How to crosscut a miter on a wide, long, thick part

[Jeffrey Martel]

Another thought. You could cut it close on a circular saw, use a chamfer bit in a router, and then use a flush trim bit with the bearing riding on the chamfered portion to get an even miter.

[Prashun Patel]

Yes. How would I balance the router at 45deg, though?

[Jeffrey Martel]

Yes. How would I balance the router at 45deg, though?

Make a new jig with a fence set at 45 deg.

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

Make a new jig with a fence set at 45 deg.

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Bingo! I was going to post the same photo.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

BUT.......a 2" board at 45º measures 2 13/16"......I can't find a bit longer than 2" ........

[Mike Wilkins]

Time to invest in a slider as earlier stated. With the sliding table and wagon, cuts like this are a breeze.
If possible, find a local cabinet shop and get them to make the cuts for you.

[Mark Bolton]

At least to me the router jig seems like a lot of work and using a straight bit projecting out 2" cutting end grain may have issues of its own. Can be a merciless cut.

Slicking in 1/8-1/4" of uncut material after a single pass from a circular saw is pretty easy work either by hand or with a router and fence, and chamfering bit with the bearing removed.

The real issue is what comes next. On a table or bench that joint is going to see some major brutality. a spline or loose tenon (domino) would leave me worried.

[Doug Herzberg]

I'm guessing you don't have a radial arm saw. That would be my first choice.

[Larry Edgerton]

It's hard to muscle a 88" long piece that's 2" thick and 12" wide onto the saw. I'll need lots of lateral support. It's so heavy and long that I am anticipating it will torque a regular sled out of position enough to cause a burned or crooked cut.

You are right, it won't work, at least not to furniture standards. I have tried. Nine times out of ten something moves.

12" could be done on a 12" slider, would still be needing a touch with stickit paper on a hard block. No slider?

Hand plane and a shooting board?

Large chamfer bit and two setups. I actually have a custom chamfer From Nordic tool that could do it, but its scary. And too expensive.

I have done similar with a 16" Makita skilsaw and a jig, but you most likely don't have one of those around. It was 3" thick, did an amazing job.

Talk him into a different joint? My favorite.

I'm heading back out to the shop, I'll think about it some more........

Larry

[ian maybury]

+1 that the simple way would be if somebody could help out with access to a slider equipped panel saw running a 12in blade.

Failing that I'd cut from both sides with a rail guided circular saw, and finish with a hand saw if needed in the cuts. Depending on how confident I was of hitting the line my instincts would be to leave a bit of meat on it and to ease up to it with a hand plane. Make the cut first with some extra length in the piece of stock so that if necessary there's scope for a second or even third try - although cutting the other end even if it's square may amount to a similar problem on a cabinet saw.....

[Justin Ludwig]

Make a new jig with a fence set at 45 deg.

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You could use this same style jig with a circular saw. Clean up with a plane or your choice of tools.

[Sam Murdoch]

Prashun....do you have a router?


If so, rough cut it to size with a circular or hand saw, make a "jig" for the router at the correct angle and use a straight cutting bit to make the final cut.

This seems a simple and most accurate solution.

For a completely outside the box approach - Attach each leg to an equal length section of the top. Then connect the 2 mitered leg/top assemblies to the (aprox. 56" long) center top section. Depending on the wood species or if you are able to introduce a detail at the joint this might be a more interesting bench - just as rugged but easier to build. You could even add a section in the center (a leaf) so that the bench could be extended with the width of the table (if it is an extension table). That would justify the extra joints.

I did not say it was a good idea - just an out of the box approach.

[Pat Barry]

This seems like a perfect task for a Neander approach with good crosscut saw, careful sawing to the line and then cleanup with a shooting board and hand plane.

[Derek Arita]

Still liking the idea of a custom cross cut sled that is as long as possible on the in feed side. With 2 rails in the miter slots and maybe a roller stand for support and waxed tables, I could easily see it working well.

[Matt Day]

RAS sounds good to me.