By Mark Clement
There's no question that a recip saw is one of the hardest worked, most pummeled tools on the jobsite. From framing to roofing and plaster to decking it certainly can take a beating. Good news for tool abusers: the Makita BJR181 Lithium Ion (LI) 18-volt recip saw never slows down. Like the rest of the tools from the Makita LI LXT line, they did a great job with this reciprocating saw.
Handling, Trigger and Adjustments
A recip saw that's a chafe to handle—poorly balanced, sticky trigger, lousy grip-orientation—gets extra abuse from a crew when it's thrown down in disgust after having to use it. That's not the case with the BJR181.
The balance is great. The two-finger trigger is easy to grab, squeeze and re-adjust your grip as you move through long or articulating cuts. The rubber in-laid handle and body are easy to keep hold of when you're sweating, or buried under gloves and heavy in winter. The tool is light, even with a battery sticking out of the handle. This is tricky to engineer well, but Makita managed nicely.
Power
The previous generation of Nicad-powered cordless recip saws are really good tools, but the gap between them and their corded counterparts is yawning to say the least. You can get a ton of service out of them, but you'll be blown away when you see what the new LI platform has done for cordless demolition cutting.
I cut everything I could get my hands on with this saw from 2-by to 6-by to plaster. I even cut a small shrub stump out of the way for a deck assembly. Not only did the BJR181 cut well, it did so eagerly. While I noticed its power in all the work I did, I really noticed it cutting that stump.
Exhaust
Recip saws are famous for filling your face with dust when you least expect it, and you never know which combination of events is going to be the catalyst. Sometimes all it takes is changing direction in a plaster cut, while others it's a pile of dust close to the floor blown by the saw's fan and right up your nose. Whatever it is, it's a bother when it happens.
What I didn't notice—during any of my demo and material removal activities with the Makita—was any dust in my face. So, when I cut the stump (it was just a few inches tall and surrounded by powdery dry sand) I tried to get it to kick dust up. No dice. I couldn't get that saw to kick dust in my face for the life of me. That's some fancy footwork by the engineers and it gets big kudos from the jobsite crew.
Battery
Again, with the stump, I started cutting with a low-charged battery previously used on an impact driver. The stump cut took two minutes and the tool still came out eager and hungry. It provided full-service right through the cut, as it did in all the other work I threw at it. The LI power platform is working in these tools during my tests.
The battery also swaps in and out easily. The release button is easy to press and getting the battery on and off the tool isn't a Greco-Roman wrestling match.
Blade Change
This recip saw has the best tool-less blade change system I've seen. It's rubber coated, easy to engage and literally pops the blade out of the tool. Inserting the blade teeth up or teeth down is a cinch. This feature saves time and aggravation.
Other Features
The BJR181 has a fold-down skyhook mounted to the top of the tool body. I can see how other carpenters might use it. While I don't, I welcome it because it (a) works and (b) it's out of sight, out of mind when I don't need it. Like every other recip saw, this one has an adjustable shoe. Again, I don't use it but it works. What's more, the shoe itself is thick, tough stamped steel that I know won't whine if I drop it on the deck or jam it into roof shingles. Neither will I, if I have to use this tool to do my demo work.
The BJR181 is available singly, but more likely as part of a combination kit.
18V LXT Lithium-Ion Recipro Saw, Model BJR181
Mark Clement is a remodeler and author of The Carpenter's Notebook and The Kid's Carpenter's Workbook, Fun Family Projects! Find out more at
www.TheCarpentersNotebook.com.
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