A better measuring and marking system?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I suppose it might. But putting it back together might be challenging if it no longer has the clips or whatever.

[MM]

I AM an amateur! I don't aspire to becoming a cabinet maker, who would likely not be using much MDF. But that's not to say that gadgets don't sometimes make life easier, because they do.

I suppose you cut all your mitres free hand? Or are mitre boxes only for amateurs?

MM

[MM]

Many thanks for that link! It's the best one so far. I'm going to buy the rule selling for £25.95. I may buy the angled one, too. I'll see if I can find it cheaper on Amazon.

The Incra company makes a pretty impressive range of jigs and gauges. This one caught my eye:

MM

[harryagain]

They are indeed.

[harryagain]

Drivel. A laser iine is thicker than a pencil line & therefore cannot be as accurate even as that. All right for rough work, but not accurate.

[John Williamson]

So you *do* use a mitre box then.

[Andy Burns]

Yes the laser line is thicker than a pencil line, but I have it set up so the laser /just/ skims the kerf of the blade, then if I get the edge of the laser to /just/ touch the edge of the pencil line, I know exactly where the cut is going to be - as I said the laser reflects very nicely off the pencil mark.

0.5mm or better is good enough for me.

[pcb1962]

I will be buying one too as my eyesight makes it difficult to line up a pencil with a millimeter mark on a rule these days. Peter Parfitt has a bit of a demo here:

[MM]

I was surprised to discover that Amazon.co.uk does not carry the Incra range, but Amazon.de does. Also, getting it from there works out cheaper than buying it from a UK supplier. I haven't actually placed the order yet, but I did a dummy run (right up to where to click to "Place your order" and the total GB price including delivery was £25.45. I've had an Amazon.de account for several years and have ordered several items from there. Never any problems, except you have to wait a bit longer for delivery of course. The German Amazon web site is almost identical to the UK one, so ordering stuff is dead easy.

MM

[polygonum]

A number of items I have recently ordered from Amazon have shown an extra two days for delivery. Tracking has shown every one coming from somewhere in Germany (can't remember where). So very likely exactly the same as you are doing except, possibly for price. I was interested that items ordered from different vendors on Amazon ended up in a single package from Germany - though each was independently trackable.

[MM]

What puzzles me is why Amazon UK don't list those Incra rulers, yet the German branch does! The US Amazon site carries them, but it seems only the Imperial ones, not metric.

MM

[harryagain]

Mitre boxes are only accurate if the slot in the box is the same width as the saw. They soon wear out in any case and become inaccurate. All right for rough work. The OP was asking about accurate work.

[John Rumm]

The OP did not specify the accuracy required...

Not all mitre boxes guide the sharp part of the saw - some guide the back of it and hence don't wear.

For a skilled carpenter, doing second fix work, they should be able to cut a mitre accurately enough by eye just using the reflection of the wood in the saw (keeping it at a right angle).

[MM]

I don't see a reflection in my saw. Probably due to the surface rust...

MM

[fred]

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We were doing a furniture installation some time back, in newly finished of fices. Typically they weren't finished and a chippie was installing trim ar ound the door jambs. The quality of his work to my eye was abominable but I 'm told I'm fussy. Large gaps in the mitred corners. But, hey, par for the course round here.

Low and behold when we came back the following day that chippie was gone an d another one was ripping out all his shoddy work and doing the job right