SCMS prferences

[RayV]

Does it matter if the rails on a SCMS are up-down or side-by-side?

If you are not doing framing do you need bigger than an 8" saw?

Is double-bevel an important feature or is single-bevel enough?

[Joe]

Rails: Don't know. If you read reviews that says the saw stays in alignment, that's the most important thing.

8": you don't need bigger than an 8" for framing, and you don't need a scms for framing either (ymmv). scms with 8" blade will let you crosscut up to 12" wide (roughly). However, you're limited on thick stock. Since you've already decided on a Scms, I'm going to assume that you need the crosscut capacity. If you also think you're going to be cutting thick stock, go with a 12". Of course, now you're really running into $$$ (12" scms's don't come cheap)

double bevel or single bevel: I think you mean d or s mitre. Double is a convenience (less flipping of stock, easier when doing crown molding, at least for me). On better saws, one side will often go to 60 deg while the other direction will go to 45.

be well, work wood,

jc

[Nova]

As long as the saw can hold alignment during a cut it shouldn't matter.

It depends... do you need to cut anything thicker/higher than about three inches?

A single bevel is a pain.

[Frank Drackman]

I do most of my stock breakdown with a SCMS and use every bit of the 12" capacity of my Dewalt . Yesterday I was cutting some 16/4 cherry and almost didn't have enough. Of course there are work arounds, but I try to move the heavy boards as few times as possible.

[Swingman]

"Frank Drackman" wrote

You suck, Dude!

Nice drive-by! :)

[Robatoy]

*raspberry noise*

[Frank Drackman]

I frequent hardwoods stores and when I see something nice, or particularly thick, I usually purchase and put it away.

In the past I when I needed specific stock for a piece I was making there would be nothing great at retail but I would purchase the "best fit" that I could find. I wasn't happy with those finished pieces so I decided to change the way I purchased wood.

I pretty much only work in cherry and maple so keeping inventory isn't all that hard.

[J T]

Tue, Dec 4, 2007, 12:19pm (EST-3) [e-mail] (RayV) doth query: If you are not doing framing do you need bigger than an 8" saw?

Dunno. But I've got one of the HF non-sliders, with a 10" blade. As bought it'll cut about 5" wide. But I figured if I made a higher "bed" it'd cut wider Planed down four chunks of 2X4, glued two edge to edge, then two more on top, for a total heighth of around 3" or so. Heven't double-checked yet, but know for sure it'll cut more than 6" wide now (cut a piece yesterday), and figure when I get thru, it should cut at least 8". Now I'm just trying where to figure out exactly how, and where, to drill some h oles for bolts to hold the bed in place. Doing this 'cause I'll be cutting a lot of same size pieces, however some pieces will be different sizes, so will be using stop blocks to keep from having to measure each piece - just slap a chunk down, slice it to size, slide the wood down, slice again. No prob. I have no idea if this has ever been done before, haven't even checked in fact. Working just as desired tho.

JOAT Even Popeye didn't eat his spinach until he had to.

[Leon]

Throwing in another thought. I have had a 12" CMS for 8 or 9 years and used it a lot before I got a cabinet saw. Now I use only when I do a job on location and the work is strictly framing. The saw is in a store room. Had I to do it again I would put the money for a miter saw into a better TS. My miter saw station was great to use but it took up precious room and with the right cut off sled on the TS I could make repeated accurate cuts with no more trouble. I eventually took the station down and stored the miter saw.

[Joe]

Leon,

Just curious, what did you use to cut rough lumber to length before jointing and planing? I would like to free up the space as well, but I never felt comfortable with that particular operation on the table saw with non-square (rough) lumber.

Of course, I guess I could use (gasp) a hand saw for rough cutting length......

jc

[Leon]

"If" I cut lumber to a random length, I use my Milwaukee Jig Saw. It is almost as fast as a circle saw. Typically I cut to a shorter workable length after milling to decrease the amount of possible snipe on the ends.

I'll pretend you did not say that. ;~)

[RayV]

Nothing wrong with that especially if you have one of these:

end won't be pretty but this thing does cut well right out of the cardboard sleeve.

[DonkeyHody]

Do you see yourself getting serious about woodworking? If so, you're thinking way too short term here. A miter saw will last a hobbiest a lifetime. Unless you're buying it for a specific task, (remodeling maybe) and know you won't have any further use for it, you should bite the bullet now and buy the biggest and best you can possibly afford. You'll grow into it. Otherwise, you'll pay depreciation on two saws - this one and the one you buy when you realize this one won't do everything you need.

I always knew I wanted to be a serious woodworker, but I wasn't smart enough to buy serious tools when I first started out. The experience wasn't wasted because I appreciate good tools more now than I would if I had always had them. But I paid for the experience.

DonkeyHody "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement."