trees. Then tend to happen when people are doing work on small trees and small slash.
The rule is simple, TWO HANDS ON THE SAW AT ALL TIME THE CHAIN IS MOVING, the end, infinity. But when working with bushy stuff sooner or later the temptation becomes too great, a hand comes off the saw and in time sooner or later flesh and bone meet moving chain. My grandfathers words ring true,
Moving machines and tools have no sympathy, no conscious and no respect for human beings. They don’t care if they are cutting wood and metal or flesh and bone. You are the one with the brain so act like it!
In that spirit many years ago I thought, wow all this little bushy crap doesn’t really need a chain saw. Took out my sawzall and instantly was a convert. If it can be easily cut with a reciprocating saw that is what I use. It is lighter, quieter and safer so why not.
Over the years I tried a lot of different blades, the blade in the video below is just a stock “wood blade”. Most left something to be desired when cutting trees. I found a few good “specialty blades”. They were however expensive and the best one I ever found was the T-Rex Extreme but they went out of business. Trying to make a company on one product is pretty tough!
So one day I decided to give these a whirl and to this day they are the best, highly available and affordable pruning blade I have found. They end up costing about $3.30 a piece and you get a LOT of cutting out of a blade before you need to switch it out. If you look at the tooth pattern it is clear why they work so well, it is very similar to a scaled down bow saw blade.
One of the best uses for this set up is one you don’t really think about until you need to do it. You are digging a trench for say some irrigation pipe and you come across a root, a big root, one that is really hard to cut out with a shovel or a mattock. Are you going to shove your chainsaw down into that dirt and rock mess? Nope but two swift cuts from a sawzall and you just pop it out and move on.
So if you own a reciprocating saw, consider picking up a set of these. Again I have tried a lot of different blades but bang for the buck I see Diablo 9-Inch Pruning Reciprocating Saw Blades as the best you can get right now.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
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Note this video is old, really old, I have lost a lot of weight
and gained a lot of gray hairs since then.
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P.S. – Let me just say for blades and such I love Diablo. Their equipment is just top notch and tends to last longer and preform better than just about any brand I have tried when it comes to blades, bits, etc. You a ton of Diablo’s stuff on Amazon here. Please be aware that link is a search result and you may find some sponsored results and such in it.
I have used these blades for years they are the best and fastest way to cut any limbs or saplings under about 4 inches. They will cut larger but more care is required.
Great suggestion! They have emergency uses too.
I used a pruning blade, sawzall, and several extension cords to clear limbs and branches after the 2007 Springfield, MO ice storm. It was all anyone in the neighborhood had. It turned into a community event. We’d move the extension cords up the street to the next house that still had power and got paid in goodwill and hot chocolate. 🙂
The real reward was 20 minutes after we were done and talking, an ambulance came up the street that would have been blocked if not for our neighborhood crew. I’d have rather had a chainsaw (and I do now), but we got the job done with what we had.
This is the blade that we use for big game (deer & elk) for the cutting of bone before, during, and after the processing.
Great blades for sure, but in my experience the Porter Cable saw will wear out the 2 ah batteries really quickly. And I mean permanently.
I would recommend a corded saw whenever possible.
I think Porter Cable warranties batteries for 1 year? If not I know Rigid does.
Thanks! I’ve been using my cordless Dewalt with a regluar blade for several years as a pruning aid for stuff that’s too large for hand pruning. I’ll be ordering a few of these for this season.
Found these blades when digging post holes for a deck. They worked great cutting the roots from the hole! Even LARGE ones.
Another great use, I should append to the article! We have done that so many times digging in trenches.
Another use for these is to break one of the larger blades to about 1, 2 or 3 inches long as required, (using a bench vice to secure the blade and using a strong pliers or hand held vice grips to bend and break the blade at sharp right angles, of course wearing goggles & safety gloves).
Now you have a super powerful jig saw suitable for cutting plasterboard, especially useful if the plasterboard is already wall mounted on wooden batons and you need to cut out sections to access pipes etc.
Recip blades won’t fit in a jig saw. A lot of work to ease a blade that won’t work then.
If you have never tried them I highly reccomended Diablo carbide tipped Recip blades. They last far longer and you can cut much more challenging materials.
There are carbide tipped for metal cutting, nail with wood and now even pruning which means no need for a chainsaw in Maine situations.
Hunters dream for shooting lanes, cutting up an elk etc.
Thanks for something to check out but your fist two sentences don’t make any sense to me. What does a jig saw have to do with any of this?
Jack, I appreciate the informative video man. I never thought about the advantage of having one hand free with the reciprocating saw VS chain saw. I also noticed you have what appears to be a straw coming over your shoulder. Is that one of those water bladder things? Where is the water stored? Is it under the front of your shirt right under your chest? Can you provide product link of the one you use? Thanks Jack!
It is this https://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/aiotd-7-22-16
Jack I appreciate the the response and the link. FYI…I was just joking about the location of the water storage. LOL The only reason I said that is because of the disclaimer above the video about having lost a lot of weight but with more gray hair. I thought what you said was pretty funny. I was completely expecting an email from you tell me I’m an idiot. LOL Anyway brother, I’m going to give this water backpack thing a lookie. I need something like that when going hiking. Roll Tide and HODL
I have been using these or similar since 2017 when you first mentioned them. Super useful, especially where a chainsaw would not be used.