Abrasive or cold cut
Two machines share this shelf and behave nothing alike. The abrasive chop saw is cheap, loud and throws a shower of hot sparks; the cold-cut saw spins slowly with a carbide blade, cuts cool, square and quietly, and costs several times more. We compare both on cut squareness, vice grip and what a year of consumables costs.
2,300 W · 355 mm (14 in) · mitre −15° to 45° · €120
The cheapest way to cut steel section square, and the loudest tool in this batch by a distance.
Best for: Cutting stock to length in a workshop where the noise is nobody else’s problem
355 mm (14 in) · quick-clamp vice · mitre −15° to 45° · €180
A quick-clamp vice with continuous mitre adjustment — the vice is what decides whether the cut is square.
Best for: Repeated cuts on tube and box section, where a slipping vice ruins the angle
2,200 W · 355 mm (14 in) · €341
A site machine from a brand with a spares chain — and a listing that publishes almost nothing else.
Best for: A contractor who needs the machine repaired locally rather than replaced
2,200 W · 355 mm (14 in) TCT cold cut · mitre ±46° · €880
A carbide blade instead of an abrasive disc: no sparks, no burr, and an end you can weld without dressing.
Best for: Daily fabrication where every cut would otherwise be dressed by hand
Power decides the ability to get through a thick section without the blade slowing and heating.
Disc diameter governs the accessible height and width of cut. It is a geometric limit.
An abrasive disc throws a shower several meters long and sets light to whatever is lying around. Spark trays and low-spark carbide blades change what can be done in a closed room.
Abrasive costs little and throws a huge quantity of sparks. A carbide blade cuts cold, leaves a clean edge and costs far more to buy.
Always, in the machine’s vice. A piece held by hand is snatched away as soon as the disc bites.
Loose vice, stop out of adjustment, or a disc worn unevenly. Check squareness with a square before blaming the machine.
Abrasive loses diameter with every cut, which reduces capacity over time. It is a consumable in the strict sense.
Away from anything flammable: sparks carry several meters and stay hot. It is a documented cause of workshop fires.
Face shield, hearing protection, gloves and cotton clothing. Sparks perforate synthetics and burn skin.
With a specific iron-free stainless disc, to avoid the contamination that would make the cut rust.
The piece comes out very hot and stays so for a long time. It is a frequent and widely underestimated source of burns.
Always clamp in the vice: a piece held by hand is snatched away as soon as the disc bites. Sparks carry several meters and stay hot — where the machine stands matters as much as the machine, and the cut piece burns long afterwards.
There is no table here, and the reason is in the listings. The figure published most often across these 4 products is disc diameter, given by 3 of them — short of the four in five a column needs to compare rather than to display gaps. Each product page says what its own maker published.
Specifications: manufacturer sheets for welding and metalworking machines and the matching Amazon product pages. Prices and availability: Keepa.
Most recent revision in this category: August 13, 2026.
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
