# question about the harbor freight "arrow saw"



## AFoster (May 29, 2011)

I recently purchased the 2" chop saw from harbor freight that everyone on here seems to use for an arrow saw. I then purchased a carbide type blade from ebay, which was listed for using in this saw to cut arrows. 

I have tried cutting slow, fast, spinning the arrow, cutting from one side then the other. And every time I get a little bit of a bur around the arrow. Is this bur something that happens to all of you guys? And it isnt a safety concern?

The bur seems only slightly better with the carbide type blade vs the metal rough toothed blade that comes with the saw.


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## handirifle (Jun 9, 2005)

The saw is far from perfect. I have and use one. It does burr a little, but that hasn't hurt mine as yet, and I have used them quite a bit.

I think the saw is a little slow RPM wise, but it has almost zero torque so more speed from it will not help. I am trying to figure a way to remove the motor from it and replace it with a Dremmel, but still retain the "chop" portion of the saw. I like that better than angling the arrows into a stationary blade. Once the perfect 90 deg angle is setup, it is cleaner to chop off the arrows and angle them into the blade.


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## pragmatic_lee (Jan 19, 2008)

Whatever you do, do NOT try to wipe those burrs off with your fingers. A carbon splinter under your skin can be very painful. Keep a piece of 400 or even 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper handy & gently brush the cut end of your arrow. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## GregBS (Oct 30, 2010)

To cut carbon arrows, the RPM on a 3" saw needs to be 8000 or it will not cut clean. You also can not "chop" cut them.

Slide sideways to the blade until you are just through the wall, then rotate the arrow for a clean cut.

No matter what saw you use, you'll need to square the end up after cutting.


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## Tunaboy (Oct 3, 2004)

Not to be a smart a.. but I think you should buy a factory made saw. Arrows are too expensive not cut accurately. Buy the saw and you will save yourself a lot of time and make consistant cuts. You can resell the factory saw and lose less money that you spend on the DYI saw. I am the cheapest guy on the planet and would buy a factory saw again.


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## rdgreenlief (Jul 17, 2009)

Find the skinniest wheel u can for that saw. It won't leave burs. I did that with mine.


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## GregBS (Oct 30, 2010)

Tunaboy said:


> Not to be a smart a.. but I think you should buy a factory made saw. Arrows are too expensive not cut accurately. Buy the saw and you will save yourself a lot of time and make consistant cuts. You can resell the factory saw and lose less money that you spend on the DYI saw. I am the cheapest guy on the planet and would buy a factory saw again.


Meh. I built mine from a dremel, a 1x4, a couple conduit clamps, and a router guide. It cuts square as a factory saw and cost me only an additional $15 on top of my dremel. It's used to cut everything from GT 22s to my cheapest hunting arrows with no problems or burrs.

Done right, a homemade saw will cut just as straight as anything you can buy.


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## siowabowhunter (Feb 22, 2012)

some of you are making way to big of a deal about cutting these arrows, alls I use is a copper pipe cutter and it works great a few spins and done, no dust no mess


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

siowabowhunter said:


> some of you are making way to big of a deal about cutting these arrows, alls I use is a copper pipe cutter and it works great a few spins and done, no dust no mess


That only works on aluminum arrows. Even then it will leave your arrows slightly out of round, though the insert usually takes care of that. Don't attempt this with carbon arrows. Try it on a cut-off piece if you want, you'll see that it splinters the shaft.

On the HF mini chop saw, I used an abrasive blade that I got from a guy on ebay. He specialized in blades and jigs for the HF saw and had great service, but that was several years ago. I don't know if he's still selling them. However, his blades did not splinter. Like posted above, set it so that you are just barely cutting through the arrow wall.


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## AFoster (May 29, 2011)

I bought my blade from the same guy i bet. He sold them and had them listed for the saw. 

But even with the blades from him I am getting slight burs. I tried spinning the arrow with the blade just slightly in but it was difficult to cut squarely.


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## bowhuntrmaniac (Jan 22, 2012)

I too use my dremel with some diamond cutting blades from Harbor Freight . Don't have any problems


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## handirifle (Jun 9, 2005)

GregBS said:


> To cut carbon arrows, the RPM on a 3" saw needs to be 8000 or it will not cut clean. You also can not "chop" cut them.
> 
> Slide sideways to the blade until you are just through the wall, then rotate the arrow for a clean cut.
> 
> No matter what saw you use, you'll need to square the end up after cutting.


I think you misunderstood the use of the term "chop". I am fully aware they cannot be chopped off, but as I mentioned in my post, the saw works like an electric miter saw, where the saw itself lowers onto the object being cut. That was why I said the speed of the little HF saw was a bit slow, and would like to adapt the dremmel. Lowering the saw to the shaft is actually more accurate that sliding the arrow into the fixed blade. Ever see a carpenter slide his workpiece into a saw blade from an angle, and get the cut right?

The "chop" saw actually saws thorough the shaft, it doesn't chop it. The HF saw supposedly cuts at 12,000 RPM, but I don't think mine is quite getting there. Plus it's a bit light on torque so it slows very fast, thus making cutting speed a much slower average.


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## handirifle (Jun 9, 2005)

GregBS said:


> To cut carbon arrows, the RPM on a 3" saw needs to be 8000 or it will not cut clean. You also can not "chop" cut them.
> 
> Slide sideways to the blade until you are just through the wall, then rotate the arrow for a clean cut.
> 
> *No matter what saw you use, you'll need to square the end up after cutting*.


Not true with a chop saw. When properly setup there os no angle cut, it's perfectly square. I have never understood why factory saws did not adopt this type of cut. The old slide the arrow into the saw is just a cheap way to make it. It works, but it's not the most accurate.


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## GregBS (Oct 30, 2010)

handirifle said:


> Not true with a chop saw. When properly setup there os no angle cut, it's perfectly square. I have never understood why factory saws did not adopt this type of cut. The old slide the arrow into the saw is just a cheap way to make it. It works, but it's not the most accurate.


I guess I don't entirely understand the movement of the blade. Are you talking like miter saw / cut straight down or sawing across the shaft?

I still maintain that no matter the cutter, you must square the end after the cut. No saw will cut completely straight.


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## ATLurker (Jan 2, 2011)

I made an arrow saw with one of those harbor freight saws. It worked, sort of. I eventually just bought an Apple Pro Saw. 1000x better and well worth it.


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## Farfal East (Feb 27, 2011)

AFoster said:


> I recently purchased the 2" chop saw from harbor freight that everyone on here seems to use for an arrow saw. I then purchased a carbide type blade from ebay, which was listed for using in this saw to cut arrows.
> 
> I have tried cutting slow, fast, spinning the arrow, cutting from one side then the other. And every time I get a little bit of a bur around the arrow. Is this bur something that happens to all of you guys? And it isnt a safety concern?
> 
> The bur seems only slightly better with the carbide type blade vs the metal rough toothed blade that comes with the saw.


Put the blade in BACKWARDS. Just like you can use a regular saw to cut aluminum / vinyl siding by using the back side of the blade. It's less agressive.

The HB saw works - but is also crap.


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## siowabowhunter (Feb 22, 2012)

not true i cut all my carbon arrows this way and have never had a problem actually works better on carbon than aluminum


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## siowabowhunter (Feb 22, 2012)

aread said:


> That only works on aluminum arrows. Even then it will leave your arrows slightly out of round, though the insert usually takes care of that. Don't attempt this with carbon arrows. Try it on a cut-off piece if you want, you'll see that it splinters the shaft.
> 
> On the HF mini chop saw, I used an abrasive blade that I got from a guy on ebay. He specialized in blades and jigs for the HF saw and had great service, but that was several years ago. I don't know if he's still selling them. However, his blades did not splinter. Like posted above, set it so that you are just barely cutting through the arrow wall.


I cut all my carbons this way actually works better than aluminum


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## Kinkajou (Mar 2, 2013)

I have a Grizzly Mill, Drill , Lathe combination. What I do is use the lathe in the slowest speed. I made a holder for my dremel that goes right into the tool holder so I can move it with the lathe carriage.
It works incredibly nice, but I have seen that for the perfect cut I have to drip a little bit of water going between the disc and the arrow shaft that is to be cut.
I am a Veterinarian so It is easy for me to get a bottle of IV drip that once used I use with plain water, I also use a catether to guide the water drip to the exact spot. It is like a waterjet cut. The finish is very smooth and square. 
But when I use the disc dry it usually burns the resin that is embedded in the carbon fiber, it even turns a little bit brown and smells .


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## jrdrees (Jun 12, 2010)

I have a $17 off-brand Dremel style tool, works fine. Just need to let the blade do the work and not force it to cut too fast. I also subscribe to the method of introducing the arrow with a plunge depth stopper of some kind, and only cut through the sidewall of the arrow and spin the arrow as it is being cut... very repeatable, square cuts as long as you hold the opposite end of the arrow in its position while spinning.


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## ehan69 (Feb 20, 2016)

Ttt


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## fwbpreacher (Jul 14, 2016)

Mine is a dremel on a 2X4 with a yard stick and arrow square.


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## ruffme (Aug 4, 2005)

I bought my blade at Ace hardware and it does not burr. Does a nice job.


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## Jaybonber (May 18, 2019)

Ive never used it however our local shop cuts em for free


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## DaveHawk (Jul 16, 2009)

aread said:


> That only works on aluminum arrows. Even then it will leave your arrows slightly out of round, though the insert usually takes care of that. Don't attempt this with carbon arrows. Try it on a cut-off piece if you want, you'll see that it splinters the shaft.
> 
> On the HF mini chop saw, I used an abrasive blade that I got from a guy on ebay. He specialized in blades and jigs for the HF saw and had great service, but that was several years ago. I don't know if he's still selling them. However, his blades did not splinter. Like posted above, set it so that you are just barely cutting through the arrow wall.


For aluminum I have a core pin ground to fit the I.D. and long enough to support the shaft while cutting with the tubing cutter.


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## nvcnvc (Jan 27, 2009)

GregBS said:


> To cut carbon arrows, the RPM on a 3" saw needs to be 8000 or it will not cut clean. You also can not "chop" cut them.
> 
> Slide sideways to the blade until you are just through the wall, then rotate the arrow for a clean cut.
> 
> No matter what saw you use, you'll need to square the end up after cutting.


That is exactly how it should be done. I have one of those and always square it afterwards. It removes the bur while squaring it.


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## WASHECA (Jan 3, 2012)

I built a harbor freight type arrow saw works fine, the way I have my nock receiver tho I now flip my arrow 180* before I cut all the way thru. when I built this saw I figured id b cutting a dozen arrows a yr maybe.... well it has cut dozens and dozens of arrows if I knew how many dozens of arrows it was gonna cut I might have bought a regular arrow saw. too late in the game to start over now tho, I use a g5 ASD on every arrow b4 and after the insert is glued


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