compound mitre saws

Hi

I keep asking questions, please don't mind me. The things I've learned from this forum so far have been invaluable.

Anyway, I have various jobs to do in the new house including making some gates, fitting coving and skirting and maybe even a new shed. I was looking to get a decent electric saw and a mate reccomended a compound mitre saw. Would this be an all round useful peace of kit to own or is it one of those things you buy for one or two jobs and forget about. My budget is tight so I don't want to waste to much money but would like a few useful tools that will do a number of jobs. Have a jigsaw but need more meat.

If good, any recomended manufacturers. Not high end like DeWalt mind.

staylong said:

Would this be an all round useful peace of kit to own or is it one of those things you buy for one or two jobs and forget about. My budget is tight so I don't want to waste to much money but would like a few useful tools that will do a number of jobs. Have a jigsaw but need more meat.

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All depends how good you're cutting wood for accurately.If you're doing it for a living then properly worth investing one.I've managed without most power tools as I was bought up to use my hand tools over the years.The problem with power tools,its take away the experience of using hand saw & plane etc.For example, I can cut a 45 degree mitre or 90 degree without using a set square,again this is down to experience and believe it or not it's so easy to do..I would invest in a good jig-saw as it's the most popular tool and also a very good quality hand saw and not the cheap one you throw away.I have also got a plane that actually use a sanding knife blade ! Again the right hand tools makes life easy.

I take my hat off to you Masona. My saw cuts normally come out like S-bends.

The best piece of kit I bought was a proper mitre saw (hand) which allowed me to cut angles correctly. Personally, although I've got a circular saw I've only found it useful for cutting large pieces of board (e.g. chipboard) and subsequently I don't use it very often. For ordinary timber a handsaw is fine - and considerably less noisy and dusty (Mrs B has noted this point in the past).

My jigsaw gets more use and I'm due for a new one as my trusty B&D has definitely seen better days.

Anyway, I don't think you'd get your money's worth out of a compound mitre saw but don't let me stop you getting one!

IanDB said:

My saw cuts normally come out like S-bends.

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The most common for that is either the blade is blunt or you're letting the saw doing the cutting instead of forcing it plus the blade must clean and shiny! The same as with jig-saw,the faster you force it,the blade will bend outward as you're not giving it time to cut the wood.

I would recommend getting a compound mitre saw especially if you have a lot of angle cuts to make because the time it will save you alone will make it worth having. You can get a fairly decent Performance power brand for around £70-80 from B+Q but if you are planning on fitting a deep skirting of anything over 5" then I would spend a little more and get a Radial Arm mitre saw which has the ability to cut much wider timber.I have four mitre saws ranging from £70 to nearly £800 for one that flips over to be a table saw as well and each has paid for itself many times over in what they enable me to do much quicker and easier than other methods.