Loads of decking, skirtings, architraves and general DIY jobs are looming. I’ve decided that my old Sandvik saw should take a rest and a powertool step in instead. Can anyone suggest the features that I need and suitable saws to consider?

ClicketyClick

Cheers Ernie, but Ouch! I know that you get what you pay for but is there anything more economical available that is suitable for an amateur DIYer like me.

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/makita-ls0714-7-190mm-slide-compound-mitr-p27048

I bought a cheapo chop-saw from B&Q…. my findings were:

I wish I had bought one of the “sliding” ones – that would have proved a lot more useful.

The “calibration” of the blade angle (when trying to cut 45 and even 90 degrees) was significantly out. it was really noticeable when trying to miter architrave, but it also caused a problem when doing internal/external corners on skirting. I;m sure somebody will be along in a minute and tell mat was operator error – but I’m putting it down to it being a cheap one 🙄

That’s not a bad price Ernie (shakes piggy bank experimentally).

Rage compound mitre saw. Get a new one from screwfix or they have an eBay outlet store for B grade stock.

Look at evolution, for DIY and even light trade use the top of the range model is quite good.

For everyday use, spend more money

+1 for the Evolution Rage or Fury sliding mitre saws.

For Skirting and Architrave I’ve always used a manual saw like this;

The actual cuts are much cleaner and they seem to be more accurate.

For the decking any of the cheaper slide mitres the diy sheds etc sell are much of a muchness (you can see they all share the same chassis etc) – I think the ‘Rage’ brand really gives you the ‘cut through anything’ blade on a fairly standard tool doesn’t it?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Evolution-RAGE3-S-210mm-Multipurpose-Sliding-Mitre-Saw-B-Grade-230v-/111409254590?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&var=&hash=item19f08250be

not the best tool in the world but does the job!

Has saved me hours already

I have a Woodstar sliding compound mitre saw, cost about £100. OK for cutting wood to length but not super accurate.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/eb45C1]Cutting the horizontals[/url] by brf, on Flickr

Ignore markings on cheap saws

Get a sliding bevel or a trend anglefix and use that to se up the saw. Spend time first makin sure the saw is paralel to the table ( engineers square)

Thw anglefix makes doing mitres in a house thats far from square a dream !

But ill be honest – since i bought a 22 year old elu saw my evolution barely gets a looking the elu is easier to set up. Quieter , nicer to use generally.

Don’t forget a little coping saw for the internal corners of your skirting and architrave

If you’re after accuracy, then no motorised saw of that type will give you millimetre perfect cuts. For that, you’re better off over cutting, then using a shooting board with a sharp block/shooting plane for fine-tuning.

I think the ‘Rage’ brand really gives you the ‘cut through anything’ blade on a fairly standard tool doesn’t it?

its not a standard tool, for the blades to work cutting metals etc the machines are geared to a different speed – roughly half the speed of a regular wood mitre saw (being geared down is also what makes them so noisy). I suspect if you stick one of their blades in a normal saw some bad news could occur.

Nice looking bit of kit that stoffle – never seen one on a job site yet

Hell my all his life a finiky carpenter and boat builder grandad didnt even use one on his self build

Not saying its not propper but need to mind its a house not the chipendales latest cabinet!

If you cant make a smooth mitre with a chop saw you should put it down and call in the pros !

…decking, skirtings, architraves and general DIY jobs are looming…

And someone recommends a shooting board. 😆

At least no one has recommended a Kapex yet. 😉

And someone recommends a shooting board.

If you want a mitre to be accurate, say for a picture frame etc, then a shooting board is a very handy piee of kit. Your job probably doesn’t require that degree of accuracy, however, and most household ‘carpentry’ doesn’t. I don’t know what the op means by ‘general diy’ though; they may well want to do framing and stuff that requires greater accuracy than an electric chop saw can give. Power tools are for speed and efficiency, over accuracy. But then, you think a pocket screw jig is a good tool for joining 12mm ply at right angles. 🙄 😆

Not saying its not propper but need to mind its a house not the chipendales latest cabinet!

True, but if the op did decide they wantted to get into tackiling a few more challenging projects, then it would be good to look at alternatives to power tools.

That shooting board doesn’t look like it’s ever been used – has it ?

And are you Fred Gross btw ’cause he’s got an identical one :

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?56976-Shop-scrap-shooting-board&s=21bb0bbcde0c736d21d9a4a391015ee5&p=576443#post576443

If you want the perfect mitre, nothing, IME, beats a heavy duty guillotine mitre trimmer.

Yeah a guillotine trimmer is a very good tool. A different method of acieving the same thing.

That shooting board doesn’t look like it’s ever been used – has it ?

And are you Fred Gross btw ’cause he’s got an identical one :

It’s not mine, just a picture of one from google.

Thanks folks- I’m after speed and efficiency here to be honest. I have been using a very similar set up to the one pictured by wwaswas for some years now and have done out two houses with it but figured I’d treat myself now I’m having to do a lot of sawing. Call me lazy.

I don’t know what the op means by ‘general diy’ though

Here you go:

Thanks folks- I’m after speed and efficiency here to be honest.

I realise it was all just guessing though.

OP, someone linked to a Makita up there, which at £250 would give you reproducible cuts and accurate angles (well for decking, skirting, etc…maybe not a picture frame). You’d be taking a few steps up from the Rage saws (which, if they are your max budget, will do you fine…I’ve never used one personally) with that one I reckon. If that’s a stretch, there are plenty of this model on eBay second hand, but you takes your chances etc.

Have a look on the Axminster Tools website. They do a range. And I find the Makita laser invisible, except in a darkened room. It’s probably my eyesight.

For skirting and fine stuff use the manual one pictured above, takes a while but gives good cuts. You do need to look after the guide rails though.

For speed the rage mitre saw is very impressive, mine is deadly accurate and has made building a massive playhouse thing fun instead of a grind.

At least no one has recommended a Kapex yet.

I thought the Bosch one was expensive, but the Kapex is something else price wise! Mind you, plenty of people seem to buy them….

I built the whole of my shed with this:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-rage3-s-210mm-sliding-compound-mitre-saw-240v/60839

Fabulous piece of kit really. If I didn’t know there were more expensive ones around, I would think this was unbeatable.

It’s fully adjustable so I got a square on it before I started and it’s perfectly accurate.

Sliding, so it copes with pretty large pieces of wood. I used tanalised 2x4s and Larch cladding. I also used it to cut the aluminium profiles for the roof.

Blades are fairly expensive, but my local tool sharpener had no problem sharpening this one for £8.

Edit: Need to get a more recent shot showing the floor and better bike storage.

Grass needs trimming inside your shed….

You should see it outside the shed!

Interesting this guys. Im in the process of building my first ever project (a shed) so im looking at getting something like one of the above instead of a normal wood saw.

Whats the advantage of it being sliding as opposed to just one of the drop type?

Anything to look out for? and why not just buy the cheapest?

Whats the advantage of it being sliding as opposed to just one of the drop type?

You can cut much larger bits of wood.

Whats the advantage of it being sliding as opposed to just one of the drop type?

Width of wood it can chop (particularly useful at angles). If you know that a non-sliding saw can cope with your timber spec, then you don’t need it. But the sliders are really good on the Rage, so for £30 I thought it was a no-brainer. As it happens, I’ve used the extra capacity loads of times and will probably continue to do so.

Whats the advantage of it being sliding as opposed to just one of the drop type?

Well, as others have pointed out, you can cut wider pieces of timber. It also allows you to pull the saw out and start the cut at the corner nearest to you. If you’re cutting, say, an inch off the end of a piece of timber, it means you can check your cut on the RHS of your pencil mark (and you don’t have to draw a line across the whole of the workpiece with a square).

It also allows you to do “rough” trench cuts (some sliding mitre saws have a depth stop to help with this), but you should remember to use a sacrificial piece of timber (straight and square) to effectively bring the fence out towards you, as the curvature of the blade means that the trench won’t be the same depth to the existing fence. (Or simply flip the workpiece round, though this can mean using the saw with your “bad” hand, which some people aren’t keen on.)

Just a general tip rather than saw.

Typically a joiner (yes I know you’re a DIY’er but) worth his salt will scribe internal corners to skirtings rather mitre.

This helps to avoid inevitable odd junctions if walls aren’t properly square.

Can usually spot DIY’er joinery by the internal corners.

Caveat: I’m not a joiner. And I don’t think anyone mentioned this above…..apologies if they have.

cheers guys.

i think i had better start a help an idiot build a shed thread 🙂

Chop saw is just the start, then you can move on to a table saw. Don’t really use the chop saw since buying this:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/o8YcZS]DeWalt Table Saw (DW745)[/url] by brf, on Flickr

A Dewalt hooked up to a Fessie??!!!! 😮 😉

Agree footflap . I got an elu post dewalt take over saw and like you say it does so much you dont need the chop saw out nearly as often.

As for scribing internal corners being the non diy way…. Why does almost every new build ive been in have mitred ?

(Ok mostly stewart milne homes but thats by the by )

A Dewalt hooked up to a Fessie??!!!!

I know, but the Festool table saw is about 4x the cost! I do need to sort out a Y splitter and another hose for the DeWalt though, right now the vacuum only gets about 70% of the dust….

As for scribing internal corners being the non diy way…. Why does almost every new build ive been in have mitred ?

Just for the record, my workshop has scribed 6″ Ogee skirting….

Stewart ‘you are not allowed anymore than 10 people in your kitchen’ Milne. I would use his houses as a baseline of exactly how not to build. I kid you not read up about Stewart Milne kitchen floor collapse…