Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 54

Thread: Does a woodworker really need a sliding-compound miter saw?

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Edgerton View Post
    I have a trained beaver in my shop, have not needed a saw since.
    That's lame. With those huge cutters everyone knows beavers are limited to crude work! The progressive woodworker uses the new programmable termites, will work for food, capable of fine detail.

    carved_bowl_IMG_4211.jpg

    JKJ

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,638
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    That's lame. With those huge cutters everyone knows beavers are limited to crude work! The progressive woodworker uses the new programmable termites, will work for food, capable of fine detail.

    carved_bowl_IMG_4211.jpg

    JKJ
    Yea, but the trained termites more or less are limited to creating the hole-y grail...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Northern Michigan
    Posts
    4,963
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    That's lame. With those huge cutters everyone knows beavers are limited to crude work! The progressive woodworker uses the new programmable termites, will work for food, capable of fine detail.

    JKJ
    Beavers are a very under-rated tool, its important that you have the right beaver for the job at hand. There are rough beavers, good for framing houses, and finish beavers who are more versed in the finer arts of furniture and cabinetry. Its important that you learn how to use your beavers correctly before you just dismiss beavers out of hand.Many people buy a beaver and never really learn how to use their beaver to its full potential, but rather blame the beaver for their poor workmanship, when in reality it is not the beavers fault at all.

    I am currently training a hedgehog to take over sanding duties from my belt sander, another misunderstood animal.

  4. #34
    My little 14x24 shop has a 12 inch Hitachi non-slider and an old Ryobi RAS on a long bench with the fences aligned and flip stops on the bench. Crosscuts within the 8 inch capacity of the CMS get done there. Wider goes to the Ryobi. My RAS requires good technique to get square cuts but will do it. My suspicion is the SCMSs work similarly - they will cut well but can also be pushed off by not the greatest technique. Larger crosscuts get done by the track saw. Table saw only rips. I also have an old 10 inch non-slider that I used recently to put up a bunch of 3 5/8 crown. It worked fine and saved me having to move the Hitachi around. It is heavy.

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    NE Iowa
    Posts
    1,207
    Mine is sitting in the haymow alongside curing home saw lumber and a few other tools that I need once in a blue moon, but in no sense regularly. I have a small shop that can't afford space for tools that don't get used, and I found myself hardly ever using the cutoff saw. It comes down out of the "cold" storage for construction projects, for which such tools are excellent, only. Meanwhile in the shop, I break down rough lumber using hand tools - a well-tuned frame saw is an amazing cross cut instrument for any rough cut - and do finish cuts on one of two table saw sleds that I keep tuned for dead-square or 45 degree miter cuts.

    All of which reflects the fact that I make one-off furniture projects and smaller stuff almost exclusively, and I do so in order to spend time in my shop, not to reach production volumes. If I were in this to make a living, I'd have a bigger shop, and probably a meticulously tuned compound sliding miter saw, or radial arm saw to provide a production quality cross cut station so I didn't have to switch setups between cross cutting, ripping and specialty cuts on the table saw. I'd almost certainly have a second table saw set up strictly for ripping as well.

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Dickinson, Texas
    Posts
    7,655
    Blog Entries
    1
    I had one at one time. Since I don't have it anymore, I obviously don't need one. I don't do the kind of joinery that requires one.

    If you are a toy collector, get one.

    OBTW, they can be dangerous. Kickbacks can happen.

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    odessa, missouri
    Posts
    1,906
    Blog Entries
    1
    I use mine. Not always building furniture pieces. Yet I have used it on other things....
    build2.jpgdeckk.jpgDSC03365.jpg

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    New Brunswick, Canada
    Posts
    324
    Mine is a 10" Makita with its folding stand. Probably why I like it so much since it stores like a wheel barrow. Also have a RAS that I use for dado work on deck components.
    Not used all the time, but would never do without either.

  9. #39
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    South West Ontario
    Posts
    1,502
    I have a Bosch glide 12". Take the stock blade off and save for trimming the ends of Martha Stewart's firewood. The stock blade deflects a bit but with a good blade vertical cuts are impressive, almost table saw square in hard maple. Beveled cuts are not quite as good but it depends on the wood.

    For cutting long awkward pieces that won't fit my table saw it's excellent. Don't overcut and nibble down just make one cut. It has no use for fine furniture.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
    Posts
    7,235
    Blog Entries
    7
    It’s plenty useful for fine furniture, especially with an accurate blade, setup, zero clearance insert and fence. It won’t make a finished cut but it can do accurate work if the prep is there and you maintain its accuracy.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  11. #41
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Willard,Utah
    Posts
    163
    For construction it is a must. For woodworking I prefer no slide. One more thing to get out of alignment. Just give me a12" compound miter and call it good

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Honolulu, HI
    Posts
    136
    I have a 12" Hitachi that I got before my tablesaw, and since I have to roll it outside to use the table saw anyway it becomes convenient to make length cuts. Originally purchased for doing a house full of crown (which it did well), not sure I would spend the bucks on one now. And after reading the earlier parts of this thread, I am now considering a papa beaver, mama beaver, and baby beaver to handle my rough, fine, and finish cuts.

  13. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    What is the need? I guess if someone was butt joining with floating tenons, the end must be spot-on.

    A cross-cut table saw will square panels and the ends of boards. Ditto to break down long rough sawn boards. I prefer this. I do not own a SCMS.

    I use a shooting board and hand plane to square ends of drawer fronts.

    Mouldings are sawn on a mitre box and then shot with a plane.

    Tenon shoulders (of M&T joinery) are chiseled square, with traditionally sawn cheeks. I do not use floating tenons (I do have a Domino but do not use it when building most furniture).

    So, I do not envisage ever owning a SCMS (noisy, horrible machines).

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    I agree completely.

  14. #44
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Fargo North Dakota
    Posts
    352
    I am pretty much on par with everyone else. i have an old 10" Makita on a folding cart stand. It is used for construction work, trim and breaking down boards. It is very handy when building shop projects too. I don't want to dedicate space to a shop made cabinet stand with extension wings so the stand I have folds like a wheel barrow and is perfect to tuck away in the corner or roll it on site. Everything else is cut with the table saw or by hand.
    My woodworking theory: Measure with a micrometer, Mark with chalk, Cut with an ax.

  15. I consider it more of a trim carpenters tool rather than a woodworkers tool. I could not live without it when I trim out houses, but very rarely use it in my woodworking shop

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •