Nothing huge, say 1/4 x 3", cutting into 4" long sections.

Am I best off with a sawzall/ recip, or with an angle grinder with a cut off wheel?

Ive kind of sworn off angle grinders for anything besides cutting off threaded rod. Just too concerned about a wheel blowing up.

Sawzall with the appropriate blade for cutting steel.

https://www.harborfreight.com/horizontal-vertical-metal-cutting-bandsaw-93762.html

??

I use a large chop saw( 14 inch) with a metal cutting wheel. Not at accurate, i cut a bit long and take and 1/8 so of with the bench grinder to get to the final length.

https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-PCE7...ywords=chop+saw

Of course there are better ways to cut metal, but he's asking which is better between either a sawzall or small cut-off wheel in an angle grinder.

If it's only a 1/4 inch thick, a metal cutting jigsaw blade would work.

+1 on a chop saw. IMO the sawzall won't give you a perfectly straight cut. Harbour freight has some cheap chop saws.

I've cut hundreds of pieces of flat bar with a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder with cut off wheels. It's quick and handy. However, as with all power tools caution needs to be kept.

I always clamp the metal in a vise and use the sawzall. I've always (well, most of the time lol) been able to make a straight cut with the sawzall.

Have a local metal shop cut them for you. Or get a bandsaw if you plan on doing a lot.

This is what I used... lots of vibration and shaking of course, but I only had to do four cuts.

They were reasonably straight, not perfect, but OK for what I needed.

Finished them with the grinder with both a disc and then a flap wheel.


I was primarily interested in if it's so much better using a 4 1/2" thin cutoff wheel. I use them for cutting threaded rods and other stuff, but am generally hesitant to do anything bigger because of the risk of the wheel shattering and flying apart, even with the guards in place.

Any Circular saw with a metal guard does very well . I usually use my big chop saw but often fall back to the humble circular saw with a metal cutting disk. Another good method is a 4" grinder with an abrasive cutofff disk. They don't last long though like the circular saw disks.

4-1/2" cutting wheel in an angle grinder is the easiest to handle, is pretty fast, and inexpensive.

Portia-Band , if you have one . No more than that , a hand hack saw will work .

Best of luck ,

Aside from a chop saw, sawzall would be my weapon of choice. A cut off wheel would do it, but sawzall can be more accurate and faster.