Working with small pieces and mitered corners

[Tim Boger]

Would a hand saw miter box tool be the best way to cut 1/2" X 1/2" by 2" to 4" long pieces with 45 degree mitered ends?

I want to make some small boxes and don't want my fingers that close to the blade .... what do you all recommend?

Thanks
Tim

[Jim Becker]

Yes, a precision hand-saw type miter box setup is probably the safest way to make these cuts. With power equipment, some kind of jig/fixture is necessary and the nature of such small parts doesn't always reflect a quality cut on bigger power tools. Some folks who do this work a lot will use small power tools designed for the model-making and miniatures world...there was a thread recently that went into that quite a bit.

[Tim Boger]

Hey Jim,

Thanks for your feedback, I'd appreciate a recommendation on the precision hand-saw miter box.

I'll do some looking online.
Tim

Yes, a precision hand-saw type miter box setup is probably the safest way to make these cuts. With power equipment, some kind of jig/fixture is necessary and the nature of such small parts doesn't always reflect a quality cut on bigger power tools. Some folks who do this work a lot will use small power tools designed for the model-making and miniatures world...there was a thread recently that went into that quite a bit.

[Jacques Gagnon]

Tim,

If you want to try another approach, you could look into a combination of two jigs: one for crosscutting your pieces, the other one for precisely shooting both the length and angle (miter) of your pieces. There are many examples on the web; one I like is made by Matt Kenney.

Jacques

[Tim Boger]

Thank you Jacques,

I'll check into your suggestion, sounds interesting.

Tim

Tim,

If you want to try another approach, you could look into a combination of two jigs: one for crosscutting your pieces, the other one for precisely shooting both the length and angle (miter) of your pieces. There are many examples on the web; one I like is made by Matt Kenney.

Jacques

[Stan Calow]

A Nobex miter saw is what I use, tweaked with a Lion miter trimmer if necessary. I don't like to use power tools on small pieces. But Jacques is right - getting the lengths right is the hard part.

[larry senen]

I made a sliding fence/stop for a disc sander. I make small 8 sided boxes as a hobby. Various ways to make a sliding stop.

[mreza Salav]

A good cross-cut sled plus toggle clamps to hold the pieces:

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a friend who makes rosaries to hand out. He came to me to help make the crosses. I made a small parts sled for my table saw. After ripping small strips, we cut the parts to length and even make half-lap joints on the sled. The parts are held while cutting by some locking clamps. Our hands are never near the blade.

[Edwin Santos]

Another vote here for a single runner small parts sled on the table saw with DeStaCo type toggle clamps to hold the parts in place. This method will give you perfect repeatable cuts using a fine crosscutting blade. A few days ago I made such a sled in about 15 minutes for cutting 2 1/2" x 1 5/8" x 7/16" pieces at 30 degrees for a bunch of small hexagonal boxes. I cut the pieces to size first using a regular crosscut sled, and then used the special sled just for the mitering.

Also, there are safe accurate ways to work with small parts using a compound miter saw. If you're interested, look up some videos on YouTube by a woodworker named Ted Baldwin. He uses some very interesting, safe methods that were eye opening to me.

Edwin

[Nick Decker]

I've been using a 45-degree chamfering bit and a coping sled on my router table, after first cutting the pieces to length with a crosscut sled on the table saw. The miter cuts require several passes each, but result in extremely clean miters, with no worries about the angles being correct.

[Yonak Hawkins]

There is a fellow in our area who specializes in cutting small pieces. Here's a link to a Utube video of a class he taught (certified, no profanity) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knotpj60bsk

[peter Joseph]

I would freehand cut the miters oversized and trim to final dimensions on a shooting board.

[Ed Aumiller]

There is a fellow in our area who specializes in cutting small pieces. Here's a link to a Utube video of a class he taught (certified, no profanity) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knotpj60bsk

Thanks for posting.... enjoyed watching it...