Does Lowe’s cut wood to size for you?
I have both a Lowes and a Home Depot within a 5 minute drive of where I live, and I do lots of stuff around the house, so I frequent both stores. I’ve also shopped at many other Home Depots over the years, and several other Lowes.
Now, I have both a tablesaw and a good mitre saw, so I don’t absolutely need to get my wood cut at the store. But I often get sheet goods cut at the store, because cutting a 4′ x 8′ sheet in a garage is a pain in the ass.
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| Does Lowe’s cut wood to size for you? |
So, the differences.
Lowes stores typically have a single saw to handle both sheet goods and cutting lumber to length. It looks like this:
First of all, these saws have marginal accuracy, at best. Second, they are finicky and hard to set up. Third, in my experience, the associates are not well-trained on them. Fourth, because they are poorly engineered, they break down. Often. My local store has no operating saw for months at a time.
Overall, I’d give Lowes a C- in the cutting department.
Now Home Depot is a different story.
First, they have separate saws for cutting to length and cutting sheet goods.
Second, their panel saws are hands-down amazing. They have beautiful Streibig professional panel saws like this:
Instead of measuring with tapes, these saws have built-in flip-up stops, and deliver precise, accurate cuts every time. Instead of using a modified handheld circular saw to do the cuts, they have 5 HP motors with beefy blades.
Third, they have associates trained on how to use the saws.
Fourth, because the saws are better-engineered, they rarely break down.
Overall, I’d give Home Depot a solid A in the cutting department.
Not that they don’t make mistakes… just last week I ordered 10 sheets of 5/8″ MDF with about 4 cuts per sheet. I carefully sent in my cut list and reviewed it on the phone. A few hours later the called to tell me it was ready. I went to pick it up and…
… they had cut 1/2″, not 5/8″!
To their credit they knocked 60% off the price, and I was able to use the 1/2″ with no problem.
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