Straight Flush Saw
By Cuz-D Industries

In the world of woodworking, situations often arise where we are asked to build, or help with the building of homes, sheds, and other structures, and when asked it is something we typically don’t shy away from. When we build homes with the current materials of the trades today we make a choice of what type of tools we will use and I have seen hundreds of tool Ideas come and go over the years. Some good, some OK, and occasionally something great in its class. In the latter category I would place the first worm drive Skill Saw (circular saw) and it soon found its way onto almost every jobsite. Later smaller men have switched to the sidewinder saws and while these are OK I would not consider them a great advancement. In fact circular saws have been in an innovative stagnant swamp for about 50 years with the only exception being the new track saws we love so much.

Finally, the circular saw has been reinvented. It was done by Jake Cuzdey at Cuz-D Industries who has developed the Straight Flush Saw. This is our TOOL OF THE YEAR for 2016. I would normally pick a fine woodworking tool for this honor but this year it’s the Straight Flush Saw from Cuz-D and here are the reasons why:

The saw has a brilliant proprietary 8.5” blade system design that lets you cut through two plates at once (a framer’s dream). Next are the flush cut features which allow you to cut out window openings in siding without the need for a reciprocating saw and a router. The Straight Flush Saw outperforms the old ways with better results and is much faster.

We used this saw for over 100 hours on several projects including a subfloor removal and joist repair. The Straight Flush Saw provided a huge time and quality improvement. You simply remove the top guard and place the bevel angle to the negative 5 degree position, place the saw flush to the wall and make your cut. The saw undercuts the subfloor and allows you to re-use the off-cut after the joist repair. Those old joists are a pain to cut, but not with the Straight Flush Saw. You simply drop the front sled and cut all the way through in seconds without the need to slow down the process by breaking out a reciprocating saw. The handle on the saw rotates so you can also undercut the wall with the saw blade parallel to the floor and the top guard removed.

My skills improved with the saw the more I watched the company videos and found opportunities to make use of more and more features. This is a very well designed tool. Eventually it became my go-to tool for almost every jobsite cutting task. I started out by fixing the ugly opening on a shed doorway and flush cut the siding, which was easy and turned out great so my confidence built from there with every new opportunity. I actually started looking for things to cut!

I took the saw to 12 jobsites and filmed the saw being used on everything from framing to siding to roofing (and you guys know I don’t do roofs!). I was very pleased that the saw doesn’t jump on startup it tracks very straight. The rip guide is the best of any worm drive or side winder circular saw I have ever used. This saw opens so many doors I was shocked that someone had not done this before. We are currently waiting for a concrete blade to test on this workhorse

The fit and finish on the Straight Flush Saw is second to none and the maintenance is about the same as any worm drive saw with the exception of the lower guard which is opened using the thumb control so no need to jamb the guard open. The guard woks well but you do need to lube the cable and keep it clean for best results (not hard to do). I am including a photo that I got from Cuz-D so you can see all the features incorporated into the design of the saw.

Lance Granum

Managing Editor