Mitering Large Width Boards

[Jeff B]

Part of my kitchen remodeling involves cutting and mitering really nice stained 6" wide molding boards that cover the gap between the top of the wall cabinets and the ceiling. They are installed vertically. (Crown molding gets installed on top of that.) The throat of my compound miter saw is too small to make that cut vertically or laying flat. I have one of those cheap "table saws" ... its really just a table with an old circular saw mounted underneath. Unfortunately, it doesn't tilt 45 for all of the corners I need to cut. I cut the end off of one long piece by hand with a new/good circular saw using a fence clamped to board as a guide but that won't work on smaller pieces. Plus its not as accurate.

I seem to have 2 options...1) go buy a new half decent quality table saw or 2) lay the board flat on the miter saw, cut as much as I can with the blade tilted 45, then flip and rotate the board to cut the rest. While I usually look for any excuse to buy new tools, a new table saw won't get used much after this project. (And no...I don't know anyone I can borrow a good table saw from.)

Has anyone used method #2 with any success?? I want the corners to be really tight...I don't want this to be a "caulk and putty" job! I think this will result in miscuts and some wasted wood but thought I would check first.

Thanks.

--Jeff

[samson]

If your mounted table saw has a miter groove, you ought to be able to cut a 45 if you mess with it enough.

S.

[dpb]

How well this will work will depend mostly on how good your saw is and how well you can manipulate it--I've done things like that, but it isn't much fun. Of course, if you don't have a tremendous number to cut and have time, it's "only" time...

(3) A good miter saw instead of a table saw would be far better for this job (the work stays still instead of moving)...

(4) Make the cut approximate w/ a guide on either the table saw or the miter saw or even a hand saw w/ a clamp guide and use a shooting board and sharp block plane to clean up the joint. This is surprisingly quick and easy.

--

[Lew Hodgett]

Option 3:

45 degree router bit, router & router table.

Lew

[Kenneth]

But do you know someone who would let you use their saw? Or, someone who would make the cuts for you on their equipment?

Also, another possibility might be a local college. Many have good shops and often are happy to help a member of the community with such a small job.

Good luck with it,

[DerbyDad03]

Rent/borrow a sliding miter saw.

[charlie]

high school, night school, or community center shop classes. local cabinet shops. local hardwood sellers (not big boxes)

[tom]

Clamp a large speed square to flat side of the molding and cut it with a skill saw with a fine toothed blade.

[Leuf]

If the crown is going on top of it, can you rip it at a point that the crown will cover but still narrow enough for the miter saw to handle? If it has a relief cut out on the back you'd have to add a spacer... okay this plan is sounding like a PITA.

-Leuf

[Father Haskell]

#2 works fine. Remove any "step" with a block plane.

[samson]

I like #4. I might try that just to see how well it works.

S.

[Jim Yanik]

Jeff B wrote in news:7e5e8a25-0311-44c4-a164- [e-mail]:

have you considered tool RENTAL?

[asmurff]

Do any of the places that rent tools rent a decent contractors saw?

[Harry K]

I didn't see it mentioned but...

It wasn't until I had my house almost finished that I discovered it.

Harbor Freight has _cheap_ sliding, compound miter saws. I don't know if they do currently but mine only ran $49 IIRC. It runs quite accurate angles on wide stock. Kicked my rear for not buying a saw like that years prior. Amazing how simple they make things. Had I but known, I would have paid big bucks for one way back.

Harry K

[Bob M.]

How about option #3 - rent a table saw or miter saw.

[Jeff B]

Thanks for all of the pointers.

Renting is not really an option. There is a fair amount of mitering work to do with these wide boards. Since I have a regular day job, I cut a piece here and there at nite during the week and more on the weekends. Obviously I can't rent it for a week (and pay more than outright buying) and I don't want to rush on some Sat and feel pressured to get it done and back to the rental store. I usually end up @$#%-ing it up under those rushed conditions.

HD and Sears both sell basic table saws for ~$100. (HD has a Ryobi on sale for $99.) I know you "get what you pay for" so I'm not rushing over to pick one up today without some research.

--Jeff

[Jeff B]

I thought about that option. That works for long pieces where there is enough room to clamp a guide (already done that). But there are several pieces that will be 2"-6" (around a deep pantry cab or around the corners of an extended center cab that juts out 2" from the others). Not enough room for clamping.

--Jeff

[Mike Marlow]

Thanks for all of the pointers.

Renting is not really an option. There is a fair amount of mitering work to do with these wide boards. Since I have a regular day job, I cut a piece here and there at nite during the week and more on the weekends. Obviously I can't rent it for a week (and pay more than outright buying) and I don't want to rush on some Sat and feel pressured to get it done and back to the rental store. I usually end up @$#%-ing it up under those rushed conditions.

HD and Sears both sell basic table saws for ~$100. (HD has a Ryobi on sale for $99.) I know you "get what you pay for" so I'm not rushing over to pick one up today without some research.

I would not suggest a table saw for a mitering project. A miter saw or even a miter box is going to serve that need far better. This becomes even more true with the cheap table saws which do not have table enough to properly support long stock, or decent miter fences to properly align and carry a board through the blade. You'll be spending more of that valuable time that you don't have a lot of, just fooling with the wrong tool for the job. I think you're asking for a lot of trouble with this approach. Not to mention, you'd be getting a real piece of junk - not even worth the $100 you spent.

[I M Curious]

Option 4: Build a homemade miter jig, custom designed for your particular project. ---- Posted via Pronews.com - Premium Corporate Usenet News Provider ----

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[whit3rd]

The problem isn't just that it's cheap, it's that a table saw requires a number of adjustments. Your saw probably isn't perfect at 90 degrees either. There are step by step table saw tuneup procedures that you will have to implement before doing finish carpentry, and that means... now.

For 45 degree check, saw a scrap (straight) board at 45, rotate the two pieces to join at 90 degrees, and see if it matches a (known good) square.

A complete tune checks the blade for wobble, the parallelism of the blade to the miter slots, the squareness of the miter fence, the squareness of the rip fence face, the parallelism of the rip fence to the miter slots, and maybe other things that your tabletop saw doesn't allow. Feeler gages, or vernier caliper, or dial gages will help.

It takes me about 15 minutes to adjust my table saw to 45 degrees and get it right, so you'll want to plan a bunch of your cuts ahead of time and do 'em on a single setup. Because the cheapo saws vibrate and have plastic deformation issues, you'll need to adjust, make a test cut or two, THEN verify the angle after the parts have settled in. The long settling-in phase is why cast iron is preferred for saws...