Chop Saws

A chop saw is a heavy-duty tool designed strictly for making straight, 90-degree crosscuts through tough materials like metal or masonry. In contrast, a miter saw features a rotating base and a tilting blade specifically engineered to make precise angled and beveled cuts in wood.

For heavy-duty commercial production, the Baileigh AS-350M Abrasive Chop Saw is an excellent choice, delivering fast, spark-heavy cuts through steel pipe, tubing, and rebar in a rugged, shop-ready build.

A good quality chop saw for wood and multi-material cutting is the Evolution R355CPS, which pairs a 14-inch blade with clean, cool cuts across metal, wood, and plastic in a single pass without the sparks of an abrasive wheel.

A chop saw is a heavy-duty metal-cutting machine used primarily to make rapid, clean 90-degree and angled crosscuts through thick steel stock, iron pipes, rebar, tubing, angle iron, and metal studs using either an abrasive cutting wheel or a carbide-tipped cold-cutting blade.

No, if you already own a sliding miter saw, you generally do not need a dedicated chop saw because a miter saw can perform all standard 90-degree and angled crosscuts; a traditional abrasive or cold-cut chop saw is only necessary if you are primarily cutting heavy structural steel and metal stock where sparks and abrasive debris would damage a woodworking miter saw.

A chop saw is formally called an abrasive cut-off saw when fitted with an abrasive disc for metal — 'chop saw' is simply the common shop term used for this style of saw.