What tools to cut square post hole in composite decking board

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I need to cut 9 holes in potentially 9 pieces of decking board (composite). I am thinking about using this method:

  1. Drill a big hole ~1.5" using hole saw bit (for the door knob) in the middle

  2. Drill 4 holes at 4 corners of the square

  3. Then either (a) use a short blade reciprocating saw (so it won't shake) OR (b) use "Gyros 82-20715 Saw Blade w/Mandrel Set, Coarse-Teeth 3/4" Diameter" but hook to my drill gun (wired and wireless).

The problem with 3(b) is that the blade is not big enough to cut through 1" deck at once but this method has more control. I hate my reciprocating saw because it's big, heavy and shaking too much.

What are the common methods for this type of job?

Best Answer

There is also this type of saw that may work ok for this job:

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This type has a lot more control than a larger reciprocating saw because the base rests on the surface of the decking board. These do have disadvantages in that when cutting thicker materials the blade can wander from straight down and create a cut that is not square with the surface. This can be controlled to a large degree by quality of the tool, blade selection and limiting the feed rate in the cut.

One advantage with this is that there would be no need to cut the larger diameter hole. Just two corner holes would be all that was needed.

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