Porter Cable 314 Trim Saw

[Mark Gibney]

What do these "trim saws" do that a regular circular / Skil saw or a Festool saw is not as good at? - genuine question!
Many of you here seem to really like them, I'm interested to hear what you prefer about them over other similar tools.

[Tom M King]

Just much lighter for reaching all the way across a sheet of plywood. Much lighter, and being a worm drive, the handle is farther back making it that much easier to make that reach. Also good for trimming the edges of roof sheathing since it's so light and easy to handle.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks Tom.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I think the intended market was for contractors. The worm drive, the compact steel case, and overall robust construction made them able to take the beatings of job-site work.

The PC 548 Bayonet Saw was its running buddy - same compact steel case design, worm drive, robust construction [I gots me onea them too]. Not really a substitute for a jig saw - more for construction tasks. Serious heavy-duty.

These were made back in the days when Porter-Cable WAS Porter-Cable

[Mark Salomon]

Find a used PC SawBoss

[andrew whicker]

For me, to be honest, I was watching another episode of This Old House and that's what the carpenter guy uses to cut scribes to the wall and I wanted to give that a shot. I've seen him use this saw a few different times for this task. I don't enjoy using a jig saw for that task very much (even though I have a nice one).

I have a few more cabinet jobs coming up and thought I would try something else.

I was surprised nothing like it exists anymore on the market. There are cheesy corded and cordless versions, but nothing like the 314 is made anymore.. from what I can tell.

[glenn bradley]

What do these "trim saws" do that a regular circular / Skil saw or a Festool saw is not as good at? - genuine question!
Many of you here seem to really like them, I'm interested to hear what you prefer about them over other similar tools.

As Tom says; lightweight but still powerful. It is embarrassing but as I age a couple of pounds difference in the weight of a power tool being controlled by one hand really comes into play.

[Rich Engelhardt]

What do these "trim saws" do that a regular circular / Skil saw or a Festool saw is not as good at? - genuine question!
Many of you here seem to really like them, I'm interested to hear what you prefer about them over other similar tools.

I picked up a cordless 12 V Makita trim saw - I had to cut the rails on some older installed cabinets so I could move them down 2 inches and remake the drawers an extra 2 inches deep.
I needed a cut as straight as possible - which ruled out the jigsaw - and there wasn't really enough room to maneuver a 6.5" or 7.25' circular saw comfortably.

The small Makita worked perfectly for what I needed.

They are specialty saws. Limited in power and limited in depth of cut.

[Curt Harms]

I have one that I use for breaking down sheet goods. I made a guide from 1/4" 'masonite' with the fence made from aluminum matrix metal. The PC 314 shoe is longer front to back than it is side to side. I'm not sure if that's the reason but that little saw tracks along the fence with no effort. The saw runs on the guide's surface. One downside for the way I'm using is limited depth of cut which is why I opted for a thin guide base. Glue the fence to the base making the distance from the edge of the guide to the edge of the base greater than the edge of the saw base to the guide's surface. Make a pass with the saw cutting the base material. Perfect alignment of the edge of the jig to the edge of the jig base. Same idea as the track saws with the replaceable edge.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Ditto. Moved into condo; big iron and DC gone. 1/2" sacrificial ply base on top of patio table. I used 3/8" x 1" alum bar stock for guide on same 1/4" masonite. To one side of guide it reads "314". To other side it reads "Trim Router".

It works good enough for me to align to layout marks and make finish cuts, including cross-cut hardwood.

Plus - Forrest makes a 40t 4-1/2" dia blade for this saw. That's an even finer cut than 80t on a 10" blade.
Of course -you might spend more on the blade than a used saw, but the cut quality is excellent

[Greg R Bradley]

I have an original 314, bought as a second saw for a vacation home and probably used for less than 2 hours total. Would be happy to sell it but not cheaply. The ones on eBay asking $200+ are total garbage by comparison. It wasn't practical to use inside my ski condo in the wintertime so I changed plans and then it sat in the box until I sold the condo 25 years later.