Milwaukee Sawzall Blade Quick look....

[comp56]

I bought 3 packs of Milwaukee sawzall blades 2 yesterday and 1 today and with a closer look the The Axe blade seems to be just a repackaging of an older blade with different graphics to look newer....shame on you Milwaukee..........

I had a bunch of Milwaukee blades for some time and when I seen these new blades on sale I figure I'd give them a shot, considering the price why not.

here are the two blades and here is a pic of an old used one beside the new one....to me there is no difference at all....I am happy with the older blade have used it many times but I was fooled by thinking the new blade was better some how they way it is presented........maybe shame on me.....

[KnarlyCarl]

Huh. Whaddaya know. Those are my favorite blades that are readily available, didn't know they came out with a "new" style called Ax even. Is the metal composition any different?

[JimboS1ice]

I have some of the older style and grabbed a combo pack after black friday, didn't pay any attention that "the axe" is just a renamed blade.  Maybe they felt they had to name all their blades.

[comp56]

from what I see so far they are identical.....aside from graphics on the blade itself.....

[unclebud]

I agree comp, they look just alike. I bought some Diablo sawzall blades at HD after Christmas but have not had a chance to try them out.

[jeffmcmillan]

If I recall correctly they went from just plain blades, to calling them "ax", "torch", etc, to putting "ax", "torch", etc. on the blades, to calling them "ice hardened".  The only change of blade design I know of are when they added thin kerf blades in there somewhere and started stamping a hexagonal pattern on some of the blades and neither of those were correlated with a marketing change.

This isn't nearly as bad as the new "tracking point" diablo is marketing that has actually been on some of their blades for at least a year.  Their blades are still good but that sort of bs grinds my gears.

[jeffmcmillan]

For clarification, I'm counting the hexagonal pattern as a design change because I think that actually reduces screeching of the blade against the side of the cut in metal.  Maybe unintentional, but at least that's the experience I've had.

[JimboS1ice]

yea i have some of those thin kerf they are a nice blade, bosch makes a pretty good sawzall blade, i bought a cheap pack for maybe 8 bucks at lower a while ago thinking who cares if i chew them up in all actuality they are pretty nice

[Logan]

They look like the same

[comp56]

well now I know there are identical blades, but Milwaukee claims X2 faster?...how can this be?

same hex pattern on the bare blade.........

don't get me wrong I'm happy with the blade new or the older style but from what I see they only changed the paint and boasts it is x2 faster?......a little misleading if you ask me......

 

[jeffmcmillan]

Different hex pattern.  I think it's just the metal cutting ones that have it.  There's that same smaller diamond pattern but also a larger hexagonal pattern.  You can actually see the hexagonal pattern through the paint on the blades.

[comp56]

3 minutes ago, jeffmcmillan said:

Different hex pattern.  I think it's just the metal cutting ones that have it.  There's that same smaller diamond pattern but also a larger hexagonal pattern.  You can actually see the hexagonal pattern through the paint on the blades.

I agree with the metal cutting blades you can see the larger honeycomb pattern thru the paint but I am not talking about that style blade, I noticed the 2 blades I posted pictures of. they may have upgraded other styles but they didn't change that blade when they renamed it the "The Axe" but claim it is X2 faster.....

[HiltiWpg]

Milwaukee sold to TTI which is basically a marketing company. Everything they do is marketing. Can't really blame them for hyping up things or rebranding "features" it makes people buy stuff. How else can they afford to constantly be giving away tools, batteries and other products?

They are the undisputed kings of tool hype atm.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Fazzman]

I dont think I have any Milwaukee blades,I will have to look later.

[Kato]

This all makes me very curious to go into the garage and scrutinize my Milwaukee blades. I've been using Diablo lately, so I don't think I have any "new" Milwaukee blades, but I'm really interested to take a look and see what they all look like. I'm sure it's nothing more than simple re-packaging. They want to make a flashier product without costing themselves a lot of money, so they re-brand or redesign the look to make it seem like something "new" or "improved".

[comp56]

you guys are all right it just seems a little fishy when they can do that and get away with it. It just makes you think what other things are they doing that isn't as noticable to get your hard earned money......like I said I'm happy with the blades 

[Jim86]

On 2/28/2016 at 7:43 PM, jeffmcmillan said:

If I recall correctly they went from just plain blades, to calling them "ax", "torch", etc, to putting "ax", "torch", etc. on the blades, to calling them "ice hardened".  The only change of blade design I know of are when they added thin kerf blades in there somewhere and started stamping a hexagonal pattern on some of the blades and neither of those were correlated with a marketing change.

This isn't nearly as bad as the new "tracking point" diablo is marketing that has actually been on some of their blades for at least a year.  Their blades are still good but that sort of bs grinds my gears.

 

 

The Hexagonal pattern isn't stamped its the bi-metal design. 

[Bremon]

X2 faster is likely against some POS cheapo competitor and not claiming it against themselves.

 

I will say they make quality blades, and we torture the 12" thin kerf blades and they take quite a bit of abuse.

[Rickkkk]

I have 3 vintage genuine Milwaukee sawzall blade sets. Still in package and complete very good shape. Are they worth anything. 1970s I’m guessing?

[Eric - TIA]

I am sure they are worth something but I am not sure how much you will get over what you can buy new ones today.  I am sure someone who wants the vintage for their shop or something would be interested.