Thoughts on miter saws?
After planning enough projects I want to do around the house, and watching enough DIY television, I now realize that it's insane for me not to own an miter saw. Thinking about specs, it seems like a no-brainer that I should get a compound miter saw (in other words, the motor and blade shouldn't just create angled cuts, but should also create bevels by rotating around the front/back axis). But given my two big constraints -- cost and space (we have a tiny basement we use for all our storage) -- I'm not so sure that moving up to a sliding compound miter saw for the extra $400+ that it'd add to the price is all that necessary. I'd love to hear other people's opinions, on whether my assumptions make sense, on brands that would be good for a non-pro weekend warrior like myself, and on anything else that seems appropriate!
Comments
If you don't need to cut anything more that about 5-inches with a compound miter then you won't need the radial arm saw. If you are putting in big fat crown molding, or really high base boards, then you will need the radial arm saw for compound miters greater than about 5-inches or so.
Posted by: Greg | September 27, 2006 10:03 PM
I've found that, aside from moulding, where the angles make it difficult to do this, I can cut pretty much anything I need to without the sliding part; all you have to do is flip the wood. My Delta 36-255L comes with dual laser guides that make it easy to line up the wood with the previous cut when you flip like this. Very handy. Most dimensional lumber doesn't come any wider than 12 inches, and I've cut plenty of 12 inch wide wood on my Delta by flipping the wood. But I'm going more furniture building than moulding, so my needs may be different than yours.
Posted by: ralph | September 28, 2006 12:11 AM
I use my sliding compound miter saw (aka chop saw) all the time, and it cost me $99 at Harbor Freight Tools. See http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90891
I have been using it weeking in for remodeling our current and previsous house for the past 5 years, and it has worked great.
Are their tools the very quality - nope. Are they good quality and fine for DIY - absolutely.
Check out my blog - I just added a list of all the tools I use, and who made each.
Posted by: ttf | September 28, 2006 12:42 AM
If you ever want to put up crown you are going to want a nice SCMS. While the Harbor Freight may be fine for rough work it's going to show its weakness when you need very accurate repeatable angles. The newest issue of FineWoodworking has a mitersaw review, Bosch came out tops, but I've been very happy with the Makita LS1013 that I own.
Posted by: damian | September 28, 2006 10:45 AM
I have a cheapo sears craftsman one I got for 100 bucks. It's not the most accurate but I've learned to accommodate its idiosyncrasies and it's very handy to cut two by fours or small branches.
Posted by: Gregory | September 28, 2006 11:18 PM