Reciprocating saws

I'd use a circular saw set to the correct depth, do several runs across the waste and chisel it out. You should get a near perfect job with a bit of practice.

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You are joking? As you said, they are weapons of destruction, getting a clean cut on a fence post is difficult with them when cutting the post in half, getting a decent lap joint would be harder. I had a Dewalt, and I dont think it is any better than a cheap one, they just jump about and wander at will.

My chain saw gave pretty accurate cuts on fence posts the few times I tried it, so maybe one of the small chainsaws would be more suitable, as well as being useful in other areas.

Soemthing like this would be good for loads of things:

No, never used a decent recip saw.

That answers my question - thanks.

I have tried that - I think I might need to make up a jig though.

Have you got a SCMS that can trench cut?

What about a Bosch GOP 250 CE multitool with a plunge cut blade?

Make up a set square from wood to act as a guide? You'd need to do some calcs to work out the offset from the blade - but you could write them on it to save having to remember. Clamp it to the post - then it's only the two outside cuts that have to be square.

I have, but it won't cope with a 4 x 4 post unless you use a sub fence.

Used by DG installers to cut through the old wooden fames. The one I spoke to couldn't think of another use for it.

No calcs necessary: just make the jig and use it to cut a small amount off a spare piece of wood. Measure the distance from jig edge to cut edge and write on jig for future reference. I did this only a couple of weeks ago - had some spare self-adhesive foam strips which I put on the underside so the jig stayed in place under hand pressure, no clamp necessary.

My beech hedge had been allowed to run away at the top over a couple of years and I was struggling to find a way of dealing quickly with

Equally I've not found another use for it !

Rob

Or one of the cheap sliding compound mitre saws.

Mine is a ply set square (i.e. an upside down "T") and, by using it once and trimming the right hand part of the "T" bit, that effectively becomes the jig (mine is about 100mm IIRC, but I don't need to know that). Easy to do but impossible to explain :-)

I sort of assumed he might be making the joints in posts already installed.

Is getting a cheap sliding saw for this sort of thing make sure it cuts deep enough.

As Dave pointed out in his reply to my suggestion of this above, 4x4 posts need a big SMCS... That puts you into the 12" blade saws like the Makita LS1214. Lovely bit of kit, but 'kin pricey unless you can find a decent ebay one like I did, and quite a monster to lug about with you.

Short sawboard with the addition of a square fence on the underside would seem to be a workable solution.

I have actually used mine for this application... certainly for making the long rip cut rather than the cross cuts (can't remember if I did use it for those or not).

When I did this newel post joint to the string:

(if I were going to try this, I would suggest using one with a pendulum action since it should result is less drift on the return stroke)

I have found plenty of uses for them over time...

Cutting a long half lap. Cutting a 6' long "squint" on the bottom of a joist Cutting roots around tree stumps to aid removal Metal cutting things flush to surfaces Cutting the flitch plate (8mm x 220mm mild steel) in flitch beams Lopping bits of trees while up a ladder in cases were lugging the chainsaw up there would be difficult.