In talking about miter saws the other day..

[BlkY2k]

I am going to update, I just spent a bit of time cutting some very close tolerance material for door trim and it does take some time to figure out how to deal with the offset when you are cutting angles, so be aware and make sure and practice on material that is not important, use scrape to learn how to work with this, with a standard kerf blade that has an 1/8 tooth, you will be splitting that in half and end up with a 1/16th of an inch too short. now if you put a thin kerf blade on your saw, you will still end up short by about a 32nd of an inch, which in many instances will not make a difference, but if you are doing picture frames, it will if you need them exact for the piece they are suppose to fit on. Also, one thing to be aware with, make sure and review the various brands, cheap brand thin kerf's will flex while your cutting if you are not very careful, so take it very slow and don't force anything.

I find that when I`m doing door casing or side casing for a window. I do the tops first, then cut your miters for the sides. flip the piece upside down and set the point on the floor in its position and then mark where it meets the top. That way you are cutting a square cut for length and not to a miter.

 

[gm280]

I've successfully cut many many window casings and door frames with the LASER guide and really had zero issues doing that. And the fact that my LASER guides are on the left side of the cut (because that is the outside of the blade) I've never seem to have much issue cutting mitered or straight cuts one way or the other. I guess I know the thickness of the blade and can easily accommodate any offset when aligning up the cut. Of course nothing is perfect, but if I am really concerned with cutting too short, I cut fat or proud, and go from there. I find it easier to cut a few times verse cutting too short and starting over with another piece of wood. I'm not going to state that I've never cut wrong, but very infrequently...

 

[NYBo]

Yes, they still carry them, they just don't have them on their website right now, I was just on the phone with them today on another product I was looking and asked them about the lasers. I just purchased mine less than a week ago at the Vancouver, WA store and talked to the Missoula store today.

Great! There's one of their stores a few miles from my office. I'll give them a visit. I haven't been there in, oh, maybe a week.:lol:

 

[NYBo]

I find that when I`m doing door casing or side casing for a window. I do the tops first, then cut your miters for the sides. flip the piece upside down and set the point on the floor in its position and then mark where it meets the top. That way you are cutting a square cut for length and not to a miter.

Clever! I'm going to try this.