Proper Saw for flooring?

[Adam.Cavaliere]

I am planning on putting in some laminate flooring very soon and also needed something to do some cuts for building some shelving. I am planning on putting in the DuPont laminate flooring.

I am just starting to build my collection of power tools (YEAH!). So I thought I would ask the experts their opinion as to whether or not I made the right decision.

I bought a Ridged 10" Compound Miter saw.

The decision for this is that for one the guy at HD said that the 10" Miter would be enough to cut the flooring. Second, I am doing 45 degree cuts and was looking for some accuracy. I thought about a table saw, but felt that I would get better cuts with the miter. Am I correct in this thought?

I have a feeling the Miter may not be enough for the flooring, am I right? Is there an "All-In-One" tool that would be better for the flooring, or was I right in purchasing the miter, but I will also have to purchase something else?

Thanks!

[Steve]

[e-mail] wrote on 22 Oct 2007 in group rec.woodworking:

Your miter saw will do fine. I have the 12" Ridged saw, and it has done a good job for me. You might need to get a different blade. The one that came with my saw is great for soft wood like pine, but splinters hard wood and plywood. I bought a 100-tooth side-bevel blade that works great with harder woods and trim. Ask for advice at a real woodworking or lumber place.

Table saws are not that great for cutting angles. You can do it, but it takes practice and a good miter.

You'll probably need a sabresaw to get parts to fit around corners of door jambs. I like my Bosch. I also have a Ryobi, but it's no good. My best tip for sabresaws is to cut slowly. Going to fast will either break the blade or cause it to cut at an angle.

[J T]

Mon, Oct 22, 2007, 8:16pm (EDT+4) [e-mail] (FrozenNorth) pointed his maroon spray paint wrong, sprayed himself in the face, then said: Depends upon your flooring, I also own a Rigid 10" Miter Saw, just put down a laminate floor this weekend, the 10" would not cut it at 90 degrees, never mind at 45,

Hehehe I got a new, $70, Harbor Freight 10" miter saw awhile back. Some think they're low quality; however, it zips thru oak flooring, any angle, no sweat. You got a carbide tip blade in your saw? My saw came with one.

JOAT "I'm an Igor, thur. We don't athk quethtionth." "Really? Why not?" "I don't know, thur. I didn't athk."

[J T]

Mon, Oct 22, 2007, 9:29pm (EDT+4) [e-mail] (FrozenNorth) doth sayeth: Carbide tip, problem was the boards were 8" wide, my 10" Ridgid CMS won't cut that wide.

[Allen Roy]

You might want to go with the 12". However you will want to use a good carbide tipped blade with at least 60 teeth. I do stress carbide tipped, otherwise the flooring will eat up the blade very quickly.

Allen

[Father Haskell]

And even then, you're going to be wearing out a lot of blades very quickly. The substrate might be cardboard, but the finish is some sort of very hard ceramic impregnated resin. I've never seen a blade light up at the contact point when cutting wood products.

[John Heacock]

If the 10" miter saw to work for your flooring, you may need to get a sliding miter saw. The Rigid 12" sliding compound miter saw cuts to 13

1/2 inches while the 10" compound miter saw saws off to 6 inches as you found out. YMMV John in SC

[Steve]

[e-mail] (J T) wrote on 22 Oct 2007 in group rec.woodworking:

If it's that small a difference, I just tip the board up (carefully). Don't let anybody from OSHA see you do it, though. It's like ripping on a table saw without push sticks.

This trick works fine at 90°. I saw a guy at Habitat last week doing the same trick at 22.5° -- that didn't work so well. My buddy flips the board over and finishes the cut from the other side. He gets it perfect every time, but I haven't practiced enough.

[Steve]

Father Haskell wrote on 22 Oct 2007 in group rec.woodworking:

Most of those hard finishes contain aluminum oxide -- the same thing that's on the high-end sandpaper. I wore down a good blade on that stuff to the point where it smoked when I cut pine molding.

[J T]

Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 4:08am (EDT+4) [e-mail] (Steve) doth sayeth: If it's that small a difference, I just tip the board up (carefully). Don't let anybody from OSHA see you do it, though. It's like ripping on a table saw without push sticks. This trick works fine at 90=B0. I saw a guy at Habitat last week doing the same trick at 22.5=B0 -- that didn't work so well. My buddy flips the board over and finishes the cut from the other side. He gets it perfect every time, but I haven't practiced enough.

No thanks, tried it once, didn't like it. I'm not just making a "raised bed" for my mitre saw, when I finish up, I'll not only be able to set a chunk of wook down and zip thru it at 90 degrees, I'l have clamps to hole it if I even want any angle cuts. Even if I want to set a piece on edge, and split it - clamps all the way. I can be verrrry careful when it comes to keeping me away from the whirly parts, and keeping pieces from shooting around the shop.

JOAT "I'm an Igor, thur. We don't athk quethtionth." "Really? Why not?" "I don't know, thur. I didn't athk."

[Nova]

I'd recommend a cheap carbide blade. No sense ruining a good blade.

[Ivan Vegvary]

When I cut my 8" flooring I would pull down on the chop saw (cut a little more than 7 inches) and when it bottomed out I would lift up on the board. Perfect cuts. I will admit that this was snap together laminates and that all the cuts ended up against walls where they will be covered by baseboards.

Ivan Vegvary

[Father Haskell]

Two Freud Diablos should get you through a 10 x 20 foot floor. They won't cut worth a damn afterwards.