Let The Ryobi Cordless Flooring Saw Simplify Your Flooring Work
A few months back I took on the daunting task of replacing the old worn-out laminate flooring in my home. Overall things went pretty smooth but the biggest issue was getting up and down to make trips to the table saw on the front porch. The Ryobi One+ 18V cordless flooring saw is designed to eliminate that kind of headache.
Ryobi One+ 18V Cordless Flooring Saw Performance
Ryobi’s cordless flooring saw makes short work of cutting your LVT and LVP (luxury vinyl tile/planks), laminate, and hardwood flooring.
The saw makes cross, miter, and rip cuts an absolute breeze on flooring. Its ability to make a variety of cuts makes it incredibly valuable, especially when you’re working around something like a door jamb where you might have to make multiple cuts.
The 5 1/2 thin kerf blade cuts to a depth of 3/4 inches at 6500 RPM, so even hardwood should present no problem.
Rip Cuts
When ripping wood or vinyl planks, the saw locks into position, letting you use it as a sort of inverted table saw. You just feed the wood through against the included fence.
The rip fence takes a little getting used to and it’s a little jumpy. To start, loosen the thumbscrew and slide it to the measurement you’re looking for. There are multiple holes for that screw and you may have to switch to a different one to set the fence where you need it. From there, two sets of measurements help you make sure the fence is square. Tighten the screw back down when you have it set and you’re good to go.
Miter Cuts
The saw has 15 inches of crosscut capacity and up to 10 inches when making a 45° miter cut. To make those cuts, the saw acts much more like a miter saw with the ability to lock down an angle and slide while your material stays in place.
To set the miter angle, you need to loosen the thumbscrew on the miter fence and line it up with the marked angle indicators on the table. It pivots very similar to the way a chop saw’s miter gauge works. Once you tighten the screw back down, you’re ready to cut.
It’s Cordless
The fact that it runs off a single Ryobi 18V battery means you don’t need to find an outlet to get to work and sets it apart from other flooring saw options. Using a 9.0Ah battery, Ryobi says you can get up to 240 linear feet of cutting when using a 9Ah battery. For most jobs, you can cycle two batteries to keep a 1 or 2-man crew working continuously.
Ryobi One+ 18V Cordless Flooring Saw Design Notes
Out of the gate, the saw’s size and weight make it really conducive for taking to your jobsite. Even moving it around the room takes less effort. Bare, it weighs about 15 pounds and the carry handle is in the perfect spot.
The Ryobi cordless flooring saw also makes your clean-up efforts easier. It has its own dust collection bag to get you started, and we recommend connecting your vac to pull more of the dust and debris and leave your workspace cleaner.
There are no-mar feet on the bottom of the saw. While we appreciate that we’re not at risk of marking the floor we just installed, several of them have picked up a bad habit of falling out. Keep an eye on them and consider adding a drop of glue to keep them in place if you need to.
Additional Features
- Thin kerf 5 1/2-inch flooring blade included
- Dust port compatible with 1 1/4-inch vacuum accessories
- Onboard storage for saw accessories
- 3-year warranty
Ryobi One+ 18V Cordless Flooring Saw Price
The Ryobi PGC21 is now available at the Home Depot for $169. As of right now, it’s only available as a bare tool. Ryobi includes a 3-year warranty on the tool.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, the Ryobi 18V One+ cordless flooring saw is really helpful. The adjustments take some getting used to at first if you’re not used to this type of tool, but that’s the case even for a corded model. It’s the cordless benefits that really shine through and a layer of convenience other models don’t.
To check out the full Ryobi ONE+ lineup, click here.
Ryobi Flooring Saw Specs
- Model: Ryobi PGC21
- Blade Size: 5-1/2 in.
- Crosscut Capacity: 15 in.
- Miter Capacity: 10 in.
- RPM: Up to 6,500 rpm
- Compatible Flooring: LVT, laminates, and hardwoods
- Depth of Cut: 3/4 in.
- Rip-Cut Capacity: 8 in.
- Warranty: 3 years
- Price: $169
