How Deep Can A Circular Saw Cut? What To Know Before Using The Tool

The hand-held circular saw has been with us for over 100 years. It's an essential part of a professional carpenter's toolkit and one of the must-buy power tools for first-time homeowners who intend to cut wood for home and yard projects. There are hundreds of different models available, but whether you're an occasional user looking for a budget-friendly option or you want the best circular saw from one of the big-name brands, one key question is how deep a circular saw can cut. At a glance, most of these tools look very similar, but looks may be deceiving. Blade size obviously has an impact, but even on models with the same diameter, the maximum cuts could differ. A common 7 ¼-inch diameter option, for instance, cuts to roughly 2 ½ inches deep at 90 degrees, but this can vary by a few sixteenths either way from one model to the next. If you're sawing bevels, often used for smart-looking corners on frames and boxes, you'll want to know the maximum depth of cut at 45 degrees in addition to how deep the saw will cut at 90 degrees.

The majority of circular saws have a 7 ¼-inch diameter blade, though several other sizes are available. As an example of how maximum depth of cut can be different even when the blades are the same, we chose two popular models at random. The Skil 5080-01 has a cutting depth of 2 7/16 inches at 90 degrees. The DeWalt 20V Max XR, meanwhile, has a cutting depth of 2 9/16 inches. It's not a massive variation but still enough to matter in certain situations, so it's always worth checking the circular saw's specifications before you buy.

Several design elements can impact a circular saw's cut depth, such as the thickness of the shoe (baseplate) and how the blade and motor are mounted. Proper alignment of the blade at 90 degrees will make a difference, although most good circular saws have presets for commonly used angles. It's also true that as the blade wears, maximum depth will reduce slightly.

In our Skil versus DeWalt comparison, the maximum difference at 90 degrees is ⅛ inch. That could be a factor for professionals working with lumber that has been planed to a particular thickness, but it won't make much difference to DIY jobs using store-bought lumber. At 45 degrees the Skil has a maximum cut of 1 15/16 inches, so you might think it wouldn't cut standard 2-by-4 lumber (a common DIY job) at that angle. In fact, the true dimensions of 2-by-4 lumber are 1 ½ inches by 3 ½ inches, so the saw, and those like it, are more than capable. But if you're using a smaller saw, like 4 ½-inch compact saws that typically have cut depths around 1 ½ to 2 inches at 90 degrees, you may have issues cutting all the way through dimensional pieces at a 45-degree angle with one pass.

Maximum cut depth is only one piece of the puzzle, as knowing how to adjust blade depth correctly is equally important. For best performance and smoothest cut, it's usually recommended to set it ¼ inch deeper than the material being cut. It's also vital to learn how to use a circular saw safely, so if you haven't owned one before, practice on a few pieces of scrap until you're confident enough to tackle your first project for real.