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3 Different Types Of Miter Saws: Expertly Explained (2021)

February 4, 2021 by Braden Smith

Miter saws are one of the most common tools nowadays in the woodworker’s arsenal. Not only are there different types of miter saws, but their versatility allows the user to take care of multiple types of jobs, and this makes them one of the most desirable power tools out there. We’re here to help you look through these different types and make sure you know all there is to miter saws, before you make your ultimate choice. So, let’s get into it!

Types of Miter Saws

When it comes to miter saws, it’s not very hard to get up to date on everything about them. First, let’s take a look at the types of miter saws you can find.

Standard Miter Saw

A standard miter saw is one that takes care of the most obvious type of cut possible with a miter saw; the miter cut. These types of miter saws come with a miter gauge, and this allows for you to set up specific miter angles for your blade, making sure you can get the perfect cut possible.

While the standard miter saw is a great tool, you’ll find that they are very limiting when it comes to the grand scheme of miter saws. Apart from the miter cut, you’ll be able to make the basic rip cut and cross cut with the help of the saw and blade. The standard miter saw does however come with all the perks that would be available in other miter saws as well. You won’t lose out on any of the accuracy and precision when it comes to cuts, when compared to other types of miter saws.

Compound Miter Saw

A compound miter saw is far more versatile if compared to a standard miter saw. These compound miter saws come with the miter gauge as usual, but also include the bevel gauge. The bevel gauge allows for the inclusion of the bevel cut, and this involves tilting the blade of the miter saw, in order to get the desired cut with your saw.

The compound saw with the help of the bevel gauge also allows you to make compound cuts. The compound cuts are a mix of both the miter cuts and bevel cuts together. You use the miter gauge to angle the saw itself, and the bevel gauge tilts the blade to your desired angle. This allows for a very useful angled cut that comes in handy in various types of woodworking. One very common application for compound miter saws are in crown molding. Crown molding is a very intricate form of work that can be achieved with a compound miter saw, and you’d do well for yourself by learning how to cut crown molding.

Compound miter saws don’t end there however. They can be broken down into two further sub-categories, based on how versatile the user wants their machine to be. The two are:

Single Bevel Compound Miter saw:

A single bevel compound miter saw includes one bevel gauge on the saw. What this does is, it allows for your miter saw’s blade to be tilted to one side (either right or left). The other side however, will have a very limited angled cut potential. While it may seem like that’s a big problem, it really is not. At most, for certain cuts, you’ll just have to flip the piece of wood you’re working on, on to its other side, to make sure you get it done right.
Dual Bevel/Double Bevel Compound Miter Saw:

The dual bevel compound miter saw, as you’ll have probably guessed, has two different bevel gauges on the saw itself. This allows for the blade of these miter saws to be tilted to either side. This not only makes your work more comfortable, but it also allows for you to highly optimize your work, when compared to the single bevel compound miter saw. It can save you a lot of time, not having to flip your piece around constantly.

Sliding Compound Miter Saw

The last type of miter saw is the sliding compound miter saw, and this type of miter saw is both more versatile and less versatile than the compound miter saw, all at the same time. How so?

Well, the sliding aspect of this miter saw allows for it to have a much deeper cut length and also a much longer cut length. This is extremely helpful for people who work with longer pieces on a regular basis. It is basically a compound miter saw with all the perks and features, but with the added rails in order to help it make cuts on larger pieces, with ease.

The sliding compound miter saw lacks behind the regular compound miter saw in terms of its cuts. Whether you’re talking about miter cuts, bevel cuts or compound cuts, the sliding miter saw lacks the accuracy and precision that both the standard miter saw and compound miter saw have. This is because of the addition of the extra rails on these miter saws. While they help the blade slide on the saw itself to make longer cuts, it limits the saw’s ability to make larger angles when cutting. This makes woodworkers compromise whether or not they want to have a sliding compound miter saw or just a compound miter saw. This mainly depends on whether they prioritize accuracy and precision over the length and depth of cuts.

Types of Cuts

Even though we have mentioned the types of cuts that a miter saw can deliver, we’ll leave a small diagram below to help keep a reference point of all these cuts. Even though it’s only four cuts, their combinations can help woodworkers accomplish numerous woodworking tasks!

What Is The Best Choice?

There really isn’t a best choice of miter saw between these three types. When it comes to choosing the right saw, you’ll need to consider what you think is the best for you. Maybe your job requires cutting large pieces of wood, and a sliding miter is the best option for you. If you’re required to do very intricate work, then the compound miter saw (single or dual) might be the most handy one. If you’re very new to woodworking and want to get a very basic idea of using these saws, then the standard miter saw might be the right choice. However, it mainly depends on how you will be using the tool!

Factors, Perks and Features to Keep in Mind

These saws can be found in abundance in the current market, but that only means you need more knowledge of the right perks and features for yourself, to help you know the best choice out there. What are these?

The size of the saw you want is very important. Miter saws are very common in 10 and 12 inches. These will help you take care of most jobs that are required of professionals or DIYers. However, if you require something larger, then you can always opt for a sliding compound version as well.
The type of blade you use for your saw can also determine how efficient your work is. Just because you have the best sliding compound saw, doesn’t mean your work will be top notch if the blade isn’t up to the mark as well. Thus, it’s always good to make sure you have the right accessories to go with the tool as well.
Speaking of accessories, these saws often come with a few different tools in order to help you get your work done faster. It’s always good to make sure you’re buying a product that includes everything you’ll need or won’t (doesn’t hurt to have them).
The availability of ergonomic features in any woodworking tool is a key factor. These small additions on a tool can make them much more efficient and also comfortable to work with. So, it’s good to keep an eye out on them.
Safety features are also a very big factor when it comes to choosing your perfect tool. They not only keep you safe, but also ensure that your tool doesn’t come to any harm, both in and out of use.
Even though you got a sliding miter or compound version of the saw, you’ll want to make sure that the saw is optimized. Keep an eye out for how many positive stops the saw has. These are basically designed into the tool, to help the gauges stop at the most popular angles used by woodworkers. Not only will they help you save time when working, but they’ll also increase your accuracy in measurements as well.
Laser guides are also a very nifty feature to have on your saw. These guides help you in placing your blade perfectly on the mark you need when you’re making your cuts. Thus, they can increase your efficiency and accuracy with ease.
If you’re someone who works in different areas or needs to move around quite a bit, you can always opt for cordless miters as well. They run on battery power, and are easily portable. However, in general they have less power than the traditional saws, so if you need the power, it’s best to stick to the traditional ones.

These are some pointers to help you out in picking the best miter saw out there for yourself. And if you’re someone who is new to using them, it’s always best to learn how to use a miter saw.

The Takeaway

Hopefully you’ve learned fully about all the different types of miter saws out there, and we hope you’ll be able to make the perfect decision for yourself now! They’ve become such a regular tool nowadays, that you have to think of them as an investment, and make sure you choose a saw that fits your needs the best. And it’s always good to keep in mind that buying from a reputed brand will allow you to almost always come away with a very high quality product.

Braden Smith

Hey there, my name’s Braden Smith and all my lifeI’ve been passionate about woodworking. As such, I spent more time learning about and experimenting with power tools. Over time, I learned to help spread my knowledge by articulating my words thanks to my academic knowledge in the English Language as well.

sawseekers.com

6 Different Types of Chainsaws: A Complete Buyers Guide (2021)

January 29, 2021 by Braden Smith

Trying to find the best chainsaw for yourself can be quite a task in the current market. There are tons of choices out there now, and if you’re not sure about the specifics of chainsaws, you might have an even harder task at hand! With this article, we’re going to be delving into all the different types of chainsaws, and helping you make the best choice possible to ensure you get your work done with ease.

6 Different Types of Chainsaws

There are mainly 6 different types of chainsaws, and each of them have their own perks for being used for specific tasks. Some are more beneficial for people taking on large tasks, while others are better at being maneuvered for smaller tasks. Find out which is perfect for you!

Pneumatic Chainsaw

For the first choice, we’ve chosen the most powerful type of chainsaw out there. Pneumatic chainsaws are the best chainsaws for large industrial jobs. However, they are quite rare and you’ll most likely need to speak directly to the manufacturer in order to acquire one of these. What separates these even more from gas powered chainsaws, is the fact that they don’t release any fumes when being used. They often come with their coolant system within the mechanism, making them very easy to work with. They use air pockets which are very highly pressurized and this allows them to cut through concrete and even metal, with ease. While they are the most powerful type of chainsaws out there, they are mostly used for industrial purposes.

Gas Chainsaw

Gas chainsaws are the most powerful chainsaws out there that can be used for landscaping, and this makes them very popular among both professionals and occasional users. They can be found in various sizes which makes them quite versatile for people who want to take on various types of work. What’s great about gas powered chainsaws is that they often have the capability of having their guide bar to be changed. This allows for one person to use the same gas powered chainsaw for different types of work, without having to change the whole system.

Gas powered chainsaws use a gas mixture that acts as fuel to help power the machine. While they may triumph over other chainsaws in terms of power, gas powered chainsaws release a lot of fumes when in use, because of this fuel system. A gas chainsaw also brings about the issue of having to lug around the fuel at all times when you’re working, because you’ll have to ensure your chainsaw doesn’t run out of its fuel, otherwise it’ll power down.

Gas powered chainsaws have a simple process of being powered on, but it can be quite taxing after a while. You’ll need to pull on the starting cord after priming the machine first. Maintenance used to be a long process for gas powered chainsaws, but with new features, you can usually find chainsaws with great perks nowadays to help with these. Overall, if you have large tasks at hand, a gas chainsaw is pretty much the best choice for yourself, whether you’re a professional or a DIYer.

Corded Electric Chainsaw

Corded electric chainsaws are the most powerful type of electric chainsaw, and they have quite a few benefits when compared to gas chainsaws. A gas powered chainsaw runs on the fuel you provide it, but a corded electric chainsaw will have no issue with power, since you’ll plug it into a power outlet. Unfortunately, you will be restricted to receiving power for the chainsaw, depending on how far the cord allows you to go. You can definitely increase your radius for work with the help of an extension cord.

While corded electric chainsaws are great in terms of power, they are usually best for medium sized tasks, as they aren’t as heavy duty as gas powered chainsaws. However, electric chainsaws in general have the ability of being fitted with multiple features that not only make them more optimized, but they’ll also help you feel less fatigued when working for prolonged periods of time. As long as you can work within your work space, a corded chainsaw will always seem like an easy choice for you, and if you have an extension cord, there’s definitely no problem!

Cordless Electric Chainsaw

Cordless electric chainsaws are the more portable version when it comes to electric chainsaws. From the name, they differ from corded electric chainsaws in the sense of not needing any cords to help power them. They rely on batteries to help power them instead. Thus, they can also be known as battery powered chainsaws.

When it comes to small or medium tasks, battery powered chainsaws are the most feasible options for people. If you need to cut wood or trim some branches at home, a cordless electric chainsaw is very easy to maneuver. They usually come in small sizes as well, mainly because of their capabilities in terms of the work they are meant for.

Pole Chainsaw

While technically not a chainsaw, pole saws are basically chainsaws stuck to a stick. Why though? They basically allow people to maneuver their chainsaws better and make cuts on wood that would be harder to reach otherwise. What’s great is that they can use all types of chainsaws, and power them properly.

Pole saws usually tend to be shorter in general. This is to ensure the stick itself doesn’t break when being used. While they may seem to be a weird method for a chainsaw, pole saws tend to be a great way to ensure people can take care of their intricate tasks with ease. They also have much less power than any other type of chainsaw, which means you can’t really use them for any work other than small tasks.

Manual or Pocket Chainsaw

If you thought pole saws were unorthodox, an even more unique chainsaw is the manual or pocket chainsaw. These types of chainsaws aren’t really the normal chainsaw, rather they are just a chainsaw chain, with two holding points on either side. You can carry them around in your pocket as they are very small. They aren’t really good for cutting much other than for making small campfires.

Choosing Your Chainsaw

You may have found out about new chainsaw types, but it is also very important to know all the factors that should come into your mind, when you’re making your choice on the final one. Let’s find out what they are!

Chainsaw Size

Choosing the right chainsaw size is key when it comes to making sure you can work in peace, and that your work is optimized. The chainsaw size refers to the size of the guide bar of the chainsaw, on which the chain rests. How do you know which size is the correct one for you?

Well, chainsaw size really depends on the size of wood pieces that you’re usually cutting. If you’re regularly making cuts on a 12 inch piece of wood, you’ll need to ensure you have a chainsaw which is 12 or 14 inches in length. It is always a good idea to make sure you have a chainsaw which is 2 inches longer than the pieces you’re cutting.

Even if your chainsaw isn’t longer than the width of the piece you’re cutting, it won’t be much of a problem for you. The one thing you have to look out for, is that you’ll need to be careful, otherwise you can suffer from kickback which is really dangerous.

Sharpening Your Chainsaw

Making sure your chainsaw chain is sharp, is a very important thing when it comes to working. If your chainsaw chain isn’t in good condition, you’ll find that the cut isn’t as clean as it should be. You can tell a chain needs to be sharpened by seeing the by-product of your cuts. Usually, a chainsaw will spew out sawdust once a cut has been made, but if the chain isn’t sharp, you will see wood chips forming instead. Thus, it’s best to know how to sharpen a chainsaw chain, as you’ll keep your work quality at a top notch level.

Ergonomic Features

With the modernizing of these power tools, you’ll find that chainsaws nowadays have various features which make them much easier to work with. Not to mention, you’ll find yourself producing better quality work with their help. Good types of chainsaws made by reputed brands will include various types of perks. Some have an automated oiling system, which makes sure the chain is always lubricated when you are working. This will not only ensure your work is optimized, but also increases the lifespan of your chainsaw due to proper usage. More ergonomic features can also include cushioning one or two parts of the chainsaw, and this will help you not become fatigued during long periods of work. Thus, it is always best to make sure you pick one with the best or most ergonomic features, when looking through chainsaws.

Safety Features

Chainsaws are quite loud and can be a very dangerous power tool when not used properly. However, despite that, they even come with safety features in order to help you make sure you don’t get harmed while working. They mostly deal with mechanisms that are set in place on the chainsaw, in order to help prevent kickback. Kickback occurs when the tip of your chainsaw comes into contact with anything, as this forces your chainsaw back, and can cause a bad situation. However, with this being a common problem for this power tool, you should make sure the chainsaws you are looking at, come with the ability of preventing these situations. For every type of problem, there is a simple solution.

The Takeaway

We hope you were able to learn and understand about the different types of chainsaws out there on the market. While each type has different features and benefits, you’ll need to find out the perfect type for the work you will engage in. Just because a gas chainsaw type is the most powerful for regular use, doesn’t mean it’s the one you need. If you’re in need of taking care of small tasks, pole saws or electrical saws might be the type of chainsaw for you. Thus, make sure you do proper research on everything about chainsaws, before you make your final decision for this power tool!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Different Types Of Table Saws: Expert Reviews (2021)

January 24, 2021 by Braden Smith

With the huge variety of woodworking tools at your disposal, it may become hard to find the perfect one for yourself. However, if you’re on the prowl for a table saw that fits your needs, you’ll first want to learn about the different types of table saws out there on the market nowadays! We’ll go through a list of these different types, as each of them come with their own perks and can benefit you in different ways.

8 Different Types of Table Saws

Table saws can perform many different types of cuts on different types of materials, thus, you need to find the best one for you depending on the type of work you do. This will also factor in issues such as portability and weight of the tool as well. Let’s look into each and every one.

Benchtop Table Saw

A benchtop table saw is one of the cheaper and portable machines out on the market. This machine can easily be carried by the user to different job sites, and can be placed on both a table or the ground for easy and fast work. It comes with a motor below the table surface, and the blade comes through the center of the surface. This table saw can easily cut through softwood (such as a particle board) and even take care of harder wood as well. Definitely a great power tool to possess for the woodworkers who move around doing small tasks.

Jobsite Table Saw

Jobsite table saws differ from the benchtop table saw in size as they are a bit larger and come with a stand. However, these are much more accepted nowadays by woodworkers as they allow you to take care of your tasks with a lot more ease. Not to mention, these are still quite portable and carried to and from different work sites. What’s also great is that the stand allows for you to always have the table saw at the perfect height to work on. High quality and heavy duty jobsite table saws come with the capability of having their height be adjustable. This makes it easy for every woodworker to optimize their work at all times.

Contractor Table Saw

The contractor table saw is a heavy duty table saw that does very well in making quick work of most tasks. It is a much heavier and larger table saw than the ones we have already mentioned. It comes with a cast iron base, making it a lot better suited for larger tasks. Not to mention, contractor saws are also very accurate machines which allows them to easily take care of various types of cuts with ease. With great surface area, you’ll be able to cut larger pieces and of different materials as well. Contractor saws also come with great safety features, and also a very efficient air circulation system. This allows for you to ensure your table saw will have a much longer life span with the help of the machine clearing out sawdust with ease.

You’ll also find that despite being very large power tools, contractor saws are quite easy to move around your work site, with the help of the wheels on the bottom of the stands they come with. While they aren’t the most portable when it comes to table saws, a power tool with such a heavy base being moved so easily is definitely a great perk.

Cabinet Table Saw

Cabinet table saws are the next type of table saw we’ll be looking at. Cabinet table saws are also very large in size, and come with a heavy cast iron base and a steel table surface. From the name, you can assume that cabinet saws are often used for building a cabinet. With the intricate detailing required when it comes to making a cabinet, it is impressive that a power tool of this size can easily handle such fine cutting needs. While cabinet saws are very useful to have, you’ll want to ensure you have some sort of experience with table saws before you acquire one. However, they can ensure a lot of power whenever you work, so most cabinet saws will allow you to cut through both softwood and any hard type of wood as well.

Hybrid Table Saw

Now that you’re familiar with the contractor table saw and cabinet table saw, you’ll find the perfect combination of both the contractor and cabinet saws, with the introduction of the hybrid table saw. These are a very popular tool on the market, as they function great as a table saw, by providing you with clean and precise cuts, but they also have the benefit of utilizing the perks of both a cabinet and contractor table saw.

What’s even better with hybrid table saws is the availability of an even more refined dust collection system which allows for the device itself to have a larger life span, with a cleaner working environment. You’ll also enjoy its ability to be very sturdy due to its heavy duty build. However, it won’t be the best when compared to other portable saws, as they are more to be placed on work sites. Looking for the best hybrid table saw can be a tough job, but there are tons on the market, and with proper research you can find the perfect one for yourself!

Compact Table Saw

Moving on from large table saws like cabinet saws and hybrid table saws, we now have a portable table saw, which is the compact saw. These compact table saws are great for small tasks and large tasks. What’s great is, you can carry them around easily and make sure you can do your tasks swiftly and with ease. Despite being known as portable saws, they are bigger than any other portable table saw on the market. They are very handy for both DIYers and professional carpenters for various types of work. They come with a very sleek design, which allows for them to be used with efficiency, and you’ll also be able to make accurate cuts without any problems.

Sliding Table Saw

One of the largest types of table saws out there on the market is the sliding table saw. These table saws are designed to take care of large scale jobs that are too large for your cabinet saws or hybrid table saws. With the sliding mechanism, you can ensure that even if your pieces of wood are very large, you can maneuver the mechanism to ensure your table saw remains can make the cut in one go. To help the machine achieve this level of cut with precision, you’ll find that the motor includes multiple layers of induction. While these are great power tools for any woodworker to have, it is mostly necessary for people who take on extremely large tasks, and is not something a DIYer or an occasional user should have.

Mini Table Saw

Have you ever wondered how people make very small replicas of large buildings or animals? Well, you can’t use large machines for that, rather that’s where the mini table saw comes in. Mini table saws are much smaller than any other saws out there, and can be used easily to help guide and maneuver through small pieces of wood. Definitely a very neat contraption for model makers to utilize in creating beautiful pieces.

Important Table Saw Factors

Choosing a table saw isn’t a very easy task without the proper information. Do you need a heavy duty saw? Or do you need a very specific table saw for a very specific task, like a cabinet saw? Let’s look into some of the important factors that come into play when you’re deciding the type of table saws you need.

Table Saw Power

When it comes to the table saw’s power, you’ll need to make sure that it is good enough for whatever work you’re going to delve into. Are you an occasional user or a DIYer who takes on small tasks around the house? Well, in that case portable table saws should be good enough for you. Not only are they easy to use, they can swiftly take care of small cutting tasks around the house. If you’re more of a serious woodworker or looking to move into professional work, then cabinet saws, contractor saws or hybrid saws should be the way to go for you! They can easily take care of an array of tasks with ease, and allow you to learn the full potential of table saws.

Table Saw Weight and Portability

Whether or not you’re someone who needs to move about frequently when working becomes a very big factor when it comes to doing woodwork. Portable saws are essential for workers who need to move around different places in order to get their tasks done. However, if you have relatively large tasks and expect to be grounded to one spot, table saws such as cabinet or contractor saws are the way to go for you.

Table Saw Ergonomic Facilities

While many people don’t look too deep into the ergonomic perks and facilities provided by a woodworking tool, they are very important. The smallest addition of something that provides you comfort and ease when working can go a long way when it comes to the quality of your work. Not to mention, it will also reduce the chances of the user experiencing any fatigue when working. Even the smallest change such as the power button placement for the table saw can allow a lot of comfort to the user.

Table Saw Safety Features

Safety is of paramount importance when it comes to table saws or any woodworking tool. Portable table saws need to be made so that you can carry them around without having to worry about cutting yourself while you do so. Large tools such as cabinet or jobsite table saws need to ensure they come with a smooth mechanism so that you can efficiently raise and drop the blade depending on how your work is going. These can range from a variety of different aspects of the table saw, thus it is important to make sure you have a good quality table saw to begin with.

The Takeaway

We hope you have managed to come away with a good idea on all the different types of table saws, and how they can be used to provide you the best experience when woodworking. Whether you’re looking to acquire a portable one or maybe a cabinet or jobsite table saw, you’ll need to make sure that all the facilities they provide are up to the standard you need them to be. Also, it is best to make sure to spend a little extra to buy products from reputed brands, since they have the best experience in delivering the best products to consumers.

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Miter Saw Uses: What Are They Good For? (2021)

January 20, 2021 by Braden Smith

A miter saw is one of the most versatile tools anyone can have in their woodworking arsenal. You’re already interested in them if you’ve found this article, so we’re going to write about all the miter saw uses you could probably need and fulfil using a miter saw. We’re also going to look through the different types of miter saws on the market that you can select from. There’s a few different factors that come into play when making your choice, so choose carefully!

Different Uses For Miter Saw

When it comes to a miter saw there a few types of cuts you can make. Each of these have their own functions, and can be very useful for making various detailed woodworking sessions.

Crosscut

A crosscut is made against the grain of a wood piece you have, and it can be accomplished with various other tools (such as chop saws, circular saws, table saws). This provides a clean and smooth cut on the wood piece.

What’s great about using a miter saw for these cuts, is the fact that they are generally quite powerful machines. You can set one down for your work, and make sure it is stable enough for you to constantly cut through various pieces with its blade.

You’ll also notice that with a circular saw, you’re most likely going to have to hold it all together in place for you to get the smooth cut. However, with many miter saws, you’ll find that they have a laser guide, and this comes in very handy when you’re trying to make the perfect cut. You can easily place the blade on your wood piece, and get to work without worry.

With sliding compound miter saws, you’ll also get the ability to make longer and deeper cuts as well. Miter saws are already available in various sizes (10 and 12 inch being the most common), but with the addition of the sliding miter, you get the ability to increase the depth and length of your cuts.

Miter Cut, Bevel Cut And Compound Cut

Miter Cut

Of course a miter saw is the best when it comes to providing you with a miter cut. These cuts are made by the use of a miter gauge that can be used to find the desired angle for your blade when working.

Bevel Cut

A bevel cut is made similarly to a miter cut, but in this instance you use a bevel gauge to tilt your blade to a certain angle, and ensure you get the desired cut. The inclusion of a bevel gauge on a miter saw, makes it a compound miter saw, and the compound cut will help with that reason.

Compound Cut

A compound cut is made with the usage of both miter and bevel gauges at the same time. They allow you to make intricate cuts on any wood piece you may have. These angled cuts become especially helpful when you’re trying to work on crown molding or any other complex work. Crown molding can be a very tough level of work to break into, but once you learn how to cut crown molding and get the hang of it, you’ll feel very satisfied with yourself!

Angled Cuts

Both miter cuts and bevel cuts are a staple when it comes to using a miter saw, and you’ll want to ensure that your miter saw can deliver when it comes to this. This is even more important for people who want to engage in higher level woodworking, as those jobs depend heavily on compound cuts. From trim work to taking on large projects, a miter saw can become a key part of your work, and learning the basics will only help you get better at woodworking and produce better finished products!

Different Miter Saw Types

We’ve already discussed the perks of attaining a miter saw; you will get clean and accurate cuts, along with the fact that you’ll be able to use this versatile equipment for multiple projects. However, you’ll also need to be familiar with the different types of miter saws that are at your disposal on the market.

Standard Miter Saw

A standard miter saw only comes with the ability to allow you to make miter cuts. While this is a great tool, you’ll often find yourself limited to the number of tasks you are able to achieve with this device. However, if you’re someone who does not need the full fledged woodworking tool, this is a great buy for you, especially because these are much cheaper than the advanced versions.

A standard miter saw however, does not come with less functionality. If you get a high quality miter saw, you’ll be treated to the same perks as any other; laser guide, ergonomic facilities, safety features and clean cuts.

Compound Miter Saw

A compound miter saw comes with the both a miter gauge and a bevel gauge. This allows you to make bevel cuts in addition to miter ones. However, this allows the compound saw to have one up on the standard version, as you can heavily increase the versatility in your work. They are also very easily available on the market in various sizes and with tons of features and perks added to them.

A compound saw with added features for improved optimization will not only give you great results, but will also allow you to save a lot of time. They also come in two other subcategories, which include a single bevel saw or a dual bevel saw. This can further increase the optimization in your work, as the dual bevel saw allows you to tilt the blade at an angle on both sides of the saw. Whereas, a single bevel saw will only allow you to tilt the blade at various angles on only one side.

Sliding Compound Miter Saw

A sliding compound saw is basically the same as a compound saw, but it allows you to move the blade further and gives you extra depth and length in every cut you make. You can use a miter saw to make numerous cuts, and this allows you to save even more time by adding that extra feature.

While you get extra length when you use a miter saw that slides, you will end up losing some of the accuracy in every cut you make. With the addition of the rails to allow your blade to move along further on your work piece, it limits how far you can move your saw, and it can cost you some accuracy in very intricate work.

Perks for A Miter Saw

A miter saw can become extremely useful if you’ve optimized it correctly, and making sure you do so may require a few perks on the miter saw itself, or the environment you work in. Compared to other tools (circular saw, table saw, chop saw, etc) in your work site, when you use a miter saw, you can easily increase the quality of your work and reduce the time taken with some help.

A blade can easily determine the quality of your work, as you can find different types for different cuts. For example, a crosscut blade for crosscuts, rip cut blade for rip cuts, and so on.
A laser guide can make your work much easier by making it take less time and effort to place your blade on your work piece. It’ll also help you gain a lot more accuracy in your work.
Miter saws come with various positive stops on them. The better your miter saw, the more you’ll get. They allow for you to stop on a popular angle that is used by most users, and will allow you to make sure you always get the correct angle.
Safety features are not to be taken lightly when conducting any form of woodworking. Even the smallest feature, such as the placement of the power button on your saw can save you from an accident. Thus, it is important to pay attention to how adequate the safety features on your saw are.
Ergonomic features are also very important as woodworking can often take a long time. From the inclusion of an integrated workbench, to the addition of cushions on certain parts of your saw, the smallest change can help you avoid fatigue and work for a long period of time without any strain.
Additional accessories are a common thing when you’re purchasing a miter saw. Always make sure your chosen saw comes with these attachments (such as a push stick), to help your work be of a better quality.

There is always more to find out about heavy duty woodworking tools, but these are some of the most basic things to know when you use a miter saw. They will not only help you in your work, but keep you safe from danger as well. Get your desired product, and always make the cut you want!

The Takeaway

We hope this article helped you in learning about a miter saw and also gave you some pointers on how to use a miter saw. They are very versatile tools and are a staple when it comes to anyone’s arsenal, whether they’re a DIYer or a professional. From trim work to any large scale task, use a miter saw and you’ll be sure to get a great result. Also, always make sure you know the intensity of your work before getting a miter saw, as the one you get needs to factor in the blade you’ll use, the angle you’ll be needing the most and whether or not you need to make long cuts with a sliding miter!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Table Saw Uses & How To Use A Table Saw (2021)

January 12, 2021 by Braden Smith

The table saw is one of the most versatile tools you can have in your woodworking arsenal, and that’s because of the many table saw uses that are found to be extremely useful. You can find specialized saws out there to help you take care of various types of work, but with the table saw, you can ensure that you get many types of cuts done, all the while maintaining precision and accuracy in your work. Today in this article, we’re going to be delving into the many uses of a table saw, and we’ll also help out anybody that needs to learn on how to get the most out of their table saw!

Different Types of Uses for A Table Saw

With there being a few different ways to utilize your table saw, its best to find out what they are. This will help you use the table saw in an optimal fashion, and get great results while you’re at it. So, let’s find out what they are!

Cross Cutting

One of the most common uses of a table saw is to ensure you get the best crosscuts possible. A crosscut allows you to use the blade of the table saw to slice across the grain of the wood. Most table saws also come with fences and other accessories (such as a push stick) to help hold the piece of wood in place, and line up your wood for the perfect cut.

Another great thing with a table saw is the ability to use the miter gauge. This allows you to make cuts at an angle. You’ll make a straight slice through the wooden boards without having any issue.

Rip Cutting

Rip cutting is another one of the most popular uses for a table saw, and this allows you to cut along the grain of the wooden boards you have. These straight cuts along the grain of the wood are optimized by utilizing the rip fence that comes with the table saw, allowing you to make the best cut possible.

Most table saws come with a rip fence these days, but sometimes you might want to acquire a new one, preferably one that’s better. There are numerous ones on the market, and it isn’t that hard to find the best table saw fence out there, as these can help increase the quality of your work in an instant.

Miter Cuts

We’ve already briefly touched on using a miter gauge to help with your crosscuts. However, miter gauges themselves are essential to help you work with your table saw as well. They allow for you to make precise cuts that not only help you become a better woodworker, but will allow you to engage in higher skilled work.

You can use the miter gauge that comes equipped on your table saw, and align the blade at the correct angle for your work to help receive an accurate and precise cut. There’s a lot of miter gauges out there, and if you want to find the best miter gauge for your table saw, you can definitely look into the market to find one.

Bevel Cuts

Just as you can use this power tool to help you make miter cuts, you can also adjust your blade and make bevel cuts as well. Table saws come equipped with the ability for you to tilt your blade to any desired angle, and this will allow you to make the perfect bevel cuts possible. These cuts can be incorporated with both your cross cuts and rip cuts.

Rabbets and Groove Cuts

Rabbets and grooves are both joints that can be cut into wood pieces with the use of a table saw. Rabbet cuts are made towards the edge of a board, and grooves are made towards the center of one. While these are very useful in woodworking, they can be a bit trickier to get the hang of.

You’ll need to maintain extra safety when making these cuts, as most table saws require you taking off the blade guard and riving knife, in order for you to carry these out. Once you do manage to get the hang of it, table saws can make quick work of these.

Joint Cuts

There are quite a few different types of joints that are easily made by the use of a table saw, and we’ll list them out for your convenience. Certain joints you’ll see such as the dado joint, require special equipment such as the dado blade. There’s a comprehensive guide to how and what type of a dado blade is required, but that’s for another article. Let’s look into the types of joints.

Dado Joint
Tenon
Lap
Dovetail
Finger
Reinforced Miter

It’s always best to maintain precautions when undergoing these tasks, as they may require you to take off the blade guard and riving knife as well. That makes these cuts a bit more dangerous, and makes them require a bit more expertise.

Kerfing

Kerfing is quite an intricate process achieved with the help of a table saw that will allow you to make clean and smooth bends on the wood board you’re cutting. When done properly, kerfing will allow you to achieve these bends without putting too much strain on the wood, leaving it in a great shape.

Types of Table Saw Blades

When you’re using table saws, you’ll want to get the best blade possible. This doesn’t just mean getting the best quality blade, but it also refers to getting the correct blade for the job. Different cuts require you to get specific blades, that will not only make your job faster, but will enhance the quality as well.

Cross Cut Blade

A cross cut blade is made optimized for cross cuts on any wood you may have. They have small teeth on the saw blade, and are designed to cut across the grain of the wood without causing any tears in it. This leaves the final product as a clean and smooth cut piece of wood.

Rip Cut Blade

A rip cut blade has larger teeth than those of cross cut optimized ones. They are designed to be very sharp and cut along the grain of the piece of wood, while clearing out as much sawdust as possible.

Every woodworker should know the value of sawdust, as they can be utilized for multiple purposes instead of being thrown away. It’s best to keep up on sawdust uses if you’re involved in woodworking.

Combination Blade

While having a specialized saw blade can be very helpful for your work, constantly having to change blades can become a tedious job. That’s where the combination blade comes in. This blade can take charge of making both cross cuts and rip cuts, allowing you to save time in the job site. This comes off as a great accessory to have for any DIYer or occasional home user.

Carbide Tipped Blade

While a carbide tipped blade can be a bit more expensive than most other ones, there’s a good reason for them to be so. They enhance the versatility of table saws by merging the benefits of both the combination blade and the accuracy of a specialized blade. These are a great choice for both professionals and DIY enthusiasts.

Finding the best blade for your table saw can be a hard task, but if you ever need a new one, the market is filled with tons of them, and you can find one that fits your needs the best!

Safety Precautions

No matter what avenue of woodworking you are pursuing, it is always best to ensure that you maintain the highest level of safety possible. Saving a few minutes of working time should not be prioritized over your health and safety. Even the most decorated and experienced woodworkers can become a victim to woodworking accidents, so it is best to adhere to the safety guidelines set by the table saw manual, and by the precautions we’ll list below!

Always disconnect your power tool once you are done using it
Never have anything loose hanging around it when working (hair, jewelry, clothing, etc)
Feed the wood to the table saw to the opposite of the blade’s rotation
Feed the wood into the blade with a push stick, especially when near the end of a cut
Always use the machine’s blade guards and other safety features as recommended
Make sure your work place is always clean when you use a table saw
Never reach over the saw blade when you’re doing anything around the table saw
Always turn off the blades when making adjustments
Disconnect it from the power source when changing blades.

The Takeaway

We hope you’ve managed to find all the information you needed about table saws, and how they are used. If you’re in the market looking for the best table saw, you’ll be sure to find numerous ones. However, make sure to find one in your budget, which also has all the right accessories with good quality (push stick, miter gauge, rip fence, etc). Also make sure to adhere to all the necessary safety precautions when you use a table saw. Woodworking is a fun task when you know your way around a table saw!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

10 Inch vs 12 Inch Miter Saw: Which To Pick?

December 30, 2020 by Braden Smith

If you’ve come to find this article, you must be set on getting a miter saw. Fortunately for you, we’ve taken the time to ensure you can make the perfect choice when it comes to picking the size of the miter saw you want. The choice when it comes in between 10 inch vs 12 inch miter saw is a hard one, but one that can be made correctly once you’ve found out all the important factors. Let’s dive into this article and find out how a 10 inch miter saw and 12 inch miter function, and can benefit you!

10 Inch Miter Saw

Miter saws in general are quite versatile, and that remains true whether it is a 10 inch or 12 inch miter saw. When it comes to 10 inch miter saws though, they are in general cheaper than 12 inch miter saws. This makes them quite more budget friendly and allows everyone a chance to get familiar with a miter saw.

A 10 inch miter saw is still pretty good in terms of providing you with all the cuts necessary. You can easily manage all sorts of trims and molding boards, with cuts that are 6 inches in width. With these miter saws having a 10 inch blade, you’ll find that a 10 inch blade is much easier to find. What’s better is that you can find a 10 inch blade in various types of designs and also find that they are easier to sharpen.

As for making a smooth cut, a 10 inch miter saw will be able to provide that to you easily. Since they use a 10 inch blade, the smaller blade spins faster than when compared to a 12 inch saw and its blade. This allows for the 10 inch miter saws to provide very smooth cuts, and also achieve a relatively high RPM (rotations per minute) when you’re engaged in your work.

Always make sure to get the best 10 inch miter saw out there, if that is your final decision. The market has hundreds of choices for you to select from, and you’ll need to know all the details in order to get the best one for yourself.

12 Inch Miter Saw

While a 12 inch miter saw will come in at a more expensive price in general, they do have their perks. Unfortunately, you’ll have to first deal with the problems of acquiring it at a higher price and over time managing to get parts for it, which are much harder to get when compared to the parts of a 10 inch miter saw.

Despite being a little on the expensive side, a 12 inch miter saw allows you to work with much bigger pieces, and this makes your work a lot more easier. Whether you’re doing basic repetitive cutting work, or need to get big pieces for crown molding, a 12 inch miter saw will allow you to get bigger pieces of wood done faster.

A 12 inch miter saw being bigger, also comes with a more powerful motor that can ensure the saw runs at optimal capacity and provides you a clean and smooth cut each time. This also makes them great for heavy duty cutting needs, and you can rest assured you’ll get wider and deeper cuts, with very good precision and accuracy.

With a 10 inch miter saw, you obviously can’t fit in a bigger blade on it. However, on a 12 inch miter saw, if you have the same arbor sizes, you can fit a 10 inch blade on it as well. With the help of the 12 inch saw and its powerful motor, you can be sure of it being very productive. It will allow you to have the versatility of the 10 inch saw, and you can be using a much more powerful 12 inch saw to do it with.

With the various amounts of 12 inch miter saws on the market, it may be tough to find the best one. However, finding the best 12 inch miter saw for yourself is key in ensuring you get your work done the best way possible, and to your satisfaction!

Pros and Cons of a 10 Inch Miter Saw vs 12 Inch Miter Saw

Now that you know more about a 10 inch miter saw and a 12 inch miter saw, let’s list out the necessary pros and cons of each of these miter saws, and see which is the best to provide you with your finished cut!

10 Inch Miter Saw

12 Inch Miter Saw

Pros

More affordable
Much more lightweight and portable
Provides a smoother and cleaner cut

Cons

Isn’t as strong as a 12 inch miter saw, and can’t cut through thicker wood

Pros

Quite a powerful saw
Some can fit a 10 inch blade
Makes a deeper cut

Cons

Smaller blade selection
Not as precise (requires 10 inch blade for precision work)
Expensive
Bigger and heavier

Choosing the Correct Miter Saw: 10 Inch or 12 Inch?

Knowing the pros and cons of each of these two sizes of miter saws, you’ll want to now take into consideration the type of work you’ll be doing. A miter saw is a very versatile tool, and you’ll want to get the best one for yourself. What are the factors that you need to keep in mind?

Precision Work

Do you need to engage in work where precision and accuracy is of the utmost importance? Well, a miter saw is a great choice in that case, but what size? Well, as we have already said, a 10 inch miter saw is much more preferred when it comes to making a precision cut. They’re much easier to maneuver and the wide array of blade selection will only make your job easier.

12 inch miter saws aren’t bad, but they’re just not as precise. However, you can acquire a 12 inch miter saw that can accommodate a 10 inch blade. This will allow you to engage in precision work with your 10 inch blade, and do the heavy duty cutting tasks on your wood with the 12 inch blade.

Size and Portability

If you need to move around quite a bit when you’re working, a miter saw might pose a bit of a problem as they have to be placed down to work on. However, if you really do need this perk, it is safe to say that the 10 inch miter saw is your best bet.

Blade Selection

12 inch miter saws aren’t the best for precision work, and they don’t have a great selection of blades either. You’ll find yourself very limited when it comes to finding a blade for your 12 inch saw, but when it comes to a 10 inch miter saw, you’ll see that there’s a multitude of options out there, and you can find one that best suits your needs.

Miter Saw Compound Feature

A 10 inch or 12 inch miter saw is great, but what type of features does it have? Is it a compound miter saw or a sliding miter saw? A compound miter saw allows you to engage in various types of versatile work when it comes to woodworking. You’ll be able to tilt your whole saw and the blade on the saw with the miter and bevel gauge respectively. However, with a sliding compound miter saw, you’ll be able to move the blade forward in order to get even longer cuts, making it easier to do repetitive cuts. It also saves you time from having to flip around your wood pieces constantly. Depending on the type of work you have, these features and knowing about them, might just be what helps you seal the deal!

The Takeaway

We hope we have managed to help you come to a decision between a 10 in miter saw or a 12 in miter saw. They both have their merits and they both have their faults. When it comes to a 10 inch vs 12 inch miter saw, the 10 inch will always win when it comes to precision and the availability of blades. However, the 12 inch saw is much more capable of doing heavy duty work, but can be a bit more expensive. Find the best choice for yourself, and get your woodworking needs satisfied!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

How To Measure Your Chainsaw Bar: Expertise For You! (2021)

January 3, 2021December 26, 2020 by Braden Smith

There are a lot of components that go into making a chainsaw, and it is of the utmost importance that a chainsaw user should know everything about them! Oftentimes people want to get a replacement bar for their chainsaw, but they don’t know how to measure a chainsaw bar. Well fear not, we have this entire article to help delve into what will be the easiest way to help you figure out how to measure a chainsaw bar.

To properly get into knowing how to measure a chainsaw bar, we’ll need to break down the entire system into all its parts. Let’s look into them now!

The Chainsaw Bar

The chainsaw bar is also referred to as the blade of the chainsaw. This allows for the chainsaw to use its raw power, and cut through most things with ease. The chainsaw bar length is an important factor for the optimal use of your chainsaw, and it depends a lot on your chainsaw’s motor.

For example, most electric chainsaws have a bar length of 18 inches as the highest. This is because electric chainsaws don’t have the most powerful motors, and they can not provide sufficient power to a bar that is any longer. However, if you’re looking at cordless electric chainsaws or battery powered chainsaws, they tend to have an even shorter chainsaw bar length.

Gas chainsaws are the most powerful type of chainsaws out there, and you will find that they have bar lengths that easily pass electric models. Their fuel powered motors can easily power a gas chainsaw’s bar and chain.

Effective Cutting Length

When it comes to a chainsaw’s cutting ability, you need to factor in the effective cutting length, also referred to as length. As you can see from the picture above, this length includes the distance of the bar from its attachment to the saw, till the tip of the bar itself.

You’ll find it quite easy to make this measurement, as all you’ll need is a tape measure or a yardstick. As useful as a tape measure is to help measure the length, you’ll find that you don’t always get the perfect measurement. If your reading is a whole number, then approximate to the nearest highest number. For example, if it is 13 ¼ inches, then you can assume that it is a 14 inch bar length.

True Length

The true length of a chainsaw bar is the length of the bar from one end to the other, while it is detached from any saw. Unlike the effective cutting length, you do not need to round off the measurement to the nearest odd or even number. The process is the same, as you can use either a tape measure or a yardstick to get the accurate measurements.

Replacing the Bar

Replacing the bar of your chainsaw is now just a matter of mix and match. You have both the effective cutting length and the true length of your chainsaw bar. All you need to do is find a bar that works well with those lengths.

On a side note, while you may be used to using the same chainsaw for a long time, sometimes it is best to just buy a new one instead of fixing up an old one. You may need a whole bar and chain for your current chainsaw, or get more things fixed. At that point, it might be better to find yourself the best budget chainsaw on the market! If you still want a chainsaw bar, then you can look for the best chainsaw bar on the market as well.

Chain Length Measurement

While the bar may have been pretty easy to measure, you’ll find that the chain of a chainsaw can be a little harder to work with. However, with proper instructions, you’ll get used to it pretty easily.

Drive Link

The first part to help you measure the distance of your chain, is to count the number of drive links from one end to the other. While counting the drive links may seem tedious, they have a very important function of helping your chain go around the bar around the tip without having it jam up. So, take your time and get the correct number of drive links your chain has.

Pitch

The pitch of a chainsaw includes the distance between the drive links in your chain. Get the measurement of this distance between three rivets on the chain, and then half that number. There are various different values that can be found by making this calculation.

Gauge

The gauge of a chainsaw is the groove of the chain, that helps keep the chain on the bar while making cuts. You can use a variety of tools to measure the gauge, a yardstick, tape measure, or even pennies and dimes!

Get An Accurate Measurement!

A very important thing to remember when trying to find yourself the perfect bar and chain for your chainsaw, is that you should never make unnecessary estimations! One change in your measurement of the length of chain or bar can easily affect the whole calculation, and you’ll have wasted money on something you didn’t need.

Proper Maintenance

When trying to ensure that the chainsaw chain and the bar are going to last you a long time, the biggest factor is maintenance. This can be done easily if you oil the chainsaw chain on a regular basis. Many modern chainsaws come with an automatic oiling mechanism, and this allows your chain to be regularly oiled when cleaning. The one thing you have to look out for is keeping it filled up at all times. If your one doesn’t have that feature, then you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way, and keep a lookout for it at all times!

The Takeaway

You might have shuddered at the thought of how difficult it could be to measure a chainsaw and its parts, but you’d be wrong to do so! Once you are familiar with the process and how everything goes, you will have learned how to measure the bar and the chainsaw chain with ease. Just make sure you remember to make the correct calculations and take the measurements from the base and tip of the bar. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll easily be able to find the perfect bar and chain for your chainsaw!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Sliding vs Non Sliding Miter Saw: Best Choice For You! (2021)

January 3, 2021December 23, 2020 by Braden Smith

If you’ve come across this article, you’re already set on getting yourself a miter saw, but that brings with it another decision that has to be made. Miter saws have distinctions within themselves, specifically the discussion between a sliding vs non sliding miter saw. Both of these types of miter saws have their own set of pros and cons. We’ll dive deep into both of these tools and help you decide which one is the best choice for you!

Non-Sliding Miter Saw

What is A Non-Sliding Miter Saw?

When it comes to more common tasks, the non-sliding miter saw becomes the go-to choice for most woodworkers. They are especially useful if you have a big flooring job coming up. However, the basic function of non-sliding miter saws is that they allow you to make a variety of cuts with a lot of ease.

From desired angled cuts, to straight cross cuts, you will get a lot of choices at your disposal. Given that you can make cuts with ease, it will also make it better for you to know that these compound miter saws are also easy to set up and get familiar with.

Sliding Miter Saw

Based on our description of the non-sliding miter saw, you can gather that the sliding miter saw has a very obvious differentiator from it. The sliding miter saw comes with the feature of you being able to slide the blade of the saw towards you. This enables you to not only gain more versatility in terms of cuts, but you can also make your work much more efficient.

Being able to move your saw around while making the cut, will enable you to cut much larger pieces. Not to mention, you’ll also be allowed the freedom of not having to flip your pieces around as much either. All in all, it is pretty similar to a non-sliding miter saw, with the added benefit of you being able to cut larger pieces with ease.

Types of Cuts for Miter Saws

Non-sliding miter saws are quite easy to work with as we have already mentioned, but you will also appreciate how easily you can achieve a few different types of cuts with them.

Cross Cut

This is a cut on wood that goes across the grain.

Rip Cut

This is a cut that goes parallel to the grain of the wood you are trying to cut.

Miter Cut

This is a cut specialized for the miter saw. It uses its miter gauge, that sets up a specific angle for the saw, so that you can get the desired cut with precision and a smooth finish.

Bevel Cut

Any compound miter saw will have both a miter gauge and a bevel gauge. The bevel gauge allows you to tilt the blade of the miter saw, so that you can place the blade exactly where you want, and achieve a bevel cut.

Compound Cut

The compound cut is the mixture of the miter cut and the bevel cut. Both the saw and the blade are tilted to a specific angle, and will allow you to achieve the compound cut. The compound cut is especially important when it comes to tasks such as crown molding, and makes miter saws very worthwhile for the task. You can even look into finding the best miter saw for crown molding, as there are quite a few on the market.

What about sliding miter saws though? Well, we have already mentioned that they are both pretty similar, so don’t worry, sliding miter saws will also be able to take care of all of these cuts! The one time you will face issues is when you’re trying to make intricate and delicate cuts, and in this case the sliding miter saw might pose an issue. You might feel a little restricted sometimes trying to work with such complex angles.

Blade for Miter Saws

Choosing the right type of blade for your miter saw is very important, and we think it is one that you need to research on as well. You can look into the best miter saw blades out there to help you out, but you must always remember that the size of the blade must match the size of your miter saw. These instructions are pivotal for the usage of both the sliding miter saw and the non-sliding miter saw.

Safety for Miter Saws

Miter saws in general are a very modern type of power tool, and they are designed to keep their users safe.

When it comes to non-sliding miter saws, you won’t have to worry too much about any danger. These are quite safe to use, and you don’t need to be an expert in woodworking to handle them. However, you should always make sure to keep yourself safe in every way possible, by wearing gloves and safety goggles, etc. The non-sliding miter saw itself will also have built-in safety procedures to help you out as well!

When it comes to sliding miter saws, they’re not dangerous, but given that they have an additional moving part added on, they are a little more dangerous when compared to non-sliding miter saws. However, it is still the same concept, and you really don’t have much to worry about with these miter saws. It’s always good to keep yourself weary though!

Prices of Miter Saws

Prices of miter saws vary from very cheap to quite expensive. However, that mostly depends on the brand you want and how many perks that specific miter saw offers.

A non-sliding miter saw is no doubt going to be the cheaper option, and you can also find quite expensive ones. However, a sliding miter saw will definitely be higher in price. They have the added ability of being able to cut for a longer period of time and also reach a deeper cut depth.

Pros and Cons of Sliding vs Non-Sliding Miter Saw

Now that we know a lot more about each of these miter saws, let’s break down the pros and cons of a sliding miter saw to a non-sliding miter saw!

Non-Sliding Miter Saw

Sliding Miter Saw

Pros

Powerful saw
Easy to use
Good with very precise and complicated angles
Precise and accurate cuts

Cons

Can not be extended when cutting larger pieces

Pros

Powerful saw
Easy to use
Has a larger cut depth
Precise and accurate cuts

Cons

Hard to readjust
More expensive
Doesn’t work well with very complicated angles

Making Your Choice: Non-Sliding Miter Saw or Sliding Miter Saw?

With everything out in the open for you to know now, which one should you choose? Well, there are a few factors out there that should determine your choice on whether you should get a non-sliding miter saw or a sliding miter saw. Let’s look into them!

Size and Weight of the Saw

When it comes to choosing the right saw, you need to factor in how big of a saw you really want, and whether or not portability needs to be considered for you. It is a given that sliding miter saws are larger than non-sliding miter saws because of the additional parts they have. Thus, you need to really wonder if the additional weight and size of the miter saw will affect your work or not.

Angles of the Cuts

Another very important factor you have to remember about, is the angles you’ll be cutting. As we have already mentioned, a sliding miter saw isn’t the best choice if you’re going to be cutting very intricate and complex angles. For these types of angles, the non-sliding miter saws are the better choice.

It is good to remember though, that a sliding miter saw can extend up to 16 inches extra, and if the pieces you work with are roughly this wide, then the sliding miter saw is really the better choice for you. You will save yourself time and effort by making these cuts with one attempt rather than multiple ones.

Size of Wood

Coming on to the size of the wood, you need to be aware of how big the pieces you’re cutting will be. If you’re going to be cutting small wood pieces (around 2 to 4 inches), then a non-sliding miter saw makes more sense for you. However, if you’re going to be dealing with wood pieces around 12 to 16 inches, a non-sliding miter saw will force you to be flipping and readjusting a lot. So, make your choice wisely!

The Takeaway

When it comes to making the right choice between sliding vs non-sliding compound miter saws, there really needs to be a lot taken into consideration. However, we hope our article delved into every issue you needed to know about! If you are someone who delves into intricate work and doesn’t deal with large wood pieces on a regular basis, you might want to consider a non-sliding compound miter saw. However, if you find yourself undertaking jobs that have large pieces of wood, a sliding compound miter saw will really be the way to go for you! Both these compound miter saws are necessary when it comes to woodworking, but the choice needs a lot of thought!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Electric vs Gas Chainsaws: Reviewed for 2021

January 3, 2021December 17, 2020 by Braden Smith

If you’ve come to this article, you’re most likely already set on getting yourself a chainsaw. However, should you get an electric chainsaw or a gas powered one? Even electric chainsaws have further breakdowns, so how do you choose? Well, with complete information. Some chainsaws are designed to cut down whole trees, whereas others are designed to help with smaller tasks. We’ll be delving into the breakdown of these chainsaws, and help you find out your perfect choice when it comes to electric vs gas chainsaws!

Electric Chainsaws

One of the first things you’ll need to know about electric chainsaws is that they are a much more efficient type of chainsaw than their gas counterpart. This not only applies in terms of your efficiency in handling them, but also in the aspect of electric chainsaws having a much more user friendly mechanism. First things first, there are two types of electric chainsaws out there, and it is best that you brush up your knowledge on them.

Corded Electric Chainsaw

A corded electric chainsaw is basically what it says in the name. These chainsaws are very efficient when it comes to both power and precision. The efficiency in power comes from the fact that you don’t end up worrying about your chainsaw getting weaker due to a lack of power based on fuel. Once you plug this chainsaw in the power plug , you’ll be able to work for the entire period of time at optimum capacity.

When you compare this capability of a corded electric chainsaw, you’ll soon realize how much more convenient it is when compared to a gas powered chainsaw. You won’t have to bother carrying mixer fuel wherever you’re working, and you’ll save both time and won’t be fatigued due to it.

Corded electric chainsaws also have the ability to be built with various types of features that allow for your work to be made much easier. More on that later, as that applies to the other version of an electric chainsaw as well!

Cordless Electric Chainsaw

A cordless electric chainsaw is basically the same in principle when compared to the corded electric chainsaw, but with one prime difference, and that is the lack of wires. This difference in mechanics can prove to be both beneficial and problematic for users, based on their needs.

A cordless electric chainsaw or battery powered chainsaw will provide you with all the work you need at a great rate, but they run batteries. This helps out the user massively in one instance, and that is that you can easily carry the chainsaw around with you, without ever being burdened by the weight of mixer fuel or wires. This allows you to work for hours on end with no hindrances, allowing you to do your work with more precision and focus.

One thing that sets battery powered chainsaws in the grand scheme of things is the optimization and longevity of the power source. Sure, using a battery to power your chainsaw can help in a great way, but this also leaves you prone to not having your battery powered chainsaw working at full potential the whole time. As the battery loses power, so does the chainsaw. This might affect your work overall, and cause the work to be hampered.

Overall, a cordless electric chainsaw is one of the best chainsaws out there for people who take on small tasks and don’t require cutting large trees. They also come with features that can be found on corded electric chainsaws, and we’ll get into them now!

Electric Chainsaw Features

A lot of the features you find on electric chainsaws can now also be found on various gas powered chainsaws on the market. However, when it comes to an electric chainsaw, it is essential to remember that these two types of electric chainsaws are even more optimized to utilize these features.

Some of these electric models come with an automatic lubrication system, and this allows for you to not have to bother with oiling the chain on your chainsaw from time to time. Rather, the chainsaw itself will take care of this for you, and ensure that the machine is running at full power with proper optimization. This comes in very handy when you’re taking care of long tasks, such as taking down large trees.

Once you start browsing through various electric chainsaws, you’ll also see that they have the ability for a much more efficient chain tensioning system. Most ones you’ll find, will have a tool free mechanism, which enables you to very swiftly make the change you need, and ensure that your power tool is working at maximum potential. Some electric models have even taken a further step to ensure that they have an automatic chain tensioning system. This is much rarer, but is definitely worth taking a look at.

The safety features on electric chainsaws are also on the same level, meaning they are better optimized, not to mention that electric chainsaws are just easier and safer to work with in general, when compared to gas powered chainsaws.

Another great thing about these electric chainsaws is that they have a lot more scope of being ergonomically friendly for the user. You can keep additional features that not only make the handling of the chainsaw easier, but also make it easier to use for a longer period of time without fatigue. This comes in especially handy when you’re having to cut down trees and small logs.

Gas Chainsaw

Now that we have the necessary information on the electric chainsaw, let’s look at how it does vs gas chainsaw. Gas chainsaws are basically the most powerful type of chainsaw out there in general, and that goes without saying. They can easily chop down large trees, and come to be equally handy when it comes to cutting up small logs or small trees.

Gas Chainsaw Features

Gas chainsaws don’t have multiple types like electric chainsaws do, since their basic function is carried out in the one type. However, you will find that the market is filled with various versions of these chainsaws, each an improvement of the older models.

With gas chainsaws being more powerful than electric chainsaws, they will allow you to easily take on tougher jobs, and that too with ease. However, this brings about the issue of your chainsaw being very loud. A gas chainsaw is just that; loud. If you’re a wood cutting enthusiast or just need it to be used in and around your home, a gas chainsaw is probably a tad bit too much for you. These are mostly used by professionals for taking on medium to large tasks.

An issue with gas chainsaws as we have already mentioned, is the need for you to always carry fuel around. The fuel in itself is a mixture, so you’re always going to have to put in that extra bit of effort, when it comes to gas chainsaws. However, no other type of chainsaw can compete with it in terms of raw power. From branches to trees, you won’t have any problem dealing with tasks, given that the chainsaw is equipped to deal with the tasks.

Electric Chainsaw vs Gas Chainsaw:

Pros and Cons

Now that you have an idea of both electric chainsaws and gas chainsaws, let’s look into an easy list, detailing the pros and cons of each of these types of chainsaws.

Electric Chainsaws

Pros

Electric chainsaws are easy to use
Have good safety features in general
Have good ergonomics in the designs
Are easily portable
Include features that make using the chainsaw easier
Don’t require refueling too often/at all

Cons

Don’t have the same power vs gas chainsaw
Are often only equipped to deal with small tasks

Gas Chainsaws

Pros

Gas chainsaws are very powerful
Can easily take on small to large tasks
Are easily portable
Fuel lasts for a while

Cons

Gas chainsaws are usually very noisy
Often heavier and more expensive than electric chainsaws
Gas chainsaws create harmful gas when being used

Electric Chainsaw vs Gas Chainsaw:

Which to Choose?

With all the information now having been given to you about both electric chainsaws and gas chainsaws, which one do you choose? Well, there are a few different factors that come into play when you’re making your final decision on which one to get. Let’s look into those!

Types of Jobs

If you’re a homeowner who is more into taking care of small tasks for your home, electric chainsaws are definitely the perfect choice for you. These chainsaws are much more cleaner, since you don’t have any fuel to deal with, not to mention they are designed to do small and easy tasks swiftly. It also helps that they are usually quite small and can be easily carried around.

If you’re looking to do more heavy duty tasks such as chopping down large trees or any trees, you’ll want a gas chainsaw. They are often built to deal with more pressure and can easily help you deal with these jobs without any hassle. While the fuels can produce harmful gas, they do last for a lot longer, and will not affect the power provided to your chainsaw overall.

Bar Lengths

Electric chainsaws are often very rigid in their design, and don’t often come with the ability for changes in bar lengths. If you’ve bought a 12 inch chainsaw, chances are that you’re stuck with it. However, there are definitely electric chainsaws on the market that can offer you removable bars, if that’s what you need.

Bar lengths are important to ensure you can cut whatever you want. Thus, if you’re looking to take on small tasks that don’t require a long bar length, you’ll be fine with electric chainsaws. However, a gas chainsaw will be really helpful for you if you’re looking for a long bar, because then you’ll have the option of taking care of both large and small tasks. Not to mention, most gas chainsaws come with this ability anyways.

Noise

A gas chainsaw as we have already mentioned, is quite loud and might be a hassle for occasional users to come to grips with. Electric chainsaws however, can easily avoid this problem since they don’t make much noise at all.

Safety and Ergonomic Features

These features nowadays have been introduced to both electric and gas powered chainsaws, so you won’t have to worry too much. However, you should definitely look into the specifics of a chainsaw when you’re purchasing it, to make sure they have sufficient safety measures, and ergonomic features. Power tools definitely require them these days.

Portability

Gas chainsaws are often heavier than electric chainsaws. So, if someone wants to avoid the hassle and fatigue of lugging around a bulky gas chainsaw, then an electric one is the best choice for them among the two.

Price

Gas chainsaws tend to be more expensive than electric chainsaws, when it comes to these two. However, this also depends on the brand and model of the chainsaw you want to acquire. Whether you want the power tool to cut trees or branches, you can always look into the specific products.

The Takeaway

In the argument of electric vs gas chainsaw, we hope you found your answer! Always make sure to factor in all of these things to ensure you get the best chainsaw for yourself, whether it be electric or gas. A gas powered chainsaw is the most efficient choice for people who will be undertaking large tasks. The gas chainsaw will run for a while on its fuel, and you can also ensure that the chainsaw will have the optimal power when running. You should also keep in mind that gas chainsaws are also quite heavy. Your preferred gas chainsaw may be portable, but might fatigue you in the long run. Electric chainsaws on the other hand, are quiet, efficient and much more cleaner to deal with. They can easily take care of small tasks and are great for the occasional user. When comparing these two types of power tools, the gas chainsaw wins in power. However, the electric chainsaw wins in being easier to use. So make the correct choice for yourself when it comes to the gas or electric chainsaw power tools!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Miter Saw vs Circular Saw: Expert Opinions (2021)

January 3, 2021December 15, 2020 by Braden Smith

Every woodworking tool (saw or not) has their own specialty for the work that they do, and anyone who thinks that they are interchangeable, are misguided. If you want to engage in woodworking with a working knowledge of the most common tools, it’s best you brush up on your knowledge. One of the most common misconceptions are about miter saws and circular saws. Today with this article, we’re going to look into the specifics of a miter saw and circular saw, to help you know what to choose when it comes to a miter saw vs circular saw. You might have fixed your decision on what you want to get already, but finding out more might change your decision entirely.

Miter Saw

What is A Miter Saw?

Miter saws are very precise cutting tools that specialize in bringing you a clean and finished look on your desired product. This product is one that has a great range of versatility that will allow you to engage in various types of work, and will undoubtedly increase your skill in woodworking.

When it comes to miter saws, you have the choice of choosing the best one, among a few different categories of the product. Let’s look into these.

Standard Miter Saw

A standard miter saw will allow you to make the standard miter cuts. This miter saw comes with a miter gauge, allowing you to tilt your saw to the desired angle, so that you can get the best cut possible. This is a great way for people to get into woodworking. However, this is very limiting for people who are very engaged in this line of work.

Compound Miter Saw

A compound miter saw has everything that a standard miter saw has, and more. It includes a bevel gauge, and this allows for the saw to also tilt the blade of the miter saw to a very specific angle, allowing you to make even more versatile cuts.

The name compound miter saw is in accord with the fact that you can combine both the miter angle and bevel angle to create a compound cut which is the mixture of miter and bevel cuts. The inclusion of bevel cuts will add an extra dynamic to your work. This addition allows you to engage in various types of woodworking, including but not limited to crown molding. Crown molding itself is a very sophisticated bit of work, and is something people need to read up on before starting. If you want to learn about it, it’s best to educate yourself on how to cut crown molding.

Compound miter saws themselves also come in two different types. One is called a single bevel compound miter saw while the other one is the dual/double bevel compound miter saw. The only addition from the single to the dual is the added benefit of being able to tilt your miter saw blade to both the left and right of your saw, thus adding more versatility by being able to make proper bevel cuts on both sides.

Sliding Compound Miter Saw

The last one from the miter saw power tool list is the sliding compound miter saw. These allow you to add even more versatility to your work by being able to move the entire saw forward even more, and allowing you to make cleaner cuts on longer pieces of wood. For people engaged in woodworking to a large extent, these are the miter saws that will give you the best edge.

We’ll also provide you with a visual aid for all the different types of cuts you can make with a miter saw below, so that you can understand the array of work you can do with them!

Miter Saw Portability

While miter saws are great at what they do, you can’t call them portable. When working with them, you will need to use the miter saw on a stand or a table. You can carry them from place to place, if your worksite can accommodate them.

Miter Saw Cuts

We’ve already mentioned the cuts that a miter saw can make, but one thing to remember when you want to find the ideal miter saw is that the different versions provide you with these cuts. For example, a standard miter saw can not provide you with bevel cuts or compound cuts. However, miter cuts are possible with any miter saw, since it is in the name. You’ll also find the availability of stops marked on some miter saws (mainly based on the brand and quality). These stops mark the most common angles that are used, and make it more efficient and easier for the user to engage in various types of work.

Miter Saw Versatility

We’ve already talked up the miter saw and its versatility, but this also falls in line with the types of cuts you can achieve. Some versions of the miter saw are more versatile than the others. For example, a single bevel compound miter saw will allow you to tilt the blade on to one side only. However, with a dual bevel compound miter saw, you will be able to tilt the blade on to both the left and right side, all the while getting the benefits of the stops as well. This not only increases your working potential, but also makes it much easier to go about your work. You won’t be forced to move around the piece you’re cutting to get the best finish.

Miter Saw Precision

One of the biggest factors that have made miter saws so popular, is their knack for precision and accuracy. As you will find out, circular saws are powerful and can cut through a range of materials. However, circular saws come nowhere near a miter saw when it comes to precision of their cuts. With the miter gauge and bevel gauge, you will be able to get the best placement of your blade, and the blade will be able to line up perfectly with the piece you want to cut. Not to mention, being able to tilt the saw and the blade itself also allows you to attain even more precision.

Miter Saw Price

Miter saws come in a wide range of prices, and each of them have their own perks. Of course, if you’re going to buy something premium, you’ll end up getting great features on them which allows the miter saw to excel even further. Some come with a laser guide, which increases the efficiency of your work, and your precision by making the blade placement extremely accurate.

On the other hand, you can even find really budget miter saws, and there are many of them on the market. However, when it comes to finding the best budget miter saw, you really should do your research, and find out the most you can, to make sure your investment is worth it.

Circular Saw

Circular Saw Portability

When it comes to using a circular saw you’ll find that a circular saw will provide you with a lot of portability, and can slice through a variety of materials, making the circular saw a top notch choice. All circular saws are easily carryable and you won’t have any issues taking them to any worksite you have. Some circular saws are corded while others can be wireless. On top of that, you can also rest assured that most circular saws are very lightweight (around 8 pounds mostly), which also helps avoid fatigue when working.

Circular Saw Cuts

A circular saw is similar to the miter saw in the sense that it provides you with all of the same cuts, with the addition of the rip cut as well. A rip cut is basically a cut that goes parallel to the grain of the wood, and these are usually made down the length of the board you’re making your cuts on.

Circular Saw Versatility

While we have stressed the importance of the miter saw’s versatility, it’s good to note that the circular saw also has its perks when it comes to this factor. While the mechanism only allows for the saw to cut through its pieces in a straight line, you will be impressed by the fact that the circular saw can make cross cuts and rip cuts with no problem at all. You’ll just need a few blades that are optimized to specific cuts, and you’ll find yourself slicing through stuff in no time with a circular saw. What’s even better with a circular saw is that you are not restricted to only cutting wood. Circular saws can even allow you to venture out and cut plastic, metal, etc.

Circular Saw Precision

While the circular saw may be a great choice when it comes to power tools, and making cuts through various materials, you’ll find that it lacks precision. While it can easily give you straight cuts through these pieces, the straight line movement disallows you to be able to make 90 degree cuts, or any sharp angle cuts. The miter saw on the contrary, can provide you with great miter cuts and bevel cuts, with the utmost precision. They even come with positive stops, which are markers for the most common angles. However, circular saws are much more efficient if you have wood pieces that need straight cuts through them.

Circular Saw Prices

Circular saws have one advantage when it comes to price, and it is that even the good ones can be obtained for a low price. To find the absolute best miter saw out there, you might have to spend quite a large sum of money. However, when it comes to a circular saw, you can easily manage to get a great one without spending an obscene amount of money.

Pros and Cons of Miter Saw vs Circular Saw

When it comes to the miter saw vs circular saw, we have seen a few different pros and cons of each of these saws. Not to mention, they have varieties when it comes to choosing a blade, what wood pieces to cut, as we have already discussed. So let’s list them out, so you can get the best idea for what you want!

Miter Saws

Circular Saws

Pros

Great precision and accuracy with a miter saw
Miter saws come with powerful 15 amp motors in general
Are very easy to use
Have good perks and safety features

Cons

Miter saws can only cut through wood
Not very portable

Pros

Circular saws are versatile in terms of materials it can cut
A circular saw is quite a powerful saw
Is very easy to carry around
Are usually very affordable

Cons

A circular saw can only cut in straight lines
A circular saw isn’t the most precise when making a cut

The Takeaway

We hope you found the differences between these two power tools (miter saw and circular saw), and can manage to choose the perfect one for yourself! A miter saw is a great choice for those who want to do precision woodworking, and also want a sustainable and powerful 15 amp motor on it. You’ll also be able to engage in various types of work with a miter saw, thanks to the versatility of the saw and its blade. Not to mention, higher end miter saws come with a laser guide and other features that enhance the performance of its blade and the whole mechanism itself. A circular saw is a great choice for those who want to engage in long repetitive jobs. With its straight cuts, and powerful motor, you can cut through wood and various other materials to ensure you get your desired output. A circular saw will also have a variety of choices in terms of what blade you want, allowing you to use a specific one each time you make a cut. So, make your choice between a miter saw and circular saw, and make the best choice for yourself when it comes to which one triumphs in the battle between miter saw vs circular saw!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Chop Saw vs Miter Saw: Which one to choose in 2021?

January 3, 2021December 11, 2020 by Braden Smith

Chop saws and miter saws are said to be very similar tools when it comes to their functionalities. However, once you’re more experienced with these tools and have more knowledge on them, you’ll find that there are only minor similarities between these tools. So, how do you make your final choice when it comes to a chop saw vs miter saw? From experience to what you’re cutting, you’ll find many variables that factor in, but first let’s find out more about each tool!

Chop Saw

Miter Saw

What Exactly Is A Chop Saw?

A chop saw is mostly used by professionals or contract workers, since they are heavy duty saws. Why? They come with a hefty motor, which can easily cut through wood, but they are also very efficient at cutting through sheets of metal or even large pieces.

Chop Saw Cut Types

One of the key characteristics of a chop saw is that they can only make 90 degree cuts, which limits versatility. However, this rarely causes any issue, since these are powerful machines mostly used for heavy duty work. 90 degree cuts that can be used to cut both wood and metal allow for this tool to be very desirable to serious, professional workers. They are definitely not the tool for versatility though, as angled cuts are impossible with a chop saw.

Chop Saw Blade Type

As opposed to many other tools (especially miter saws), chop saws use an abrasive blade. These usually range around the 14 inch mark, and they come with no teeth. The chop saw blades are designed to tear through whatever material you put in front of them, and these abrasive blades make it quite an easy task.

Chop Saw Safety

Considering how powerful a chop saw is, you’ll need to always be weary of the safety of using it. When you cut wood or metal, a chop saw will shoot out a lot of sparks, and this can be a safety hazard. Even though these won’t burn you directly, if you have any flammable objects nearby, it can lead to a disaster. Thus, you will always need to mind your surroundings, and also it is good to have some experience with the tool before deep-diving into serious work with it.

Chop Saw Prices

Chop saws like any other tool can range in prices. You can easily find ones that are cheap and very affordable, just as you can find ones that have a premium price. However, if you’re just an enthusiast, it is better to avoid a chop saw, since these are mainly used for professional jobs, or jobs that are very demanding.

What Exactly Is A Miter Saw?

A miter saw is a much more versatile tool when compared to a chop saw. However, one thing that a chop saw will always have over the miter saw is its raw power. Chop saws can be used to cut both wood and metal with a lot of ease. A miter saw is still a very desirable tool to have for anyone interested in woodworking. Why? Let’s find out.

Miter Saw Types

Miter saws are available in various types. The main way to break it down is that there are three types of miter saws:

Standard Miter Saw:

A standard miter comes with the ability to only make miter cuts, with the help of the miter gauge. While this is standard, it still provides the user good versatility in making cuts, and also ensuring good finishes on their cuts.
Compound Miter Saw:

A compound miter saw not only includes a miter gauge, but also a bevel gauge, which includes the advantage of being able to make bevel cuts. This in turn also provides the opportunity of making compound cuts, which is a mixture of both a miter angle and bevel angle. This introduces a whole new dynamic, and this allows the miter saw to have more versatility than most tools on the market.

Compound miter saws also have a further distinction in that some are single bevel miter saws and others are double bevel miter saws. This adds further versatility by being able to tilt your miter saw blade in both the right and left direction.
Sliding Compound Miter Saw:

While versatility, precision and clean finishes seem to be a key aspect in miter saws, it only gets better with further versions being added to the product. That’s where the sliding compound miter saw comes in. The sliding aspect adds more length to the cuts you are able to make, not only making your ability to cut longer pieces more realistic, but also that your work will become optimized with it. You won’t have to waste time moving around the wood piece in order to get the final cut, rather the mechanism will allow you to slide your blade forward with ease.

Miter Saw Types of Cuts

With multiple various versions of a miter saw being available, you can imagine the opportunity of being able to make various types of cuts as well.

Cross Cut

A miter saw isn’t limited to making only 90 degree cuts, but it can definitely do so with efficiency. By keeping your miter gauge at 0 degrees, you can easily cut across the grain of the desired wood piece, and get a clean cross cut.

Miter Cut

A miter cut can be achieved by the most basic miter saw out there, because it’s in the name. With the inclusion of the miter gauge, you can angle your saw to a certain angle, and get a desired cut. This increases the versatility achieved by miter saws, as opposed to a chop saw.

Bevel Cut

A bevel cut can only be accomplished by compound miter saws or better, and is done by the usage of the bevel gauge. The bevel gauge allows you to tilt your blade to a certain angle, and make sure you get the desired angle to cut through the wood. Some miter saws come with one bevel gauge, while others come with two, that allow you to tilt your blade both sides of the saw.

Compound Cut

A compound cut is achieved by adjusting both the miter gauge and bevel gauge to a specific angle. This will involve you angling both your saw and the blade, and will allow you to make a very clean cut. Compound cuts are important for various tasks, even crown molding. If you want to find the best miter saw for crown molding, there are numerous options out there on the market.

Miter Saw Blade Type

Unlike a chop saw, a miter saw will use a specific blade and in general they have around 80 teeth. These blades are designed to cut through wood only, and will provide you with very clean and accurate finishes. A miter saw’s primary goal is to make versatile cuts possible with the best finishes out there. The chop saw on the other hand is built to tear through both wood and metal with ease.

Miter saws also come in various sizes, and the most common sizes are 10 inches and 12 inches. These refer to the diameter of the blades used in the saw, and determine mainly the cut depth of the saw.

Miter Saw Safety

The more modern miter saws get, they tend to have many safety features set in place to help it make it easier for the user to remain safe. Unlike a chop saw, a miter saw doesn’t give off any sparks when cutting either. This makes the whole risk of setting off something flammable around you, void.

Miter Saw Prices

Miter saws just like chop saws, can range in prices from very low to very high. If you’re new to the woodworking scene and want to get started with something affordable, you can definitely look into finding yourself the best budget miter saw out there. There’s tons on the market, so it shouldn’t take you too long. You can also get premium options too, and they may have perks to optimize your work even more!

Pros and Cons of Chop Saw and Miter Saw

Chop Saw

Miter Saw

Pros

Can cut through both wood and metal with ease
Very powerful
Can make clean 90 degree cuts

Cons

Can only make 90 degree cuts
Shoots off a lot of sparks when in use
Very noisy

Pros

Has great versatility in terms of cuts
Great for intricate work
Has good safety features
Can be used by both professionals and DIYers

Cons

Can only cut through wood easily
Won’t be as powerful as other saws

Deciding What’s Right For You

Now that you know more about these tools, which is the right tool for you?

If you’re a professional or looking to get into doing big projects, a chop saw will be the right choice for you. They are very powerful and can easily cut through a variety of materials, including metal. This will make your job easier, and you won’t run into many difficulties that way. You’ll need to be weary of the safety hazards though, and prepare yourself as such. Using a chop saw also requires a certain amount of skill, so if you’re new to woodworking, it’s best to stay away from such a high powered tool for a while.

A miter saw is the right choice for both a professional and a DIYer. This type of saw will allow you to easily make various types of angled cuts (bevel cuts and miter cuts), which not only allows you to engage in various types of projects, but will also make you better at woodworking. You’ll also be ensured safety, since these saws are often equipped to keep the user safe.

The Takeaway

Hopefully you’ve gotten the information you were looking for from this article, and it gave you the definitive answer for which type of saw you require. No matter what you choose, always keep the basics in mind, and you will surely learn to do woodworking better. Chop saw vs miter saw is a very easy competition if you know what exactly you’re looking to achieve, whether it’s angled cuts or straight cuts. Choose the right one, and have a great day!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Different Types Of Saws Out There For You! (2021)

January 3, 2021December 10, 2020 by Braden Smith

Woodworking has become a very prevalent profession and past-time activity over the past few years, and there’s a lot to know about them now. Thus, we’ve taken our time to research the different types of saws out on the market, and we’re here to give you all the information. It will help to know what the perfect saw is for a specific job, and you’ll be able to get the best output with the least amount of effort.

So, let’s take a deep dive into the world of saws, and you’ll be able to know which types of saws are the best for you and the job you have!

27 Different Types of Power Saws

While hand saws were the starting types of saws for woodworking, power saws have become a more important tool to have in a woodworker’s arsenal these days. Not only do they come with perks that allow the user to be benefited, but they are much easier to maneuver and require a lot less effort to actually use.

Miter Saw

Miter saws have become one of the most important tools for a woodworker. If you’re looking to achieve clean angled cuts, these are the go to types of saws. They come with an entire kit to help ensure you get the best cuts, and the higher the quality of your miter saw, the more versatility you’ll receive in terms of angling your blade. Miter saws come in three different types:

Standard Miter Saw

A standard miter saw is the most basic version of the tool, and they help you achieve the miter cut. This allows you to tilt the saw, and get the desired angle you need to get the right cut.
Compound Miter Saw

A compound miter saw comes with the abilities of a standard miter saw, but also includes a bevel gauge, and this allows you to make bevel cuts. The bevel gauge lets you tilt the blade at specific angles, and the higher tier saws will even have built-in stops for the most common angles, making your job easier.

Compound miter saws even include two types. One is a single bevel and the other is a dual bevel miter saw. The single bevel allows you to tilt your blade on either the left or right side with freedom, whereas the dual bevel allows you to tilt your blade on either side of the saw.
Sliding Miter Saw

The sliding miter saw is the most advanced when it comes to this type tool. It allows you to have the freedom and versatility as both of the already mentioned miter saws, but you’ll also have the ability to slide your blade forward. This not only allows you bigger cuts, but a better finish since you won’t have to reposition your piece of wood at all.

Chainsaw

Chainsaws don’t really need an introduction as everyone is aware of what they look and sound like. From the time of their inception, they’ve been used by both home owners and professionals for cutting down trees. Over the years, they have been improved further and further, and they come in three different types:

Gas Powered Chainsaw

These were the original products, and till this day, they are the most powerful types of chainsaw in general. The gas powered chainsaws require you to have a gas mixture used as fuel, which can be a bit tedious. However, you’ll be able to cut down larger trees with a lot more ease.
Electric Corded Chainsaw

These chainsaws are much more advanced and as the name says it, are electric. You won’t require any additional fuel for them, which comes as a huge plus when using such powerful tools. However, with these tools, you’ll be confined to a power socket, and this might limit the distance of your work.
Electric Cordless Chainsaw

With many DIY enthusiasts indulging themselves in the usage of chainsaws, the market now also has chainsaws that are wireless. These run on batteries, and are extremely convenient. You can easily carry them around, the higher quality models come with the ability to run for a long period of time. They unfortunately lack the power that gas powered chainsaws can provide with ease.

Circular Saw

A circular saw is one of the most convenient tools to carry around when getting into any woodworking. These tools are the most useful for making cross cuts or rip cuts into your desired wood piece. The best thing about this type of saw is the fact that you can change the blade to ensure you get the best cuts for various types of materials. A very important factor for their blades are the teeth per inch, and number of teeth on the blades.

Table Saw

Table saws are present in almost every workstation as they are the one of the best tools for making repeated cuts. They are usually very powerful and include a circular saw in the middle, and they also have fences on the sides to help make these cuts easier and efficient. There are five different types of table saws out there:

1. Cabinet Table Saw

This is the most powerful type of table saw out there, and they are also some of the most heavy duty in terms of their build. They do very well for large tasks, and even end up being the most expensive among the different types.

2. Contractor Table Saw

A contractor table saw is basically a more portable and affordable version of the cabinet table saw. They are still very powerful and can take up large jobs, but they are built with the idea of a contractor being able to easily move it around for their tasks. They have built-in wheels at the bottom to make this easier.

3. Hybrid Table Saw

The hybrid table saw is a blend of both the contractor and cabinet table saw. It has the price range of a contractor table saw but, but has the feel and build of a cabinet table saw.

4. Portable Table Saw

These table saws are built to be portable and easily carried from one jobsite to another. They lack the accuracy and precision guaranteed by the heavier models, but they are much cheaper and are still quite powerful for their lightweight and compact size.

5. Jobsite Table Saw

These table saws are quite powerful and are much more reasonable in terms of price. They are also quite portable and can end up being the easiest table saw to use among all of them.

Jigsaw

If you’re looking to do small tasks in and around the house, a jigsaw is a great tool. It can be easily maneuvered to help you cut very specific designs and will ensure you get a clean finish on your work. They are quite lightweight as well, and are very good when working with thin boards. They are also known as “saber saws”.

Reciprocating Saw

A reciprocating saw is mostly used in construction. It is basically a type of saw that has the function of a jigsaw, but comes placed on a handle, and this allows it to work on vertical planes as well. A reciprocating saw is capable of handling heavy duty tasks, and works with a forward and backward action.

Band Saw

Band saws are quite different compared to the other saws you would have seen till now. They are very quiet in how they operate, and this acts as a big plus to those who work in quiet areas. The band saw blades are also different, as they are a long loop of metal that are driven over multiple wheels. While they may not be the best for crosscuts or rip cuts, the lack of fear for any kickback has made these saws very popular.

Scroll Saw

The name of the scroll saw comes in its use of making scrollwork and other intricate designs. The scroll saw has variable speeds and can make very precise and intricate cuts in any material, making this perfect for graceful work. One interesting fact about this type of saw is that it uses the reciprocating blade, and this further helps its aim of achieving delicate finishes with each cut.

Gas/Electric Pole Saw

While chainsaws are great for cutting down trees, it can be hard to reach some trees while carrying one. That’s when a gas or electric pole saw can be very useful, as they can help you reach, maneuver and cut in places that can be hard to get to. Depending on the quality and models of these saws, you can find extensions ranging from 8 to 15 feet in length.

Rotary Saw

Rotary saws primarily became useful among medical and fire rescue contexts due to the spiral cuts they provide. However, they are also very useful for DIY enthusiasts because of how easily they can cut through drywall. They also don’t require a hole being present beforehand to make a cut, making them even more handy.

Flooring Saw

Flooring saws have a very specific use which shines through from the name. They’re used to specifically do flooring jobs, and can be very handy in worksites. They have a mix of the capabilities of both table saws and miter saws. Flooring saws come equipped with hard rubber bottoms to help protect your floor, and they also provide you with good stability when working with them. While they are great for flooring jobs, they aren’t the most accurate, especially when compared to dedicated saws for specific jobs.

Chop Saw

Chop saws move only up and down in direction which differentiates them from saws like the miter saw, which provide you with an angled cut. Since they are not as versatile and powerful as miter saws, you’ll mostly find these present in dedicated shops, rather than with hobbyists.

Track Saw

Track saws are a very modernised version of the circular saw which is handheld. They run on a rail which helps guide the blade for a very specific cut which has the depth determined from beforehand. They also allow for very deep cuts, which make them popular among many woodworkers out there. The rail is also quite long, helping to cut large pieces of wood with ease.

Straight Flush Saw

The straight flush saw is another specialized version of the manual circular saw, and this comes with a mounting point that allows you to make cuts with a zero clearance style. They use their blade to make adjacent cuts on various objects, and with help from the mounting point, you’ll have less to clean up, as you’ll come out of it with clean cuts.

Toe Kick Saw

Toe kick saws are a very specific genre of saws, and they have a very specific task. They help make flush cuts to achieve the perfect finish, and are mostly used for making flush cuts under cabinets. These allow you to remove the bottom of the cabinets without having to take apart the whole system itself. With such a specific job for this saw with its specialized blade, it might be in your best interest to just acquire one temporarily if required.

Masonry Saw

Masonry saws come with a few other different names; slab saw, concrete saw and road saw. They are built to go through heavy duty tasks, and come fitted with a diamond blade for that purpose. Due to these heavy duty tasks, people often apply water to the blade to reduce the dust flying about and also to cool the blade down.

Tile Saw

Tile saws are built specifically for one purpose, and outside of that they are pretty useless. However, there are also wet tile saws which have a built-in water system to help keep the saw cool and running smoothly. They are used by professionals whenever setting down tiles, and they provide very clean and accurate cuts with their circular blade.

Radial Arm Saw

Radial arm saws used to be the go-to tool for providing clean and accurate cuts when they were first invented. However, miter saws soon replaced them since the radial arm saws were quite dangerous to operate. They come with a long horizontal arm which was mounted on a circular saw, and were quite good at providing the desired cuts. While they are old, they are still being produced till date, but no one really favors them much anymore.

Cold Saw

Cold saws are mainly used to cut metal. Their blades are made specifically to resist heating due to the heavy friction they go through, and the saw also has a slower RPM (rotation per minute) in general. What’s handy is that they both come in stationary and handheld models.

Abrasive Saw

Abrasive saws are quite versatile saws that are primarily used for heavy duty tasks, as they cut through very hard materials with their circular blade. They are built with multiple versions, including handheld, which makes them even more versatile, especially for cutting through materials like cement.

Oscillating Saw

Oscillating saws are quite versatile in what they do. They are very versatile and can cut through objects in very compact areas. These saws can also be fitted with multiple types of blades, and this allows them to cut through a variety of materials that range from wood to cement. They are also very lightweight, which makes them even more useful. Unfortunately they are not well equipped to deal with heavy duty tasks.

Panel Saw

Panel saws are one of the biggest saws out there in terms of size. They also have a very niche requirement, which is to cut panels into your desired sizes. With them having such a specific task and being so large, they are most commonly found in woodworking shops.

Chain Beam Saw

Chain beam saw is another type of saw that has a very specific task. They are a blend of a downward facing chainsaw mixed with a circular saw. While they come in at a more expensive price compared to others, they offer lumber workers a lot of ease when it comes to cutting up large wooden beams.

Diamond Blade Wall Cutter

Diamond blade wall cutter saws are mostly used for cutting through walls and helping the user place electrical cables. Since they are tasked with going through walls, they often use the blades used in abrasive saws to help grind through hard materials such as cement.

Jamb Saw

The jamb saw is another tool that is extremely specific in its task, same as the toe kick saw. It is used to cut underneath your door and remove any additional molding to ensure your flooring is placed in flush with the door. This is also best acquired when you need it for the specific job.

Biscuit Joiner

The biscuit joiner is in charge of cutting perpendicular cuts in between two pieces of wood on their opposite edges. After this, a wooden piece is added, known as a ‘biscuit’ and the saw comes with a built-in glue gun, which glues the pieces together, creating the joint. This joint is very strong and makes this saw quite valuable for these jobs.

Electric Hand Saw

An electric hand saw is basically the motorized version of the traditional hand saw. However, this saw does not come with any additional benefits that make it a significant upgrade. Rather, it becomes quite hard to use this tool, and it really isn’t favorable among woodworkers.

20 Different Types of Handsaws

While the motorized tools may be new and fresh in the market, the traditional tools are still just as valuable for woodworking. On that note, let’s take a look at all the different types out there on the market now!

Hand Saw

Hand saws are one of the most traditional saws out there. They have a long flexible blade, and are made to cut for a prolonged period of time. They also come with different assortments of teeth, based on the type of cuts you want. For cross cuts, you have cross cut teeth, which cut across the grain of the wood piece, and hand saws are also useful cutting joints with them. You can also make rip cuts with a specific set of teeth, which cut with the grain. You’ll also be able to find hand saws with a dual arrangement, that are suited for making both of these cuts.

Cross Cut Saw

Cross cut saws are the best choice for cutting planks to size or making joints. They require two people to operate and are built to have a leading edge that is built to make precise cuts. The teeth are also placed in to allow the sawdust to fall down as the blade passes through.

Pruning Saw

Pruning saws are the non-motorized version of the gas/electric pole saw, and are designed to cut down tree limbs and vines. They are quite easy to maneuver and come with a higher number of teeth per inch than any saw within a similar size. This assortment of teeth and the curved design of both the handle and the blade make the pruning saw a very handy tool when used for cutting any shrubbery or trees.

Hack Saw

Hacksaws have a bent handle, with two ends holding the blade in between. The blade is extremely hard and they are primarily designed to cut metal.

Bow Saw

Bow saws have a similar design to the hack saw, but without the handle. These hand saws are meant to cut through thick pieces of wood, and have an assortment of blades in between each end, making sure they deliver a clean and smooth cut.

Folding Saw

Folding saws are useful around the house for pruning, but they are also very effective when out in the wilderness or for camping. The assortment of the teeth in the blades allows for this saw type to make quick work of small branches. There are mainly two different styles for a folding saw:

Pruning Style

The blade can be folded into the handle, making it very convenient to carry around.

Folding Bow Style

The folding bow style saws can be locked into position to form the style shown in the picture above. They are very lightweight and can be easily taken about.

This style is especially convenient for camping, however, you can find specific versions that are made for campers. They are optimized for occasions that arise during camping, and are foldable to increase portability.

Japanese Saw

The japanese saw is created much more differently than traditional blades. They cut the wood on the pull stroke rather than the push. This allows for the blades to be exceptionally thin, and they also help in minimizing the tear in the wood when being used. The japanese saw is one of many among their arsenal of saws.

Fret Saw

The name fret saw can also be interchanged with ‘scroll saw’, as the one we’ve seen before already. Fret saws are made for extremely intricate cutting work, and have an average of 32 teeth per inch. While this makes them more accurate, it also makes them fragile.

Veneer Saw

Veneer saws are made for quick work, and they can produce extremely clean and square cuts when used properly. Even though they don’t have the highest length in terms of cutting capabilities, they can provide extremely accurate cuts within their working limit. When used with a straight edge, they can even provide perfect cuts for butt-joining matched veneers.

Back Saw

Back saws are another type which are built extremely well for precision work. They have a fine set of teeth and come with relatively thin blades that help with this precision. They also come with a length of steel or brass attached on the top of the blade. This helps to hold the blade down from bending when in use, and also requires the user to apply less pressure during work. Back saws come with multiple styles and can be altered in various ways.

Coping Saw

A coping saw is similar to a couple of other types of saws we’ve already seen on the list. One such similarity for the coping saw is its design, in that the blade is held in between a metal frame. These usually measure on average to about 6 inches long, and a coping saw will usually have about 15 to 17 teeth per inch. With how narrow the blades are, coping saws have to be replaced once the blades become dull.

Wallboard Saw

A wallboard saw comes with a long thin blade that has teeth on both sides of the blade. This allows for the saw to cut through without any initial pilot hole, just like the rotary saw. With the intensity of the work for these saws, you can look to find tempered or hardened blades to increase the longevity of their use.

Keyhole Saw

The keyhole saw is also known as the drywall saw, pad saw or jab saw and has the shape of a dagger. This creates cuts which are very similar to the jigsaw, and is mostly used for cutting in small or irregular shapes. You can find them with either a retractable or fixed blade, whichever you like best.

Bone Saw

The bone saw has a very fitting name as it is used for, and you guessed it, cutting through bones. This is mainly used by hunters who catch animals like deer or other big game. This saw is also known as the ‘butcher’s saw’ and the handheld version looks very similar to the hack saw. The best thing to do with these is to acquire one with a stainless steel blade to avoid corrosion from the constant contact with animal blood.

Wire Saw

A wire saw is very similar to an abrasive saw or a reciprocating saw, based on how they actually do the cutting. They are quite lightweight, but using them can be quite a task, as they take a while to make even small cuts. It’s very important to ensure you get one with high quality handles, otherwise your hands will not feel great afterwards.

Rip Cut Saw

You’ve guessed it, a rip cut saw is specialized for making rip cuts. They cut along the grain of the wood piece you’re cutting and are easily capable of making cuts with each push and pull. You’ll also notice that the blade comes with a flat tooth edge. A rip cut saw that comes with a tapered end is much better for use, as you’ll be reducing the friction that occurs during your work.

Carcass Saw

Despite its name, the carcass saw is actually in reference to cabinets, unlike how the bone saw was named. These saws come with cross cut teeth, and help you cut across the grain of the wood piece. However, they are not built to handle large or heavy duty tasks, but are specifically built for smaller ones.

Razor Saw

Razor saws are another type of saws that use cross cut teeth and specialize in cutting across the grain of wood pieces. However, razor saws are built for cutting through soft wood, and are actually used by hobbyists and train enthusiasts. With how easily they can be maneuvered, they allow for small and intricate work.

Manual Pole Saw

As you can guess, this is the manual version of the gas or electric pole saw. While this focuses on achieving the same work as the motorized version, the manual version is much harder to use and can be a workout in itself! However, they are still very usable in allowing you to reach tight and compact areas.

Pocket Chainsaw

Designed slightly similarly to the wire saw, pocket chainsaws are a slightly altered version of regular chainsaws, but with two handles. This is an extremely lightweight and portable saw compared to the normal chainsaw. They are also different from wire saws in that they use teeth instead of friction to cut.

The Takeaway

With the number of manual and power saws on the market today, it can be hard to learn and find out the perfect types of saws for you. However, we hope we’ve done the job for you today, and helped you come a bit closer to making the right choice for you! Always keep the important factors in your mind when you’re making the choice to buy a saw. Do you need good angled cuts, or a higher tooth per inch? The choice is yours, and the options are plentiful!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

How To Build A Table Saw Crosscut Sled

July 5, 2020June 26, 2020 by Braden Smith

Now that you’ve learned how to make your own crosscut sled, we hope you’ll be able to have a much easier time with your woodworking! To give your crosscut sled that extra edge, do follow our additional tips. You now have your own DIY jig to help you make the perfect crosscuts over and over again.

When it comes to woodworking, making sure you have the perfect cut and measurement for each piece of wood. A 90 degree cut or square cut is absolutely essential in making sure your final product will be how you want it, and a crosscut sled will make it much easier for you to make sure you always get them. That’s why we’re going to be diving into how we make a table saw crosscut sled!

Necessary Tools and Materials for making a Crosscut Sled

The tools required and materials required for making a crosscut sled for your table saw is very minimal. Not to mention, this product will help ease your work in the workshop.

How to Build a Table Saw Crosscut Sled

Step 1: Making Your Runners

The runners are one of the most important bits of your crosscut sled. They will ensure how smoothly your sled will move across the table saw. So, let’s learn how we make them, shall we?

You’ll need to measure the depth and width of your miter slots on the table saw, and according to these measurements; cut two pieces of wood. These wood pieces should be cut to accurate measurements, because they’ll need to either fit in flush with the slots or be just below the opening of the slots.

Once you make your runners to the specified cut, you should be able to slide them in and out of the slots with ease and minimal resistance.

Step 2: Making a Base for your Sled

Having made your runners, you’re now going to focus on building the base of your crosscut sled. The importance of making a table saw jig such as the crosscut sled, is that it must always be able to make square cuts. Thus, you’ll have to make sure that the base you’re using is completely smooth and parallel to the table saw.

To make the base of the sled, place your runners in the miter slots on your table saw, and make sure to place something in both of your slots to raise the runners above the height of the table. After thus, you’ll place your base piece on top of the runners. Make marks on the piece where the center of the runners are, and draw a line from one end to the other.

This line will act as your marker to help you place your screws into the base piece to help attach your runners to it. For each runner, attach about 4 or 5 screws (depending on the size of your board) and ensure that they don’t mess with the fit of your runners. Following these steps accurately will provide you with a smooth and great base for your crosscut sled.

Step 3: Making and Attaching the Fences

As we have already mentioned, your crosscut sled will have two fences; back and front fences.

Back Fence

The back fence of a crosscut sled is probably the least important feature. However, it still has its merits, and is definitely needed. The back fence is there to help the sled not come apart. How?

Later down the line, once you’re done making the sled, you’ll need to raise your table saw, and the blade will cut down the entire sled from one end to the other. This will always act as the area for your blade to work in. Thus, this fence is there to ensure your sled stays in one piece.

Place your piece of wood at the back end of the base, and then fit it in with your screws. Again, 4 or 5 screws should do it depending on the size of your base. However, you need to remember that you don’t fit a screw in where your blade will be cutting through.

Front Fence

The front fence will be the most integral part of your crosscut sled, and you’ll need to be very cautious when making this. Best thing to do when making a front fence is, you attach a few different pieces of wood to each other to create a thicker piece. While doing this, be sure to have one piece offset from the bunch. Why?

This one piece you have offset will help you ensure that you create a completely straight fence. Once you’ve glued your pieces together, line them up against a parallel fence that comes with the table saw, and any bit that is not straight will become obvious to you. Use your table saw blade to then cut through this fence, to create a straight front fence.

You’ll also then want to place the front fence on the base completely square. You can do this by drilling your fence in on one side, and then pivoting your other side, while measuring it against something square on your base. While this works, some people also tend to follow the 5 cuts method.

Be sure to check your calculations and measurements one time or multiple times to ensure you’ve got a straight fence. Once you’re done, screw in the rest of the fence and of course, make sure to avoid the area your blade will be moving through.

Step 4: Raise Your Table Saw

Now that you’ve completed your table saw jig, and finished the making of your crosscut sled, place it through the slots, and fix it in place. Then raise your table saw to run through the sled and make a kerf through it, creating the slot for your blade. Now you can fit in any new piece of wood through this sled and get your work done with your table saw crosscut sled.

Tips for your Crosscut Sled

Once you’ve attached your runners to the base of the crosscut sled, you might find it to be a bit rough. Running it through the slots in your table saw might not be as easy as when you made the runners. To fix this, you can apply some wax to the bottom of the base and the bottom and sides of the runners. Run them through the slots again, and you should find them easier to work with!

After you finish making your front fence, you’ll probably want to add a chamfer to the edge facing the blade. You can use any sharpening object with a flat surface to chamfer the edge. This will help in avoiding the build up of sawdust when you’re making your cuts. An excess amount of sawdust can hamper your results and cause inaccuracy within your tool.

The Takeaway

Now that you’ve learned how to make your own crosscut sled, we hope you’ll be able to have a much easier time with your woodworking! To give your crosscut sled that extra edge, do follow our additional tips. You now have your own DIY jig to help you make the perfect crosscuts over and over again.

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

How to Cut Granite

July 5, 2020June 23, 2020 by Braden Smith

When you’re looking into the possibilities of making your home decor stunningly beautiful, you want to also make sure you keep the cost as low as possible. Adding granite to your cart for granite countertops or a backsplash is a great idea for that, but we can help you keep your cost low by teaching you how to cut granite!

Gathering Necessary Tools

One of the most important things about any type of manual labor work, is knowing that you have the perfect tools for the job. This ensures you get the job done with the least hassle, and of course with no injuries! Let’s get the layout for our equipment for granite cutting then, shall we?

Equipment

Now that you know what you’re going to require for this whole process, let’s get into how we’re going to go about it, shall we?

Understanding Your Equipment

Granite is one of the hardest stones you’ll find yourself cutting for your house decor. So, it is essential you get all the right tools. For example, we’ve mentioned either a wet saw or dry saw for the circular saw. Why is that? It’s because both of these saws will cut the granite how you need it, but a wet circular saw will ensure that there is less debris in terms of dust, via a small tube that releases water while you’re working. Now that doesn’t mean there will be no dust when you make your cut, however, it helps to ensure you’ve minimized your clean up for the future right?
We also want to elaborate on why the workstation is stationed outside in the picture. While your workstation may be indoors (say a garage), cutting granite can get messy, and you’ll thank us later if you start your work outside instead!
The Painter’s Tape is also a very helpful asset here. This tape will act as a marker to help you make a cut when you’re cutting granite. Using painter’s tape will ensure you minimized any chipping when you cut granite.
The Diamond Blade Saw will be essential in helping you achieve the maximum efficiency when cutting granite.
The Clamps will be there to hold your granite slab in position, when you make any cut.

Now, let’s dive right into learning how to cut granite!

How to Cut Granite Slabs

Prepare Workstation

As we’ve already mentioned, it’s best to install a workstation outdoors for this job, but that’s only to help you clean in the future. To prepare your workstation, ensure all of the necessary tools are within your reach. You would also do well to place rags all around your work station, and have that vacuum nearby as well! These are all just to maintain finesse in the project, so it’s up to you how you proceed.

Assemble Granite Slab

Grab whatever granite slab you want to cut, and place it on your workstation. Make sure to clamp it down tight on both sides to ensure your slab stays in place when you’re working! It’s also best to assume safety and wear all of your safety gear now.

Marking your Granite

Once you’ve clamped your granite slab down tight, make your measurements for how you want it, and then mark it down with your painter’s tape! This painter’s tape will help you avoid chipping the granite as you’re cutting along.

When you get your measurements, make sure to apply at least 3 layers of the tape, to also ensure you protect the surface of your granite. After placing it, use your marker to mark where you want to cut through the granite.

Cutting your Granite

Now that you’ve made all your markings, you’re ready to proceed to cutting your granite. Take your circular saw and attach the diamond blade you’ve acquired to it. Before you start the saw, make sure you line up the mark with your blade, and follow through once. After you’ve done this, turn on the saw and gently push the blade into the granite.

It’s key to remember that this process can take up to 15 minutes or longer depending on your piece of granite. It’s best to have someone alongside you while doing this, to help apply some water on the blade during this process, because it can heat up a lot. However, you can avoid this just by getting a wet saw in the first place!

Once you’ve started cutting, don’t push the blade anymore. Let it do the work itself, and you just guide it along. However, it’s important that you’re always using two

Check and Polish

Once you’ve made your cut, you’ll want to inspect it. Make sure there aren’t any chips and that the surface hasn’t been damaged in the process. Neither of these should be a problem if you’ve layered your painter’s tape enough and on the right spots! Make sure to clean up any debris with a rag (in case of wet saw being used), or with a vacuum.

Once you’re sure you’ve made a nice and neat cut, fit an angle grinder with a diamond grinding wheel. Make sure to polish it properly to get the finishing touch you want, and also to ensure you get it looking how you want!

How To Cut Granite Tile

Granite Tiles can be cut awfully in the same way as granite slabs. Shocking, right? Jokes aside, since the materials are the same, the cutting process will be similar, but require different tools.

Instead of a circular saw, you’ll have to get a tile saw to cut your tiles. The difference is that for cutting tiles, you’ll have a plethora of choices when it comes to the saws. From handheld saws, to saws hooked in place, to provide the best cut, you’ll be free to make the best choice for yourself! So, why not find the correct tile saw for you?

The Takeaway

While the task of dealing with granite may look hard and overwhelming, you don’t have much to worry about! Once you come to grips with all these terms and machinery, you’ll find this once professional job to be a DIY project for you! However, always maintain the safety measures provided to you, to make sure you avoid injuries. You can now make your own granite countertops, and add that appeal to your home!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

What is a Compound Miter Saw

July 15, 2020June 18, 2020 by Braden Smith

Woodworking can be a taxing job if you don’t have the right tools to help you through the work. So today, we’re going to be talking about a tool that will make life easier for you; a compound miter saw. What is a compound miter saw? Well, we’ll take you through all the details of this machine!

Compound Miter Saw

If you’re already familiar with the miter saw and its functions, then you’ll be able to truly appreciate how flexible a compound miter saw is to cut wood. Miter saws allow you to make miter cuts, however, with a compound miter saw you can make bevel cuts and compound cuts!

What are the Differences between a Compound miter saw and a Miter saw?

Compound Miter Saw

Normal Miter Saw

You can see from the two pictures above, the sheer contrast in mechanisms within both the miter saws. One of them is a compound miter saw and the other is a basic miter saw (only capable of miter cuts). So, where do the biggest differences lie?

Well, we’ve already mentioned the first one. The compound miter saw, allows you way more flexibility and versatility when you work, due to the amount of cuts you can make. The basic miter saw however, only allows you to make miter cuts, and that might be enough for you. Regardless, if you’re ever in a bind, a compound miter saw could help out way more than a basic miter saw!

One more bit of information about the compound miter saw against the basic version that could help you with your choice, would be the fact that compound miter saws can come with varying degrees of extensions that range from sliding compound miter saws (discussed more in types of compound miter saws), to lasers added to them for even more precise cuts!

If you want an in-depth guidance to provide you visual aids on the perks of these saws, we’re sure the following video will help you out!

Since we’ve been raving on about these types of cuts available with a compound miter saw, let’s go through them one by one in order to ensure we’re up to date on them!

Miter cuts

A miter cut is a basic cut that can be made by any miter saw. This cut requires you to set up specific angles for your desired cut. Your miter saw will have a miter gauge attached to it, and you can set it up at varying angles till 45 degrees.

Bevel cuts

A bevel cut requires a compound miter saw because this cut goes through the thickness of the wood you’re trying to cut, and creates a slanted cut through it. For this the miter angle needs to be at 0 degrees, and you set your bevel angle to whatever you want it to be from 0-45 degrees.

Compound Cut

This is the compound miter saw specialty right here. It is considered a compound cut whenever you have both the miter angle and bevel angle set to something other than 0 degrees. It allows for you to tilt and rotate the arm of your compound miter saw. Versatile, isn’t it? That’s the point when you’re using miter saws with additional perks added to them.

Types of Compound Miter Saws

The key thing to know about compound miter saws is that there are different types to be chosen from. We’ll be looking into these types and seeing the varying degrees of benefits each type brings. Let’s dive in!

Single Compound Miter Saw

A single compound miter saw is the basic version of a compound miter saw. Now what exactly does that entail? Well, it’s still better than a standard miter saw, as in it can make bevel and compound cuts alongside miter cuts. This makes compound miter saws heavily useful for crown molding. However, a single compound miter saw has a bevel angle that allows for the blade to only tilt to one side. It can either move to the left or right, but not both.

Dual Compound Miter Saw

This saw is basically the same as the single compound saw, except for the fact that you can tilt the blade down on either side. Sometimes you want to work with the blade on the left, or sometimes on the right. Handy right? Even such minor versatility can help your woodworking skills skyrocket when you’re undertaking large projects!

Sliding Compound Miter Saw

We already told you we’d discuss this right? Well, we must tell you that these saws have a sliding feature that make it way more versatile than it already was! With all the other saws, you’d be stuck with a fixed width on your piece of wood, and the blade would be able to manage just that. However, with the sliding feature added to this saw, you can move your blade forward and backwards allowing you to cut pieces with a far greater width. Thus, for large projects requiring the utmost versatility, these sliding compound miter saws are the way to go!

What are the Benefits of Sliding Compound Miter saws?

As we’ve already seen, sliding miter saws bring more to the table, literally! However, standard compound saws also provide you with enough to work with. So, it depends on the type of work you’ll be engaging in!

Sliding miter saws are the way to go for you if you think you’ll be engaging in work that requires broad pieces of wood. Not only will this make your work more efficient, but you’ll also avoid any mistakes and the annoyance of readjusting your piece each time. They tend to be a little more expensive than standard compound saws, and require more space, but it mainly depends on the work you take on!

If you’re really keen on delving deeper into sliding compound miter saws, then you should definitely learn about the differences between sliding miter saw and compound saw!

The Takeaway

There’s a lot of information on compound miter saws in here, we know! However, if you really want to learn about these machines properly, then a thorough look through this article can really set you up! We hope you can conquer your carpentry needs through this information and master the blade!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

How to Cut Crown Molding

July 12, 2020June 16, 2020 by Braden Smith

If you’ve been engaged in the art of carpentry at all, or looking forward to it, crown molding is going to be key for you! If you know what crown molding is, then you’ll know how they can shine up a place and rack up the price for it as well. How? Well we’ll get into that later, but first let’s learn how to cut crown molding!

Crown Molding

First, we’re going to delve into the basics of crown molding, and how you make your cuts using a miter saw! It’s important to remember that even knowing all the information by heart won’t make you a professional at it immediately. However, it will save you the laborious task of figuring it all out for yourself!

The Basics

We’ll break it down into steps for you to clearly understand the processes going on here!

It’s best to remember that a miter saw is the best tool to use for making crown molding. If you have a standard miter saw, you’ll need to make sure you have your wood placed exactly the right way, to ensure you get the best cut.
If you’re well versed with using your miter saw, you’ll know about the ‘locks’ your saw has on specific angles. For any basic cut you make, say at 45 degrees, you’ll feel a slight jolt once your saw reaches that specific angle. Make sure you have every angle at the right mark to get your work done accurately!
You’ll want to practice making your crown molding on a miter saw because of how optimized it gets later on. Remember to use the flat edges to keep your piece of wood safely perched up on the base of the saw. What flat edges? The molding will always have flat edges where they meet the wall. This diminishes your need for a compound miter saw, as you’ll forsake the idea of needing bevel cuts as they’ll be mirrored when making the crown molding.
If you’re ever disorientated, make sure to remember that the decorative part of the crown molding goes on the bottom side, and you should make sure that side rests against the fence.
As such, you’ll end up having the top (in contact with ceiling) against the horizontal base of the saw’s fence, and the bottom (in contact with the wall) against the vertical base of the fence.
When you’re making an inside cut, you’ll have to move your saw to the opposite side of the cut you’re trying to make. For instance, if you’re making an inside cut for the left side of the wall, pivot your saw to the right side at 45 degrees, and vice versa for the right side of the wall!

When you’re making an outside cut? Yes, that’s right, you’ll do the same! Swing the blade to the left at 45 degrees, and proceed to keep the right side, and vice versa!

Compound Method

If you’ve acquired a compound miter saw, and you’re wondering about the versatile opportunities you can have in regards to using that, then you’ll definitely want to take a look into this video for the compound method it helps you with. Especially helpful for beginners!

Different types of Crown Moldings

Whether you’re using a standard miter saw or a compound miter saw, you need to enhance your knowledge about the various types of crown mold cuts you can engage in!

Scarf Joint For Crown Molding

In the instance one of the pieces of crown molding you’ve cut runs too long for the wall, you’ll need to fix it with a scarf joint. How does that work? Well, we’ll break this down too!

You’ll need to fix up two more pieces that end up fitting together, that help fix the situation.
You’ll need to pivot your saw to 45 degrees to the right and proceed to make a miter cut through the piece. When making this cut, make sure to have your piece upside down! Once you’ve made the cut, dispose of the piece to the left.
You’ll have to mirror your action from before and do the same miter cut at 45 degrees to the left! Make sure again that the piece is upside down, and that you dispose of the right side of the piece this time.
This step needs to be done twice with both the new pieces you’ve created. You’ll need to make a cut near the end of the molding. Before this, you’ll need to brace the flat bottom of the molding against the saw’s fence and the flat top against the base of the saw.
Following these steps accurately with a crown molding scarf joint, will help you fix the problems with pieces longer than the wall.

Square Cut for Crown Molding

This cut helps you create a butt joint. The butt joint is created in order to help your crown molding fit in precisely against your wall and ceiling. How do you go about it then?

Unlike the scarf joint you don’t need to make miter cuts for the square cut, rather you’ll need to make cross cuts.
Place yourself properly against the wall and ceiling and make sure to get the right measurement.
Make sure to have your miter angle at 0 degrees to get a good cross cut, and do it at the measurements you’ve made and transfer it to the molding.

Corner Blocks In Crown Molding

If it’s too much of a hassle for you, and you don’t want to cut crown molding for the corners of your house, we don’t blame you! Rather, we’re gonna allow you to find and install corner blocks instead.These are pre-made blocks that fit into the corner gaps. Let’s talk about how you install them!

These are pretty easy and can be done swiftly! Place in the blocks on the corners of your wall, and then measure the remaining distance!
After that, head on over to your saw table and cut crown moldings with your miter cuts to match the length left.
Corner blocks can help you save a lot of time and avoid the annoyance of figuring out the tight miter angle in each and every corner!

However, if you’re not interested in spending money on corner blocks, then we’ve got the best way for you to learn how to make corner blocks!

Outside Corners

Inside corners and outside corners are the basics when it comes to making a crown molding. However, inside corners are usually taken care of within rooms with four corners. However, if some rooms possess more needs, then you’ll have to focus on outside corners more!

When accounting for the length of a piece needed, with outside corners you’ll have to start from the outside edge. From there you move along the wall to get the justified length and then mark it down on your molding.
Place the crown molding under the saw, ready to make your cut. You’ll need to make sure your saw is pointed away from the side you measured at 45 degrees.
Once everything is placed, make your miter cut.
Once done, do the same process over again for the joining wall. Remember that once you’ve done one process when making cut crown moldings, most of the processes need to be mirrored to ensure you finish the job.
Place both of the pieces, and they should both be linking up perfectly. Once done, nail them down to receive your great outside corner!

When you cut crown moldings, you’ll need to make sure you’re always doing the processes accurately, otherwise you’ll have to restart over and over again. This is especially important when making a miter cut for your inside corners and outside corners.

Coped Joint for Your Inside Corner

Just as we have talked about your outside corner needing help sometimes, the same goes for an inside corner in your house. This is done by the coped joint. It rarely happens that corners meet at a 90 degree wall angle, and look polished at first. However, the coped joint helps you take care of that problem!

This process requires you to have a coping saw.
You’ll need to make a 45 degree miter cut on your desired coping piece, and then mark a line with a pencil for your coping saw to follow.
Make sure to keep the molding steady on your saw table, and also make sure you angle the saw away from the face of the crown mold.
Be patient with the cut and make sure you keep your hand steady and the angle throughout the cut. After finishing, dust off the coped piece with some sandpaper to smooth out any edges.

The Takeaway

We hope you’ve been able to familiarize yourself to an inside corner and an outside corner and how a miter cut is exponentially important when it comes to crown molding! While it may be very complex, if you keep trying your hand at crown molding, there’s no doubt you’ll get there sooner or later.

Not to mention you immediately bolster the look and price of your house with any introduction of crown molding in it! So make sure every angle and inside corner is correctly placed, but maintain proper safety when doing all your work! Protection for your eyes, ears and nose are paramount, before you delve into any work!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com

Things You Didn’t Know About Sawdust!

July 15, 2020June 14, 2020 by Braden Smith

Sawdust is generally a nightmare for people involved with carpentry or any form of woodworking. However, if you’re comparing it with just normal dust, you’d be very wrong. Dust has its uses, but is very tricky to work with, and not to mention is usually done with industrial machinery. However, sawdust has now become a very reliable resource for our everyday lives in various cases.

Where Do You Get Sawdust?

Sawdust is the by-product of wood. Whether you’ve cut up wood, sliced it, chopped it or sent it down a wood chipper; you’ll get more and more sawdust. However, you can also notice sawdust amassing in old houses made primarily of wood. Could be from the floor or from the ceiling.

So, we’ve mentioned sawdust can be useful, but how exactly? Let’s look into ways that allow you to turn something that can be a nuisance into a reliable resource!

Uses of Sawdust

Sawdust can be incorporated with various substances and made into a lot of different mixes (wood flour, wood glue etc), and you’ll learn how to manipulate these substances to help you deal with irksome problems! Whether you’re dealing with a problem in your home walls or shop floor, you could find a way to make sawdust help you out and be content!

Filling in holes

Sawdust can be a very useful resource in helping to fill up holes you may have in your walls. Accidents do happen, and they may lead to an inconvenient hole in your wood walls or your floor. So, why not make use of this ‘wood dust’? All you need is some sawdust and glue, and then mix them both up well. This mixture is known as wood flour. When you mix sawdust with glue, you might be worried about some issues such as glue dripping down your wall or seeping through it. However, you don’t need to worry about it, as this ‘wood glue’ remains in a state where it is completely bounded properly.

So, whenever you see a hole that annoys you, grab some glue and sawdust, and fix it yourself. Don’t need a handyman when you can do it yourself!

Clean your Spills

Sawdust is considered the waste products of your carpentry habit, but it’s funny how this mess you create can help clean up other accidents. What do we mean? Well, let’s say you were really excited about painting something, but you end up spilling some of it over on your floor or table. At this point, you’re always worried about it just leaving a stain. However, if you’ve got some sawdust around and you’re fast enough, then just use that to clean it up!

Throw some sawdust on to the paint and then add a little bit of water to it, creating a wood flour. Use a mop to help you navigate this mess for a little bit and scrape it properly. After a while, you’ll notice the paint coming off slowly but surely!

Light Fires

If you’re out camping or you’re trying to cook up a barbeque and you can’t get a fire to start, sawdust can be an easy fire starter! It comes from wood, so duh it has to be a great conductor for heat right? If you have some candle wax around, melt all of it and then mix it up with your sawdust. This process needs to be done while the wax is still liquid, and afterwards you leave this mix in a mold for it to harden. The blocks that are created afterwards are highly flammable (so be careful!) and can just be thrown into some fire for it to spark up!

Clean Ups

If you’re living somewhere that has you worried about dust every now and then, it must be very annoying. However, even in this case sawdust can save you time. All you have to do is sprinkle your sawdust over the dusty area and then gently add some water to it.

Since sawdust is an extremely good absorbent, it’ll work with the water to ensure the dust or muck on your floor is carried along with it. You’ll want to use a broom for this job, as it will allow you to manage the clutter without getting it on you!

Drying your Hands

Now, this comes in real handy when you’re doing carpentry. Say you start sweating or you used some liquid (such as oil) for your work, but you want an easy way to just dry off your hands before operating any other machinery. Well all that sawdust that you’ve accumulated from your work? Just get a bunch of it and rub it on your hands just like soap! Unfortunately wood shavings aren’t an option for this job, but some sawdust will dry your hands up real quick!

Just keep rubbing your hands with a bunch of it and soon you’ll feel them become dry. However, they won’t make your hands clean though! You’ll definitely need to properly scrub your hands after you’re done working!

Soil Erosion

If you have a landscape of dirt around you which often suffers from erosion, then you can also use sawdust to fight that. Amazing right? Whenever you want to do this, make sure to create a mulch with your sawdust. You’ll need water, sawdust and some manure or nitrogen supplements to help create a good batch of it. Just help incorporate this mulch into your ground, and over time you’ll notice it become luscious!

This is a list of some great uses for sawdust with an in-depth description for each of them, but you can always help yourself innovate new ways to understand its uses even better, or research different uses for sawdust! However, if you’re ever unclear on how to go about these processes, then take a look at the video down below!

The Takeaway

Sawdust is one of the most abundant resources nowadays, so much so that you could make sawdust city out of it! Jokes aside, despite this just being wood dust, and different from wood shavings and wood chips; it provides a much more diverse set of uses. So for now set aside your wood shavings, and make sure not to waste this wood dust anymore by just throwing it out!

Help yourself become content with how you set up your garden, or fix the minor problems within your homes. Not only will it save you money, but you’ll always be able to avoid hassle when it comes to these problems!

Braden Smith

sawseekers.com