I SAW this and thought of you (Black & Decker Scorpion 400W Handsaw)

Member Name: thegarleon

Product:	Black & Decker Scorpion 400W Handsaw
Date:	06/06/06 (1029 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick and easy to use

Disadvantages: Shakes your arm off

Mother in laws....who needs them? Well to be honest with you, I do. Why am I mentioning my mother in law in a review about an electric saw? Cos I used mine to chop the Old Trout into little bits haha ! Only kidding, she's too tough even for a power tool. My wonderfull Mother in law bought me a brilliant birthday present this year....a one way ticket to Abudabi, nah she wishes. She bought me a Scorpion from Black and Decker.

*****So what exactly is it and how do you use it?*****

Well to be honest it's like a kitchen knife on steroids for blokes. This is like a DIY'ers version of a chainsaw. Tougher and quicker than a hand saw. It is able to cut the time and effort involved in sawing (every pun intended !). You do find yourself useing it like a kitchen knife, with a sort of assisted sawing motion. The 10mm "stroke" of the blade does make the whole job of cutting a lot easier. The Strokes per minute would keep a puddy tat happy for a lifetime.... all 0 to 5500 of them ! WOW !

The Scorpion is held much like a wood plane. One hand on top to stabalise and one in the handle grip. It is natural to hold. Your thumb operated the safety switch on, then the blade cuts by pulling the trigger.

There is a generous 3 meter flex, which if you ask me should be brightly coloured like the ones you get with lawn mowers. I always find that with safety goggles on it can be a bit difficult to see a black cable. I tend to throw it over my shoulder (in a devil may care, flamboyant attitide haha) and always make sure you use a circuit breaker plug.


*****Does it DO the job ?*****

The job in question that I used it for was quite a tough one. I was clearing out rakes of junk from the back garden in preparation for the summer. An old metal see-saw, some fence panels, four inch square fence posts, a railway sleeper (partially rotten) and some old kitchen units.

To be honest, it is grat for soft woods such as pine, but struggles a bit on harder woods. It chewed through the old skirting boards in no time at all. The 60mm work surface took some time, but it DID handle them.....or rather eat them. Once I had cut up the easy stuff, i tried some conti board and mdf, just for research purposes you understand. I was nearly lost in a cloud of mdf ! It is easy to hold a straigh line, a lot easier than my "optical illusion" straight line cutting normally is.

I was a bit dissapointed when it came to cutting the metal poles and the old sheet of corrugated iron. I had to clamp down the poles and even provide some oil to reduce the heat. IT TOOK AN AGE! Surprisingly the corrugated iron was a lot easier. Possibly because it was partially rusted.

Metal and wood...but not at the same time. You could use the metal saw to cut through both wood and metal, but to be honest you would ruin the blade and because of the small grade of teeth, it would take a lifetime.

***** Good bits and bad bits*****

It shakes your arm off ! The vibration from cutting a bit of wood is annoying.....metal cutting requires getting your fillings redone. I know power tools do vibrate but imagine using an old ordital sander, then just for a laugh, hit it with a sledge hammer to knock it off a bit, then you get a rough idea. It is easy to see why the top end Scorpions have the gel pads on the handles. The Safety button system is a good idea but actually hampers use. It is located where your thumb naturally goes and tends to get in the way. The Scorpion is a bit big really to use as a standard jigsaw saw, although I can see it comming in handy when I do the decking for some heavy duty jig-sawing.

On the plus side, the Scorpion appears to be just as easy to use for left handed people. My mate John (who borrowed mine, tightwad that he is) said it wasn't as uncomfortable to use as some powertools for the old "south paws" who are into DIY.

*****The book of wisdom *****

The instruction booklet is actually pretty pants. Once you get past all the legal stuff about safety and wiring, there aint much else in it. I don't know I just thought there might be some challenges ! Like see how fast you can cut through a front door Shining Style ! "HEEEEEERRRRRRSSSSS JOHNNY!"

The book is 12 pages long (two of them blank). It does have instructions on how to change the blades and what circumstances to use what blade in. There is also a suggested capacity of each blade you are supplied with.

Large blade for soft wood up to 100mm by 100mm, and plastic soil pipes up to 125mm in diameter.

Curve cutting blade for worktop up to 50mm thick (but it DID handle my 60mm pretty easily).

Metal cutting blade for ferrous and non ferrous metals up to 3mm thick.
flex length

***** Any other stuff I should know?*****

Always use goggles because it does kick up a bit of a storm. Gloves, if only to limit the vibration up your arm, and earplugs if you have them.

I would advise using a workmate or clamp pretty much all the time as well. The reason for this is that the initial "Bite" of the teeth can give a bit of a kick. If someone else is holding a bit of wood for you then they can get a bit of a fright.

Use a sawing motion to help cut though big lumps of wood.

Throw the flex over your shoulder and make sure it is plugged into a suitable circuit breaker.

*****Price and accessories *****

Around £30 to £45 depending on the version you get. I have seen four variations on the classic Scorpion.From the most expensive one that has a hard case and the vibration reducing gel grip plus six blades. To the Scorpion on it's own with no carry case or spare blades.


***** For more information *****

Black and Decker's website
www.blackanddecker.co.uk


Have fun with it, book the dentists as soon as you can, and get your claim in for vibration white finger as early as possible.


*****Last words *****

Illegal to use on Mother in Laws. Makes a mess of the Turkey. New version has a gel hanle to decrease the vibration. Blades not too badly priced and available easily. A great addittion to the power tool range to have at hand for those bank holiday jobs. A bit lethal to use, it just feels, well..... dangerous at times.

Thanks for reading.

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