Well, after seeing posts here about the new cold-cut blades available for regular "Skil Saws" I checked the net and found a local retailer with a good price. I ended up buying a Tenryu PRF-18548BW for $45USD out the door. I intended to use it on my SkilSaw model 77. I still wondered if the blade would really cut and not self-destruct or burn up the saw. The store was nice enough to have a Makita 14" Cold Cut saw for demonstration and let me try it out even though I was buying a totally different blade. The Makita cut through 1" X 2" scrap bar like butter. It was quick (1-2 second cut) and smooth and cold.
I was preparing for a residential metal fence project and still in the planning stages so the blade sat in my garage for 2 months. Well, the now with the plans firmly in my head, the metal delivered and sitting in the driveway, I was ready to start cutting. I prepared the set up to make the 200 or so vertical bars that will cover the fence rails. They started out as 20ft long, 3/4 square, 1/16 thick. I put 40 of them on my welding table and squared them out, measured for the cut and clamped a straight 2X4 on the right spot to use as a fence for the SkilSaw to ride against. I ended up making five cuts out of the 20-footers giving me 200 48" long bars.
The cutting ability of the Tenryu blade is absolutely amazing. It went through the row of 40 bars with no problem at all. I estimate the bars were dropping at about 2 per second. The noise was even surprising. It was about as loud as the SkilSaw when cutting wood. The process does throw HOT chips in every direction although mostly to the front. I was sure to have safety glasses on and warn the onlookers before making any cuts. After making all 200 bars, I examined the blade for damage. There were a few chipped teeth. Maybe 3 or 4 out of 48 total. I was dismayed at first but realized I was still miles ahead of any other cutting method available to me plus had the convenience of a hand held saw. Overall I give it an 8 or a 9. Given the fact that one should never give a perfect score, at least on planet earth, and also there were a few chipped teeth.