If you’ve got a miter saw in your shop you probably rely on it for perfectly square cuts, and maybe for cutting angles, too. Follow these simple set up tips to tune up your saw so it’s singing an accurate song.
It’s important to know, conclusively, that when you’re shooting for a 90-degree cut you’re going to get a precise 90-degree cut. While many woodworkers set up their saw by positioning a square between the blade and fence, I prefer to check the set up by making a cut. I don’t want to know if the saw is set at 90-degrees when it’s sitting still. I want to know if it’s precise when it’s cutting wood.
Prepare Test Stock
Get two boards ready. You need one perfectly straight edge on each board. The best way to ensure that is by jointing the edge. The wider the boards, the better. Your test will be more accurate if you cut boards that are close to the maximum width your saw will cut.
Make A Cut
With the jointed edges against the fence make a cut. It’s OK to cut both boards at the same time. But get in the habit of helping the saw make a good cut. It’s best if you set up the cut so that the blade has material on both sides, rather than just skinning the end grain. If you merely skin the end grain the blade can deflect away from it, adversely affecting the cut. If there’s material on both sides of the blade you won’t get deflection, and the cut will be straighter.
Check The Cut
Place the jointed edges on a flat surface and position the cut ends against each other. Check for gaps. These boards show a gap at the top of the cut, so the saw can’t be cutting at 90-degrees. Since both boards were cut the gap amplifies the error. The size of the gap is twice the amount your saw is off. One of the things I like about this approach is that it makes small errors look big, allowing you to really dial in the accuracy. Check your owner’s manual and adjust your saw as needed. Make another test cut.
What You’re After
You’re done when the cut edges touch uniformly across the width of the board.
Check The Bevel
If you have a compound miter saw you also need to make sure the saw cuts a perfect 90-degrees perpendicular to the table. With jointed edges down on the table cut two boards. Again use material that’s close the max your saw will cut. Check the cut ends the same way you did on the previous step, and adjust the bevel angle until it’s perfect.
Perfect Miters
OK, second verse, same as the first. With jointed edges against the fence and the saw set to 45-degrees, cut through two boards.
Check The Angle
Hold the miter closed and position a square in the inside corner. If the edges of the square are in full contact with the material, you’re good to go. If you see gaps, you need to correct the angle of the cut.
Make A Line-Of-Cut Fence
You’re gonna love this. Make it easier to accurately position your material on the saw by adding a line-of-cut fence. This consists of a sacrificial fence you fasten to the miter saw fence. There are typically holes in the saw fence you can run screws through, into your sacrificial fence. Mine is made out of melamine. The ruler between the sacrificial fence and the saw table provides a small gap under the fence that gives sawdust a place to go so it doesn’t build up in the corner.
Make The Line-Of-Cut
After the fence is screwed on, cut through it.
Using the Line-Of-Cut
You’ve now made it very easy to accurately position material on the saw. Mark your material with a lay out line that’s near the edge, and position the line on the kerf you created in the fence.The edge of the kerf precisely indicates the line of cut of the saw blade. Works great!
Photos By Author
Not exactly a “pro tip” but a “if you do it enough you eventually” sort of advice. 1) buy a GOOD sliding chopsaw. I have a Mikita with a sharp 80 tooth blade. 2) buy one of the angle measuring thingies. This one is just what I have but I bought it used along with my saw (pro tip- get everything used:). 3) use two pieces of scrap wood. Cut one with the advice of the dial thingie to whatever it says is the angle- this will be slightly off. PUt this on the wall. Now, use the scrap wood and starting off with what the dial says to do, make cuts with your saw on the scap wood until the two pieces fit perfectly. Now leave the saw where it is and cut the real piece. If it’s slightly off, well that’s what plaster of paris and/or epoxy are for on painted surfaces:) I hardly ever use a tape measure or other quanitative device because they are virtually worthless on existing construction especially old construction which doesn’t use dimensional lumber.
Your article has really helped me in selecting the right miter saw. I was really confused about my requirements and the properties of the miter saw. Now, I am quite clear that I need a miter saw and what kind of blades I need to have.
I’m curious
I bought a cordless meter saw lastday. But i am not confident about using this properly. Btw your guide’s make me educated to operated my miter saw. Thanks George Vondriska for your great giveaway for us.
Thanks for sharing your helpful blog. I’m a beginner in woodworking and the primary gear. Do you’ve got any revel in in selecting the blade? I bought is miter saw. And it’s far pretty beneficial. But I actually have trouble selecting the right blade for my miter noticed.
I am in the middle of setting up a miter saw station and I find this article really helpful. I am currently using the saw frequently, so the station will come in handy. Thanks for sharing. I have also watched your videos and they are really detailed and informative.
Excellent description on how to set up my miter say to cut perfectly.
I enjoy your show, however I have some observations and questions about the 90 degree “perfect cut” check. With both jointed edges against the fence as suggested in illustration #2 (x’s near the jointed edge and near the fence), when you cut both stacked boards at once should not one open the two boards like a book to check the double gap? If so then both x’s would not be visible in illustration # 4. It appears that there are two different boards on the right in illustrations #4 and #5 (note placement of the x’s and the color shade and the grain of the material).
Hello Tom,
To make it easier for readers to track the action of making the cuts and checking the results, the X’s were placed on both faces of the boards. That’s why you can see the X in the photo where the cuts are being checked.
George, Woodworkers Guild of America
Thank you, this was helpful. Setting up a shop in the basement with quite a few new (to me) circa 1950 Craftsman power tools is fun, but daunting. I just finished refurbishing a bandsaw, and am starting on a shaper. Your tips are great.
I’m confused. The first check under “Check the Cut” it seems that if the blade is not at 90 degrees it would make a slightly canted cut but the two edges would still match and there would still be no gap. It seems that this check verifies that the fence and the base are both flat. What am I missing?
Yes, when the blade isn’t at 90-degrees you’d get an angled cut. The key to this process working is watching the reference edges and where they’re placed. When the two boards are cut in a stack, the X edges of both pieces are against the fence. When the cut is checked and the X edges are on a flat surface with the two freshly cut edges touching, you and see a gap if the blade wasn’t at 90-degrees. If it helps clarify, the X is marked on both faces of each piece to make it easier to keep track of.
-George
Woodworkers Guild of America
great info! really easy to follow and makes sense. even I can do this!!
Got a garage workshop or can’t fit a shop vacuum, but still need to clear sawdust? Easy, just use a leafblower on the floor and a paddling pool/balloon pump on the saw.
I’m 74 an trying to get back into playing with wood
adding that line of cut fence to enable an accurate line of cut is cool and more importantly be very useful
Great Article, one thing I would add is to make a zero clearance insert for your miter saw. This helps reduce tear out and if you are like me and mainly use your saw primarily with no angle the insert will last a while. However, they are easy to make so if you need an angled cut and the gap gets larger it is easy to replace.
Probably the best way of lining up a saw I have seen.Thanks
[…] Related: Set Up Your Miter Saw For Perfect Cuts […]
This is the first of your ‘tips’ that I’ve read. All the material can be found in any chop saw owners manual. It is very rudimentary. I won’t waste my time looking and any more.
Wow, that is constructive, you are such an expert that nobody can teach you anything. Thank you Jesus, I knew you were a carpenter. Hopefully you won’t “waste your time” reading this, there are no large, crayon generated pictures.
ALL VIDEOS ARE EXCELLENT, MORE THANKS
Book learning is not bad, but learning from the experiences of a master craftsman is far superior, unless you already know all the answers, but don’t understand the questions.
Great calibration steps. I wish that I had read it before I cut 16 45 degree miters for two 6-foot by 3-foot standing mirrors. Also, you should give the reader an option to print the article. Thanks.
thanks for really useful tips. Very clear explanations and good photos to illustrate your instructions. I am going to have a go at building miter saw stand. That way I will make much more use of my saw.
wouldn’t a square against the base and on the blade be good enough ?
Hi Greg. That can be considered “good enough” for many cuts. The approach that is detailed here will let you take your saw to a new level of accuracy.
Thanks
Paul-WWGOA
Have a small wood shop in my garage . Enjoy making dif. Projects. Retired tradesman.
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These are excellent ways to test your saw. The line of cut idea is great. Just like a table saw sled.
Where can I buy a sacrificial fence in South Florida?
Thank you for the tips, I’m making my grandson a fire engine bunk bed and need accuracy.
Great work.Very informative! Thank you!
Excellent advice as always.
I’ll bet at least 95% of people don’t set their saws up like this.
Great post George,
I want buy a new miter saw. Would you please recommend me the best choice ! Thanks !
There are lots of good choices out there for miter saws these days, and it’s hard to suggest a specific one. Here are a few vendors that I’d suggest including in your list:
– Bosch- Hitachi- DeWalt
Depending on your price range, you might take a look at the FesTool Kapex as well. It’s spendy, but very sweet.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m a beginner in wooworking and the first tools I bought is miter saw. And it is quite helpful. But I have trouble choosing the right blade for my miter saw. Do you have any experience in choosing the blade?
Thanks for your question. This can be a confusing exercise due to the number of options out there. Here is a video that we have on this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMigHbHD968
sawdust are things hinder my work. I can not get them cleaned. everything I can do now is nothing. do you know how to finish this?
Dealing with sawdust is challenging, and a necessary part of this hobby. Here are some tips to manage this in your shop:
– Capture at source. By far your best defense against dust is to capture it directly at the tools where you are creating it using a good dust collector. Invest in tools that have good on board dust capture, and do your best to adapt adequate dust collection for those tools that are marginal in this area. Here is an article that might help: https://www.wwgoa.com/article/d-o-g-simple%C2%9D-approach-for-dust-collection-ducting/
– Ambient air cleaner. Placing an air filter on the ceiling in your shop can help filter out airboard dust that was not captured at the source. Products such as this can clean the air in a shop environment pretty quickly, but should serve only as a secondary method (in other words, buy your dust collector first). http://www.amazon.com/708620B-AFS-1000B-Filtration-Electrostatic-Pre-Filter/dp/B00004R9LO/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1450970548&sr=1-4&keywords=air+cleaner+woodworking
– Compressed air. Sometimes it is difficult to clear all of the dust off a project before applying finish. In those situations I like to use compressed air because it removes dust that is clinging or tucked in hard to reach areas.
If you were to cut a small 45 degree corner opposite the kerf it should allow for a channel the sawdust could escape. Of course that is just an idea that may work. Cheers!
I like the way you describe the post with us. Many thanks
I bought a miter saw last year that I am afraid to use. Maybe this post of yours will convince me to give it a try.
Thank you so much for this compilation of great ideas. I’ll be making up my own design but this really helps as a starting off place for my miter saw station. I”ll post my design as soon as I’ve figured it out!
That saw would really help for all the projects around the house. Thanks for the giveaway.
I have that same mitre saw and do love it with the laser. I have used it on many projects and my only complaint is being able to only cut 6″ wide boards. I am currently converting a 4′ wide closet in my mudroom to an open locker type with hooks and a bench. I have my hooks on a 1 x 8 board and I cut it on the mitre but had to flip it to cut the rest of the board and try to line things up. No fun! I too would like a sliding blade and may end up selling this one for one like that. They are a fun tool and essential for these types of jobs. Your condo is totally amazing! And I love that you do it all alone like I do. It’s amazing what we women can accomplish if we want to! Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Keep the inspiration coming! Videos would be helpful. Happy building!
George, I see that all the comments on this section are some 4 years old. I recently watched several of your videos where you employ the “sacrificial fence” on the miter saw. I have added one to mine. Since doing so my dust collection, which was attached to a shop vac, is almost useless. The kerf in the fence doesn’t allow much of the sawdust to go through. Have you a suggestion? A reply to my e-mail would likely be best. It is Umpire dot 20@gmail dot com