Calling all woodworkers - Miter saw recomendation

ERD50 said:
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Being a cheapskate, and usually doing rough work, I go for pretty cheap blades, in case I hit a nail or something, no big loss. But I had one project that was critical, cutting some expensive pre-finished molding with little room for error. I bit the bullet and bought a blade that cost almost as much as my saw (I think it was a Freud).

But wow - the results were fantastic! Smooth, no tear out whatsoever. It was worth every penny and more for that project.

-ERD50
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I go cordless with my saws. With the circular saws, the blade that came with had problems cross cutting a 2 x 4. With the Freud, no problem at all. I didn't even try using the original blade on the miter and just made the upgrade.
 
Do any of you guys sharpen your saw blades yourself? I have a couple of expensive Forrest blades for my table saw and have been using a local sharpening service, cost isn't too bad and it does make the blade like new. Never tried it myself but see there are a few youtube videos on DIY blade sharpening.
 
Pretty sure I will go with 12 inch, not sure about slide, just about doubles the cost of the saw.

On blades, the shop I was using to sharpen did very good work, but closed.

I found someone on cragslist that will sharpen or exchange for sharpened blades. The guy works out of his home garage , will see what his work is like next time to sharpen a blade.
 
Haven't tried to sharpen my own blades. I have about 4 Freuds that I rotate, and I bring the dull ones to Woodcraft and they have a guy pick them up and sharpen them. They look new when I get them back.
 
Regarding blade sharpening, are you all referring to high speed steel blades or carbide tipped. Certainly the carbide blades stay sharp a lot longer vs steel/HS steel blades.
 
I always used Freud carbide blades many years ago, and they were great.
 
Still shopping , looking at Hitachi . Took a photo of a vintage miter saw I was bequeathed. 24 inch, variable speed , ball bearing blade guides, auto-blade stop. A little short on power though. Craftsman from the 1960's , I bet it was $$$ in the day.
 

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Another option, depending on the work you do: A radial arm saw. They aren't as popular as they used to be, but I see them in garage sales sometimes. Probably not as precise as a high-quality miter saw, but lots of capacity. And, if you want to tempt fate, you can use them to rip long pieces. It's supposed to be safe, but once you've seen them shoot a board out at high speed, you get a lot of respect for the safety rules. But crosscutting is no drama.
 
samclem said:
Another option, depending on the work you do: A radial arm saw. They aren't as popular as they used to be, but I see them in garage sales sometimes. Probably not as precise as a high-quality miter saw, but lots of capacity. And, if you want to tempt fate, you can use them to rip long pieces. It's supposed to be safe, but once you've seen them shoot a board out at high speed, you get a lot of respect for the safety rules. But crosscutting is no drama.
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My first big power tool was/is a Craftsman 10" RAS I got from DW's dad. What a pain in the butt! I've never been able to get it tuned correctly, and you're right, ripping with it was very interesting in the Chinese Proverb definition of the word. I would definitely advise against it as a replacement for the miter saw. It's got a bit more flexibility, but it also takes up quite a bit of room. I keep meaning to sell mine, but there are always a ton of them on Craigslist practically for free. At least the top makes a good place to stack stuff and hang your clamps from.
 
harley said:
My first big power tool was/is a Craftsman 10" RAS I got from DW's dad.
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Did you get along with DW's dad, or was he trying to send you a message?
Like you, I still have my 10" Craftsman RAS. Remember all the attachments you could get for the arbor on other side of the motor from the blade? I've even got a rotary planing attachment for that thing, looks like it will plane about 5" at a time, so it could be useful for board up to about 10" wide. I'm scared to even try it. I need a little brother --"Hey, want to try something neat?"
 
samclem said:
Another option, depending on the work you do: A radial arm saw. They aren't as popular as they used to be, but I see them in garage sales sometimes. Probably not as precise as a high-quality miter saw, but lots of capacity. And, if you want to tempt fate, you can use them to rip long pieces. It's supposed to be safe, but once you've seen them shoot a board out at high speed, you get a lot of respect for the safety rules. But crosscutting is no drama.
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Sounds to me like you were ripping in the wrong direction.... I remember back when I was young doing it with my dad.... had to make sure you were pushing it with the blade spinning against the cut....

I was young when he did it, but dad built a two car garage with it....
 
Texas Proud said:
Sounds to me like you were ripping in the wrong direction.... I remember back when I was young doing it with my dad.... had to make sure you were pushing it with the blade spinning against the cut....

I was young when he did it, but dad built a two car garage with it....
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When ripping, the RAS can kick the board back at you even when feeding from the proper direction, it most often happens if the wood binds on the blade (due to internal tensions in the board released during the cut, misalignment of the fence, etc). The best defense is to keep the nose of the blade guard very low against the work and to adjust the spreaders/anti-kickback pawls properly--and then stay out of the way just in case.

Sorry, Lakewood--back to miter saws. But, if you buy a RAS instead you're more likely to acquire a story soon after.
 
samclem said:
When ripping, the RAS can kick the board back at you even when feeding from the proper direction,...................................
Sorry, Lakewood--back to miter saws. But, if you buy a RAS instead you're more likely to acquire a story soon after.
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Kind of like doing crosscuts with a dull blade and weak grip on a tablesaw :LOL:

Never cut off any fingers, but sure got whacked a couple of times.
 
Being I only had a few projects to build after we moved into the new (used) scaled down house (garage shelves, workbench, etc.), I bought a Harbor Freight 12" Compound Miter Saw (Chicago Electric):

12 in. Double-Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw With Laser Guide System

It's been suitable for my projects and I equipped it with a Freud carbide blade. I just cut all the aluminum extrusions with it for my screened in patio and it was fine. The precision cut of the saw was very acceptable. I also bought a folding saw stand from Lowes for around $150 on sale. I wouldn't use this saw for making a living, but for about 1/2 the price of a name brand, it is very acceptable.

Framed Up.jpg
 
aja8888 said:
It's been suitable for my projects and I equipped it with a Freud carbide blade. I just cut all the aluminum extrusions with it for my screened in patio and it was fine.
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That's a nice looking project, congrats. I'm a big fan of HF, and have the saw you bought, it's done a good job on baseboards and trim, I haven't tried anything complex with it. Did you put the HF blade back on before cutting the aluminum, or did you cut it with the Freud blade? I'm sure it would make very clean cuts, but I'd have a hard time doing that to a fine blade--like loading up a concourse show truck to haul cinder blocks.
 
samclem said:
That's a nice looking project, congrats. I'm a big fan of HF, and have the saw you bought, it's done a good job on baseboards and trim, I haven't tried anything complex with it. Did you put the HF blade back on before cutting the aluminum, or did you cut it with the Freud blade? I'm sure it would make very clean cuts, but I'd have a hard time doing that to a fine blade--like loading up a concourse show truck to haul cinder blocks.
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Thanks! all that's left is the screening (I hung the screen door yesterday).

Seeing I was cutting soft aluminum extrusions, I had the OE HF blade on there. Still did a nice job with only a quick file cleanup for end burrs on the aluminium after the cuts. That expensive Freud blade is saved for other stuff, although my woodworking projects are fewer these days. ;)
 
aja , does your source for extrusions sell online and ship ?
 
Lakewood90712 said:
aja , does your source for extrusions sell online and ship ?
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Here's the way I bought the materials for the screen kit which included the following:

1. Aluminum extrusions
2 Roll of screening
3. All fasteners
4. Screen door with all hardware
5. Screen installation tool

Home Depot contacts with the manufacturer, Madden Manufacturing out of Lake Ozark, Missouri. Madden provides you with a design sheet to sketch out your project that gets sent to them (directly by you) and a "kit" gets assembled. The kit ships to your HD of choice and you pick it up any pay HD.

You can order individual pieces or a "door kit" from HD (see here):

EZ Screen Room 8 ft. x 10 ft. White Aluminum Frame Screen Room Kit with Fiberglass Screen-EZSR810CRW - The Home Depot

I suppose Madden only sells to distributors, but you can call them through the contact link:

Madden Manufacturing | Aluminum Handrail, Screen Enclosures, Patio Covers, Roof Systems
 
aja8888 said:
..........
Home Depot contacts with the manufacturer, Madden Manufacturing out of Lake Ozark, Missouri. Madden provides you with a design sheet to sketch out your project that gets sent to them (directly by you) and a "kit" gets assembled. The kit ships to your HD of choice and you pick it up any pay HD.

......http://www.maddenmetals.com/
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That's pretty slick.
 
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