The Straight Flush Saw is an entirely new type of worm drive saw.
Held each May in Las Vegas, The National Hardware Show is where buyers from hardware stores, lumber yards, and home centers go to see the latest and greatest tools and products being pitched by the companies that make them.
The 2016 show was particularly good, with more interesting new tools and products than I have seen in years past. Some recently came out, some are scheduled for release later this year, and some are concepts in search of buyers—years away from being produced or fated to never be produced at all.
Here is another sneak peek at what you would have seen if you had been able to go to the show, which is open only to members of the NRHA (North American Retail Hardware Association) and select media.
Straight Flush Saw
The blade is flush to the housing and with the cover removed it can cut right up to a wall and all the way into corners. With the base folded back the blade projects from the front and can be plunged where the blades standard circular saws cannot—allowing it to be used to remove plates from rough openings and cut sheathing from openings from inside the building.
Here is the Straight Flush Saw as it would be used to cut jambs, with the blade cover removed and the front part of the base folded back. In this photo the guard has been partly retracted by pressing a lever on the top of the grip—a convenience feature that reduces the temptation to wedge the guard open.
The grip has been pivoted 90 degrees to make the saw easier to use at this angle.
This is the Straight Cut Saw with the fence and blade cover in place—both of which must be removed for flush cutting. The thumb operated lever above the handle is used to manually retract the guard.
The saw weighs 14.3 pounds, can cut up to 3 1/8 inches deep, and take an 8 1/2-inch blade with a recessed hole for the arbor.
The saw is expected to come out this summer and will sell for $575.
—David Frane is a freelance editor and a good buddy of ours. Formerly, he was editor of Tools of the Trade magazine and website. He lives in Northern California.