Vintage Miter Boxes vs Power tool mitersled/CMS question

[Jack Gaskins]

Hello,

I am contemplating woodturning some segmented bowls. I will need to make perfect tight miters and was wondering about the accruacy of the old miter boxes out there like the miller falls and such. Do they cut accruate miters versa say a miter sled you make for your table saw or using your CMS? My table saw is not totaly tuned up and I have tried to get the blade parallel with the miter slot and just not getting there and I dont really trust my CMS for making accurate repeatable cuts so I thought why not look at what they use to use back in the day of hand tools.......

Thanks,
Jack

[Jerry Thompson]

Make a shooting board. Cut the 45d on your CMS and tune 'em up on the shooting board. There is plenty of info on the Web.
Thank you for your service to our country.

[David Weaver]

Ditto. Shooting board and fixtures to make what you want to make accurately and cleanly.

[Ryan Baker]

No, those old miter boxes are nowhere near accurate enough for segmenting. But, as suggested, you could use a shooting board to clean them up (that's a LOT of shooting). You could also make a jig for a disc sander or something like that to clean up rough-cut segments. Check out Malcolm's Tibbetts' book.

[Jack Gaskins]

Yeah, I was just toying with the idea of an old miter box. Guess I will do some further research on other techniques.
Thanks,
Jack

[Kenneth Speed]

How about a miter trimmer? I have a Pootatuck miter trimmer and it works superbly. The cuts are practically as smooth as glass. With a miter trimmer you needn't worry very much about the accuracy of the saw cut as long is it's in the ballpark.

Sadly, Pootatuck seems to have been driven out of business by cheaper import products and I can't comment on their quality.


Ken

[Gary Herrmann]

You can adjust a lot of those mitre boxes. My MF LA is right on the money at 90 and 45. For segmenting, I'd shoot the end grain regardless of what I used to cut.

[Kenneth Speed]

Well, As is so frequently the case, a thread on SMC started my curiosity bump to itch. To relieve the itch I decided to check the accuracy of the old miter box I purchased recently. The Miter Box is a Miller's Fall's model 740 that may date from around the 60's although that's a guess as much as anything. It came with a Sears miter saw that the guy who sold it to me claimed was still sharp. Both the saw and the miter box had clearly been very well cared for.

OK, cut to the chase, The saw IS sharp! and the box cuts as nice a right angle and 45 degree angle as one could possibly hope for. I'd still use the Miter trimmer if I was doing something like a picture frame but I don't think I'd get a better cut from my Bosch 12" compound miter saw.

So, as Gary says,"...right on the money..."


Ken