Milwaukee M18 10-1/4″ Rear Handle Circular Saw: What's New And How Much Does It Cost?

Milwaukee Tool has a rather robust line of circular saws that are good for both amateur and professional woodworkers alike. If you need a cordless model, it has options for its M12, M18, and M28 battery systems. If you just want to plug it into an outlet, there are options for that, too. In June 2026, Milwaukee added a brand new saw to its lineup, one that dwarfs the rest of them. That's the Milwaukee M18 10-1/4-inch Rear Handle Circular Saw.

The company already had a corded version of this saw on offer, but this new battery-powered version is a true behemoth. Milwaukee introduced another powerful M18-powered Rear Handle Circular Saw at the same time, but this saw's 10-1/4-inch blade is three whole inches larger than that one's. Even though Milwaukee claims that this is the lightest saw of its size on the market, it still weighs 10.3 pounds, and that's without the weight of an M18 battery. This saw is clearly designed for serious workers dealing with incredibly thick wood, particularly with beams.

If you're purchasing just the saw itself, that means you are getting the tool, a 10-1/4-inch-thick kerf framing circular saw blade, a blade wrench, a vacuum adapter, and a dust plug. This will run you $429 and can be bought at most hardware stores, excluding Lowe's, which doesn't sell Milwaukee tools. Notably, this doesn't include a battery. If you don't already have an M18 battery, Milwaukee offers a kit that includes an M18 RedLithium Forge HD 12.0 Ah battery, an M12 and M18 rapid charger, and a contractor bag. All together, that retails for $599.

The Milwaukee M18 10-1/4-inch Rear Handle Circular Saw is obviously designed for very thick wood. When cutting at a 90-degree angle, you can get a cut depth of up to 3-13/16 inches. For comparison, the M18 7-1/4-inch Rear Handle Circular Saw only has a maximum cut depth of 2-5/8 inches. With over an inch more of depth, you can really get into some thick blocks. At a 45-degree angle, you can still get a depth of 2-3/4 inches, whereas the smaller-bladed model gets just 2-1/16 inches.

If you're getting the full kit with this saw, it comes with the recommended M18 RedLithium Forge HD 12.0 Ah battery, which is currently Milwaukee's largest M18 battery. Milwaukee claims that you can get up to 250 cuts with this battery on a single charge. The company is introducing an M18 HD15.0 Ah battery in the near future, which purports to have 50% more power than the 12.0 model, so it may be worth waiting for that to be released if you need to make even more cuts on average.

The saw also comes equipped with two very important features. The first is Autostop Advanced Kickback Protection. This can detect when it expects the saw to engage in a kickback, which can be quite dangerous to the user, and it shuts the power off on the saw to prevent it. Secondly, it's one of Milwaukee's RedLink Plus tools, which optimizes performance to mitigate or prevent over-discharging, overloading, or overheating. For heavy-duty woodworkers, the Milwaukee M18 10-1/4-inch Rear Handle Circular Saw should be able to handle what you throw at it.