A miter saw may not be very useful outside woodworking but for woodworkers it is a very useful tool. A miter saw lets you do accurate crosscuts and miter joints. A power miter saw will do the job very quickly. Here is a short miter saw overview.
A miter, also called miter joint, is a joint where two objects are joined at a beveled edge. The most common angle is 90 degrees, the two pieces are cut at 45 degree angle.
You have probably seen the good old wooden miter box. It works fine for 45 degrees and 90 degrees cuts. It is a cheap solution but if you are going to a lot of miters and crosscuts you must like prefer to pay a little bit more to get a more efficient and versatile solution. A manual miter saw is simply a backsaw that is suspended in a frame. The frame makes it possible to execute accurate crosscuts and miters. It is a cheap solution but it takes a lot of time if you are going to do a number of cuts.
The motorized miter saw has become very popular. It is easy to use and it gets the job done quickly. Today you have four different types of power miter saws, they are:
– Standard Miter Saw (Chop Saw)
– Compound Miter Saw
– Sliding Compound Miter Saw
– Dual Compound Miter Saw
Note that power miter saws can do a lot of damage. Safety is important, although modern miter saws have a number of safety features, such as retractable blade guards, you need to wear safety glasses. Also make sure that the saw is secured. When working with large materials, make sure that it supported.
The standard miter saw, sometimes called standard chop saw, only allows you to turn the saw table to the left or the right. The saw itself is always cutting square to the table. This means you can only make horizontally angled cuts. It is a very useful tool for woodworkers but you have more sophisticated tools.
The compound miter saw can do everything a standard miter saw does. But the blade can also be tilted, allowing you to cut bevels. This makes it also possible to cut a miter and a bevel at the same time, i.e. a compound cut.
A sliding compound miter saw works like a compound miter saw but has the added feature that the saw can slide forwards and backwards. This means that it can cut much wider work pieces than with the standard compound miter saw. This makes it a very versatile tool. A sliding compound miter saw is expensive but well worth paying for if you are going to work with wide stock.
The dual compound miter saw functions like a sliding compound miter saw with the added feature that the blade can be tilted in either direction. Standard compound miter saws can only be tilted in one direction, left or right. This feature can save you time, you don’t need to worry about if you have put the wood in the right position.
Most modern miter saws have a laser guide that indicates where the cut will be done. A nice feature, you don’t need to lower the saw onto the wood and make an indentation.