Cutting 45 angles on skirting board

What’s the best cheap tool for doing this? Is there a little jig of sorts I can buy, or do I “need” to go buy a power tool?

It’s a small job, just one part of a utility room, so not looking for a professional setup, happy to get the job done slowly

There’s a technique to doing it that doesn’t need a mitre saw/box that I found on a YouTube video. Was a while ago so I can’t remember the details but sure you can find it.

Table saw 😁

Or simply a jigsaw?  Hand saw with a mitre box?

Edit: Also, it depends on your attitude to shiny new tools. Mitre box is fine, alternatively this situation can easily be twisted into needing to buy a power tool 😉

You can get a cheap mitre box for less than a tenner (Amazon or Toolstation etc)

I have a mitre box – the yellow Stanley one – but it’s no tall enough vertically for skirting, or wide enough to do it lying flat (which seems a bit of a faff)

So thinking of something similar nut skirting specific

@ossify – That’d exactly the kind of daft excess I’m prone to and trying to avoid here. I think I need to make 5 cuts at the most.

Go on – you know you want to!…

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb794msw-210mm-electric-single-bevel-sliding-mitre-saw-240v/881kp

…and I bet they’re not 45  degrees so buy a tube of caulk while you’re there to fill in the gaps! 🙂

Is there a little jig of sorts I can buy

Depends, if it is bullnose skirting then a mitre box will do, if its ogee skirting or similar then it can be a bit trickier as a mitre on such will look gash.

There’s a technique to doing it that doesn’t need a mitre saw/box that I found on a YouTube video. Was a while ago so I can’t remember the details but sure you can find it.

+1

Your walls are neither vertical nor perpendicular, cutting skirting/coving at 45deg always looks rubbish.

You still need a mitre box to do it though, it’s just only used for one side, the other side is done with a hacksaw and coping saw.

{edit, beaten to it}

As above the proper way to do it is to scribe. Which is fine for internal joints e.g. the corner of walls. But if you have any external joints, such as a fireplace, then I’ve always used the compound sliding mitre saw to mitre them at 45°.

This was in an old Victorian house and yes although the walls aren’t always perpendicular etc, wood is bendy so it’s not an issue. Plus a bit of filler and sanding and they’re good. That’s assuming you’re painting them. Or get an angle finder to work out what angle you really need to mitre them at.

If it’s high skirting like ogee a mitre box won’t be high enough.

I use a belt sander, ideal for fine tuning the angles to wonky houses. Really slow though

Scribe internal and mitre external, I bend the saw in the block or stick a spacer in to angle the skirting when the corner is not exactly 90º gives me a very close join and looks like it’s done properly. (i.e. not gobs of caulk/filler or overlaps)

As a non- expert I was taught External = Mitre / Internal = Scribe

But the starting point for a scribe is a mitre, then back cut. That video shows it well and it’s more straight forward than other ways I’ve seen it explained or other methods for doing it.

Any joints in long runs should also be mitred.

You can do it ok with just pencil markings top, front & back. The better your sawing technique, the better the fit! This also makes it easier to accommodate non-45 degree angles.

Classic Nobex style manual mitre saws are  nice to use and don’t make a tiring racket , anything you use will need a spece setup so you can set the boards on the saw without stress – dab of filler will sort out joint lines .

Whereabouts are you, if near i can loan you either a mitre box or electric mitre saw.

Now are you sure its 45 degrees ? I’ve yet to find anything skirting board related to be the correct angle.

Get yourself one of these. Nowhere near as dangerous as the powered version, and probably more accurate.

Making straight 90d cuts on a cheapo mitre saw from screwfix is easy, but once you get into the realm of mitres or compound mitres then you need to be aware of what you are doing, and it isnt always possible to safely clamp the part to the saw, which is where the experience of that comes in. You really are putting yourself at risk and that can be avoided with the simplest of mitre saws that the trade joiner was using for decades

Such as.

Compound mitre saw, filler, and caulk is the way to go.

Any joints in long runs should also be mitred.

this👆 I’ve noticed so many straight cut joins in skirting recently 🫤

If internal corners you don’t need a mitre saw of any kind.

Basically what them up there says.