Skil Reciprocating Saw Overview

The Skil Reciprocating saw is part of the Skil combo kit we reviewed.  The Skil saw uses an 18V Lithium Ion battery system to power the saw.  So looking at the battery we know it has some power to cut.  Taking a closer look at some of the specs, we have to say were were a little disappointed.  The stroke length is 7/8″ and strokes per minute is 2,800.  But again we had to remind ourselves this is designed for a homeowner, not the professional.  With that in mind, the technical specs are in line with other homeowner reciprocating saws.

The Skil Reciprocating Saw Review

Now if you have been following us for a while, you know we released our review of the Skil combo kit a while back and you may be asking yourself, why did we wait so long to release this review.  Well the reason was because we had some problems with the saw and we wanted to see if it was us or were others  having the same problems.  Before we get into the main problem we had with the saw, lets talk about what we did like about this saw.

Picking up the saw, we did notice the balance of the saw was very good.  We have seen better, but for the home market, it is good.  One cool idea Skil had was a blade storage system.  On the top of the saw a user can store blades, so they are very accessible when you need to change a blade.

The battery profile of the saw is great.  The batteries are not bulky, so it makes it easier for a user to get into tight spots.  This is a huge key for those hard to reach jobs.  The saw also comes with a turbo mode which in essence is an orbital action to help cut through wood quicker.

Skil is owned by Bosch, so when we were ready to test this, we had a feeling this would be a great saw, just as the bosch reciprocating saws are.  Well the one problem we encountered was keeping the blade locked into place.  Now this didn’t happen every time, but it did happen enough times where it was very annoying.  The Skil saw uses a toolless chuck to lock the blade in place, as do most of the saws these days.  If we were cutting a simple piece of wood, the blade stayed in place with no problems.  Anytime we did a little harder job or turned the saw to get the blade to bind, the blade would come out.  With that in mind a reciprocating saw is used to destroy, so naturally you are going to bind a blade from time to time, so this was a huge annoyance to us.  We tested the tool a bunch of times only to find this was happening over and over.  We even tried different blades and had the same results.  We wanted to be sure it was the tool and not us.  We lent the tool to three different people, but never told them about the problem we were having.  Each of the three people came back and stated they had the same problem as we did.  With this in mind, we knew it wasn’t us doing something wrong.  So were thought that it was either a defective tool or this is a defect in their design.

As time has gone on we have received more feedback from our readers and their experiences.  While some haven’t had this problem, others have experienced the same problem.  So even after all this time we are still not sure if they have defective saws out there or just a defective deisgn.

Final thoughts on the Skil Reciprocating Saw

Overall while this saw had a lot of great features we were very disappointed with the locking mechanism that holds the blade.  Under heavy use or even sometimes under light use the blade had a tendency to come loose and pop out of the shaft.  While we love the Skil combo set and think the other tools are great, we feel there are better reciprocating saws for the homeowner.

The Skil Flashlight, model 2897 is actually pretty cool.  Now there is not a lot to review about a flashlight, after all it just lights up an area with a push of a button.  However we did want to cover some basics to this flashlight.  The Skil light has an incandescent bulb, which we know for some this is a downfall, but not a deal breaker.  Actually for an incandescent bulb, while it is still a little yellow, this actually pumps out a lot of light.  Obviously in dark areas, it does a great job, but we also found that even using it in well lit areas where you need just a little more light, this does a great job.

One thing we like most about this is the base.  As with most flashlights, the battery acts like a base for the flashlight.  Skil uses a very low profile battery with this flashlight, so it has a very large surface area for the light to sit on.  We found even when placed on uneven ground, it was still very stable.  While some of the other manufacturer lights we have tested, since their batteries have less ground surface area, they tend to be a lot more wobbly.  There is nothing more annoying then being in a tight space and you knock over your flashlight, you know what we are talking about, the kind of area you shouldn’t be in because you can not even move around.

A couple of items to note is that this flashlight uses a push button on/off trigger switch.  Also on the inside, there is a place to store a spare light bulb in case you break yours and need another.  Now as we noted there is not a lot to review or look at in regards to a flashlight, but we wanted to touch on this light and hopefully shed some light (sorry) on the Skil Flashlight.

 This is a review of the Skil 18V cordless circular saw that came in the combo kit 2895LI-20.  The model number is 5995.  We have to admit from the start this saw was far more impressive than we expected.  Now this saw packs some pretty good stats for a homeowners saw.  The no load RPM is 4200 and this only weighs about 5.12lbs.  When we first saw this tool, we were a little skeptical being a 5-3/8″ blade and using a 1.3A battery pack.  We sort of jumped to conclusions that this wouldn’t cut much and was more of a toy than a power tool, but after using this for a while, we discovered that we were wrong.

The top D-handle gives the user a lot of control over cuts.    Along with the light weight of the tool, a user can control this saw with greater accuracy.  So in essence Skil designed a great saw for the homeowner, one who may not use a circular saw that often and needs the control and extra little help.  The one item we wish was a little better was the bevel cutting capability.  But again the saw is a 5-3/8″, so you can only go so far with a good bevel cut. 

 When we tested this saw, we thought we would start off easy.  We cut through some 1/2″ plywood.  We really wanted to see three things with this.  First how easy it was to handle.  Second how clean the cuts were and third how much of the battery would even be left after an 8ft cut.  Now we feel any saw should be able to do this with ease, but again this is a homeowners and we wanted to start somewhere.  Well, not to go into too much detail, it ripped through it with no problems.  So next, which you can see on the video, we ran it through some 3/4″ plywood and again it ripped right through this with no problems.  We made a bunch of cuts and were even putting some good pressure on the saw to go through quickly and trying to turn the saw side to side to get it to bog down.  We  did this a bunch of times and each time it handled this with ease.  We ended up cutting a lot of plywood with just one battery.  Now a homeowner is not going to be doing this while cutting, but nevertheless if it could handle what we were doing.  It can handle cutting some plywood when someone is taking their time and cutting the right way.

 Now I am not going to bore you with all the different things we did with this saw, but we can honestly say for a homeowners circular saw, this is a great buy.  One item we tried which this saw did a great job with was a 4×4.  Now it was treated lumber, but still soft wood.  We took this saw and buried it into the 4×4 and cut it long ways to see how well it would handle the cut.  This was an 8ft. piece of lumber.  To make a long story short, it made it through with one battery and still had power left over.  Overall it didn’t bog down until we really put a lot of pressure on the saw, but there is always a point that you go to far in the testing as we are pretty sure no one will put this much pressure on a cut.

Final Thoughts

For a homeowners cordless circular saw, this did a great job and impressed us.  Being on the small size of a cordless circular saw, only 5-3/8″, it put out some serious power and kept up with us.  Even cutting some thicker material, it ran smooth.  The balance and especially the lightweight is a huge plus.  If you are a homeowner and looking for a circular saw, but don’t want to pay a hefty price tag, take a look at this Skil circular saw. 

 This review is for the Skil Drill, model number 2895.  This is Skil’s newest 18V Lithium Ion drill and you can buy this in a kit or separate.  You can read our overview of the Skil combo kit.  When Skil designed this drill, they designed it for the home user, but after using it, you could have fooled us.  Over the years we have tested a lot of different power tools designed for the homeowner, but we can honestly say this is one of the best we have tested for a homeowner drill.

There are a lot of professional power tool manufacturers on the market today, but there are few, at least good ones, for the homeowner market.  Now we are not saying all Skil is designed for the homeowner market, all we are talking about is this drill.  In fact, Skil makes some great professional tools such as the Skilsaw.  Skil is owned by Bosch, so if you are familiar with the Bosch power line, you know they make some great tools.

Now the first thing you will notice when you pick up the drill is the weight, this drill is extremely light weighing only 4lbs. and that’s with the battery.  Now for a home owner this is great news.  When you don’t work with tools all day long and now you have a big project, you will feel muscles in your shoulder and arms you never knew you had.  A lighter drill can make all the difference, so we are very happy with the overall weight.  The biggest item we noticed was the balance.  As we noted, we have tested a lot of home owner drills over the years and if we pick up a drill or any other power tool that doesn’t have good balance, we pretty much end our testing there.  If a company can not figure out how important balance is, what else haven’t they figured out.  This is not the case with the drill.  The balance on the Skil drill is incredible, it’s not too heavy in the front or in the back, so it is very easy to maneuver and use.  You end up enjoying using this drill instead of fighting it.

Skil packed a pretty good punch of power into this drill.  This has 400 in. lbs of toque and has a 0-450 and 0-1,400 RPM.  Skil uses a 1/2″ chuck and it almost looks identical to the Bosch chuck system, which we know is a great chuck that holds the bit into place even under heavy applications.  Now we didn’t take this drill apart, but we do know Skil uses an all metal geartrain, so it can withstand very heavy use.  The clutch system is a standard 20 +1.  As you can see by the picture above, there is also a side handle a user can attach on the left or right side of the drill.  Overall some very impressive specs on this drill.  Another nice feature Skil implemented was a bit index.  On the top you can slide out a guide and it has all the different bit sizes right there for the user.  A user can take the bit insert it into the index and figure out the size of the bit.

For our testing purposes we gave it to a local plumber who was doing a small job down the street.  We wanted to get his feedback.  We also did some of our own run throughs such as drilling into wood and even though it is not a hammer drill we tried to drill some concrete to see if we could get it to bog down or how long the battery would last under these conditions.

In regards to the plumber, he used it for a day and received great feedback.  He drilled some 1/2″ holes into some 2×4, hung drywall and did some other various work.   Overall he loved the drill.  The biggest thing he noted was the light weight of the drill and he loved the balance also.  We know this is designed for the homeowner, but wanted to have it out on a job site for a day just to see how it held up.  Speaking of holding up, he was up about 10′ and dropped it on a concrete slab.  He said the battery did come out and thought he busted the drill.  When he went down the ladder to check the drill and put the battery back in, it ran fine, only a couple small scratches.

On our side, as you can see by the video, we wanted to show the drill drilling some holes and screwing in some screws.  As you can see it rips right through a 2×4 and 3/4″ plywood without batting an eye.  We also used a concrete bit to drill into some concrete to see if we could kill the battery rather quickly and see if we could get the drill to bog down and get hot.  To our suprise, it drilled into a concrete parking bumper with no problems and suprisingly rather quickly without a hammer feature.  Obviously when we hit the rebar in the bumper, we couldn’t go any farther, so we drilled some new holes and again it ran through rather easily.  The drill was a little warm, but not anymore than you would expect for this type of work.  Overall this drill surprised us and we had a lot of fun testing this drill.

Final Thoughts

Overall Skil produced a great drill for the homeowner.  We like the power, the balance and it is a very impressive drill.  This is one of the best homeowner drills we have tested and would even recommend this drill for more than just the weekend warrior, maybe even the contractor who is looking for a big bang for their buck.  We have no problems recommending this drill for the homeowner as we feel it will not let you down.

Are you a home owner looking for a combo kit, but don’t want to pay the hefty price tag associated with some other manufacturers?   When Skil designed this system, they designed it for the homeowner which means they could make these tools lighter and a lot more affordable for the DIY enthusiast.  The kit comes with four main power tools - a drill, Skilsaw, reciprocating saw and a flashlight.  The kit also comes with two Lithium Ion batteries, a charger and carrying case, which is a nylon tool bag.  The accessories are a 5 – 3/8″ circular saw blade, a double ended bit and 2 reciprocating saw blades.  So in essence Skil provides you with everything you need to get started on a home improvement project.

Skil Drill/Driver

The drill/drive is actually very nice and easy to work with.  The model number on this drill is 2895.  The reason we say actually is because we were quite surprised.  Sometimes on power tools designed for homeowners, when you pick these tools up you can tell the difference right away.  With the Skil drill that’s not the case.  The drill is very light weighing only 4 Lbs. with the battery and the balance is great.  Not too heavy in the front or on the backside.  The grip is very nice with a one trigger variable speed trigger – low 0 – 450 and high 0-1,400.  As with most cordless drills it has a 1-20 clutch setting with a drill setting too.  The forward and reverse switch is very easy to access with your thumb.

The 1/2″ keyless chuck system almost looks like the old Bosch chuck systems and if we are correct this is a great system.  The bit will stay in place even under heavy conditions.  One cool item to note is on the top back of the drill, there is a little slide bit index.  This is very nice feature in case you have a tool box full of drill bits and are not sure what size a bit may be.  On the other hand if you don’t like this feature, you can always buy the stud finder accessory that slides into the drill.

SkilSaw

Ah the famous Skilsaw, the one we know, the one we have loved for years.  Overall this little circular saw isn’t too bad. The model number is 5995.  The no load RPM is 4200 and the bevel is 0-50°.  The saw is on the light side weighing only about 5.12 lbs.  The saw has a nice feel in your hands and the balance is good.  However the blade is only a 5-3/8″.  The top D-handle is very nice and allows the user much control.  This saw really surprised us.  We will go into more detail on our review, but with this saw only having a 5-3/8″ blade and a 1.3A battery, it definitely seems that it puts out a lot more power then the facts tell us.

Skil Reciprocating Saw

Another power tool Skil included in this kit was the Skil reciprocating saw, model 9350. Overall it is not too bad for a homeowners reciprocating saw.   This uses a 1 finger variable trigger switch that is 0-2800 and has a stroke length of 7/8″.  This only weights about 5.9 lbs. with the battery.  The balance of the tool is great and seems very easy to control.  Skil has large rubber grips where a user would place their hands, which helps prevent slips and gives more control.  This system uses a keyless blade change system and the blades are very easy to take in and out.  We will test to see how well they stay under pressure.   While the footplate is adjustable, the shoe is not.

There is a safety switch that needs to be pressed in order to run this saw, which can be pressed with your thumb while your hand is in the D-Handle.  One nice feature is their orbital action, which this saw has.  Orbital action is great for cutting wood.  If you are cutting pipe or plastic, you can leave it in the standard mode.  If your cutting through wood, you want to place the switch in the orbital mode, which they call “Turbo”.  We looked around, but couldn’t find any stats on how much orbital action is put forth.  One really cool idea Skil implemented in this, is a blade storage system.  On the top, you can hold some more blades.

Skil Flashlight

Another item that comes in this kit is a flashlight, model number 2897.  This light uses a Incandescent light bulb.  We know some of you really like the LED lights better and we agree that they are more white and natural, but again this is a homeowners kit and this light works great.  It puts enough light out where we didn’t see any reason to complain about what type of bulb it uses.  The head pivots 90°, so you are able to light up anything you need.  The battery acts like a base and since these batteries have a nice wide bottom, the light is a little more stable when you bump into it.  We all know how annoying that can be when your in a tight dark spot and you barley move, whoops you just knocked down the light and now you have to mess around with that instead of performing your task.  Again the base is nice and wide, so this shouldn’t happen.  The on/off switch is a push button trigger finger switch.

Skil Charger and Flashlight

One item we really took a liking to was the battery and charger.  The charger is extremely nice because it is not as bulky or big as some other chargers on the market.  This means more room on your work bench.  On the battery there is a fuel gauge to let the user know how much power is left on the battery.  There are three small blue LED lights.  The best thing about the battery is the weight and the low profile.  While most Lithium Ion batteries are very light, some are still pretty thick which can make it hard to get into tighter spaces.  The skil battery, since it has a low profile battery, should be able to get into some tighter spots that other drills would not be able to.   Now if you own older Skil 18V systems and want to upgrade your tools, we should note this system is backwards compatible as it will accept NiCad 18V Batteries.  Another item to note is that these batteries are 1.3A.

Final Thoughts

Overall if you are a homeowner and looking for a kit that won’t break the bank. When you compare it to some of the other manufacturers combo kits that have the same tools, your looking at about half the price with the Skil system.  Not too bad.  We would definitely recommend this system for a homeowner.  Considering this is designed for a homeowner, we would have hoped the owners manual would be a little more detailed and help explain the tools in greater detail for those who many not be familiar with power tools.   We are keeping our eyes open to see if Skil is going to be coming out with some other tools for this 18V line.  Again we are going to go through each tool in greater detail, so you can see more about the pros and cons to each tool.

Have you used the Skil 18V system, if so let us know your thoughts.

Specifications – Skil Drill Bit & Saw Blade Combo Kit

Features
Hard Case
43 Bit Drill Kit
1 – 7 1/4″Carbide Framing Blade
1 – 7 1/4″ Steel Plywood Blade

We placed an order last week at Tylertool.com for some new cordless tools to test and saw the Skil Drill Bit & Saw Blade combo kit on sale. It was a great deal, so we decided to buy and review the kit.

Over the years we have seen a lot of these kits made by varies companies.  Most of the kits are good, but you will always find something in the kit that you either do not use or is cheap junk.  When we bought this kit, we weren’t sure what we would find.  Considering it is a Skil kit, we had high hopes for no junk, maybe just some useless sizes to get their bit count up.

When we opened the case and took a look, we could see we were wrong.  The 3 nut setters are the most common used, the drill bits and bit inserts were also useable sizes all the way up to 1/4″.  A 1/2″ bit would have been nice, but again this kit was very inexpensive, so we new that wasn’t part of the package.  The screw guide was also very nice and strong.  The magnet was very strong.  We have seen a lot of magnet screw guides that don’t hold up much weight, but this one could very easily pick up 5 – 3″ screws, which is more than enough to keep the screw tight for any screwing position.

The test we ran was very simple and straight forward.  For the Saw blades we cut Oak 4×4 with our saw, and Oak plywood with the Plywood blade.  The Framing blade help up well. It took us a long time before the blade started to dull and cause some wood burning, but no quicker than other Carbide blades we testing in the past.  The Plywood blade dulled a bit quicker, but it’s steel and we were cutting 1″ Oak plywood.  Most of the time this blade will be cutting Grade B/C plywood and will last a little longer.

To test the bit inserts, we used harden screw heads and applied a light pressure to see how well the bits would hold up before they stripped.  Again they lasted about the same time as other bits of the same quality.

Overall we were very impressed with the quality of the blades and inserts.  We really like how the case is designed. You can carry four blades and all the popular sizes of bits and inserts in one place.  For the price, the Skil combo kit is a very good deal.

So if you are looking at getting a nice quality kit, definitely take a look at the Skil Kits.

Pro’s - Great case, Carry everything in one place. Can carry up to four saw blades. Magnetic bit holder is very strongCon’s – Only one! Just wish the plywood blade was Carbide

Professional Power Tool Guide Rating
OverallOverall for the price this is a very nice kit. It gives you a wide assortment of bits, plus two saw blades. The only reason we gave this a 4 out of 5 was because the plywood blade was steel instead of Carbide. Other than that, this is a very nice kit and great way to have everything you need in one central place.

Specifications- Skilsaw Worm Drive

Amps – 13.0
Volts – 120
RPM (No Load) – 4,300
Cord Length – 8 Ft.

Other Features
Carrying Case
D Handle
Anti Kick Back Design
Oil Pressure relief bellow

What do you think of when you think of bandages? Band Aid. You don’t ask someone for a tissue, you ask them for Kleenex. Well the Skilsaw is the same way. You don’t ask someone for the circular saw, you ask for the Skilsaw, no matter what brand you are thinking of. The reason is simple, Skil makes one of the best worm drives available. In this review we tested an older model called the Skilsaw Professional. Skil makes a newer model that has a magnesium case. This makes the tool lighter. To take a look at the new models you can go to tylertool.com and see the difference.

A worm drive is different than an in-line saw. We have an articlethat talks about the differences. A worm drive is a true professional circular saw, lots of power. Skil, which is owned by Bosch, has one of the most well know types of work drives on the market called the Skilsaw. The Skilsaw we tested is one incredible saw. Before we tested the saw, we went to a job site where it was going to get a lot of use cutting 1″ sheets of plywood for concrete pouring. On the 3rd floor they were cutting Maple and Oak pillar sides, so we also had this saw cutting some hard wood. We gave this saw to Jimmy because we knew he would be tough on it. He’s the type of guy who abuses tools before, during, and after use! You know this type of guy, he abuses tools because they aren’t his own!

After we got the Skilsaw back, it looked like it went through a concrete mixer and was about 85 years old. We didn’t get much verbal feedback from Jimmy, so we ran some of our own test. First we changed the blade because three teeth were bent. We know this Circular saw has power and that was not the issue, so we wanted to test the anit-kickback system and oil relief.

The first thing we did was cut through some Oak 4×4′s. We wanted it so once the saw was in the center of the cut, the wood would bind on the blade. This is always a scary test because if you have every had a worm drive kick back, it can be violent and hurt like heck. I think I would rather be tazed than have a worm drive kick back. Well actually neither of them sound appealing. Anyway, we got the wood to bind, but we couldn’t get the saw to kick back or even slow down. No matter how many times we ran this test in different situations, we couldn’t get the oil to leak out anywhere either. We even ran the Skilsaw through so many cuts we got our Carbide blade to dull.

All in all we had fun with the Skilsaw. We are going to test the new version soon with video and more. Because this is an older version, we didn’t go as in-depth as the new review will be!

Pro’s – Plenty of power to rip through anything, great balance or as good as balance you will get for a worm drive.
Con’s – A little heavy, but again this is an older model. The new models are about 3 lbs lighter.

Professional Power Tool Guide Rating
Value

For a worm drive, you get a lot of power, good options and what we feel is a great value

Performance

The are no questions about the performance. It Does everything you want. More than enough power.

Ease of Use

The Skil saw is very easy to use. Depth adjustments and more are easy.

Balance

The balance is great for a worm drive, but again, the way a motor sits with a worm drive, they tend to be a little heavier than in line saws.

Feel

This is an extremely solid power tool. When you press the trigger and start cutting, you know it will cut what you want, and without hesitation.

Overall

Overall we are giving this a “5 Blade” Skil owns the worm drive market. These tools are made to last. If you are considering a worm drive saw, the Skil is the number one choice!

You can buy A Skil Worm Drive direct through Tylertool.com.