Hi, my name is Scott and welcome back to home improvement woodworking
I recently spent a day at the Greater Toronto Area Home Show teaching people about the basics of woodworking
A lot of people had questions about a miter saw
they weren't sure what it was used for or how they can benefit from it
I'm gonna tell you all about that
Miter saw is intended for your wood to be stationary and for that saw to come across and cut that piece
It's accurate because your wood is stable and you can get that saw exactly where you want to cut it
Miter saw has been designed so that you can cut angles
So if you're putting on trim on doors or windows and you want to lie to them at a 45 degree angle
This allows a very accurate angle
There are other increments along the dial here and that will allow you to dial it in if your windows out of square for example
or you're dealing with different things like cutting half of a 45 degree you've got increments for that as well
I'll show you a square cut so you can see how that's done
And I'll change it to a miter cut 22 and 1/2 degrees
Now I have a piece of angled trim
typically 22 and 1/2 degrees is what I'd use if I'm taking this trim up staircases
Now the other thing you can do is bevel this control here allows me to bevel this saw
And turn it over here
After I take this fence out
The nice thing about the size the controls at the front and not at the back
I've got an older saw and the controls of the back
So a bevel allows you to cut across here if you were doing 45s and a baseboard just like this
So here you can see I've got my bevel on my baseboard
So this tool is meant for beveling and mitering there isn't a better tool for it
Now that you know what a miter saw is used for
let me tell you about some of the things you might want to shop for when you're looking for a miter saw
The first thing to look at on a miter saw is the increments on the saw
Some of them are only on one side
This one's got some on both sides
And the reason that's good is if you've got a large piece of stock here and you're adjusting this fence
you can see on either side where it's not blocked
Another thing to look for too is
the increments that lock in
If I release this with this button and just slide it along It locks in at 15 for me
22 and a half
31.6
and 45
I've also got the ability to do fine movements all the way around
Locking those in make things faster more accurate for you rather than dialing it in specifically
Another thing to look for is bevelling controls
On this saw, It's right on the front
I've got an older saw words on the back. It's less convenient, but here it's just a matter of loosening this off
Removing the extra high fences on either side
And then tilting it over to the angle that you're looking for
Here are the indicators for the bevel
On higher end saws what you'll get is the ability for that to lock in automatically
Lower end saws don't have that. So here. I've got 22 and a half
33.9
and 45
Some saws only allow you to bevel in one direction
I recommend getting one that bevels in both directions
And that way you're not restricted in terms of how you're making your cuts
You can buy miter saws in cordless like this one or corded
This is Makita's latest model
This is a DLS 110 and it's a brushless motor which means it's running very efficient and will give you longer battery life
This runs off of two 18 volt batteries. I've been using this for a half-day so far and haven't had the charge it yet
One thing about buying a tool like this is it's a long-term investment
You want to make sure you're buying a quality tool?
I've owned a Makita LS 1013 for 20 years and I've only had to have it serviced once and it cost me $82
If you buy a good quality tool, it's going to last you and it's going to give you good results
So I encourage you to look at it
Don't buy the cheapest tool out there, but buy one that's a good quality
The last thing we'll touch on is dust collection
These are notoriously dusty saws
This is the dust produced from seven 2x4's being cut once
When I hooked up the shop back to this tool you can see here the difference
There's still some dust but it's much, much better
I've taken my old LS1013 and
what I've done is put it inside a cabinet with dust collection
That way any dust created is pulled away from me, the user, and so it doesn't affect me and my lungs
If you want to see this miter saw dust collection hood, I've got a video on that too
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Until next time enjoy your time in the workshop!