Mitre Saws - what to look for?

[pharmaboy]

Yup, the only positive thing I have heard is from one of the trolls at Bummings.

Talking of trolling, I read through a hundred or more posts to try and glean the info above - extra weight given to woodies, and carpenters.

All of the good saws start at $800 and go up from there. The only thing makita, bosche, aEg, de Walt get you in the under $500 bracket, is at least the company CAN design a very good saw, and control the stuff that is under their label.

Seems to be one of the rare areas where you actually get what you pay for - so expand the budget from wherever it is and better things come

 

[silentbutdeadly]

I'd bet my left testicle ( love to take risks.) that the makita saw you've had for ages isn't a made in China under $400 jobby?

Your left nut is mine. Plain Jane LS1040 Made in China...which wasn't $400 back in '06!

Cut many red gum sleepers since...

Like I said...great blades make an adequate saw quite good...no matter the brand. Focus more on the quality of the base.

 

[spoozbucket]

At $400 it would crazy to think that something so complex would be made anywhere but China, and there's nothing wrong with that, probably 90% of battery drills and impact drivers are made there and the trade level ones are magic.

I used to buy quite a lot of Bosch items as they kept a lot of manufacturing in the EU but now that the Euro is in it became uneconomical so stuff is coming from Asia. Guess I'll have to save for Festool gear now........or maybe I'll just go second hand trade gear.

Back on topic, I read the reviews of the saw I linked and it seems they don't all have perfectly aligned markings and there are no detents for 45 degree cuts which would be pretty annoying.

Sorry. I should have read up a bit more.

 

[pharmaboy]

Your left nut is mine. Plain Jane LS1040 Made in China...which wasn't $400 back in '06!

Cut many red gum sleepers since...

Like I said...great blades make an adequate saw quite good...no matter the brand. Focus more on the quality of the base.

Objection your honour! I'm betting it was way more than $400 in 06, and in spite of the number is no close cousin of the current one. So would you sell yours for $200 and take on a brand new one for just $180 changeover ?

Either way, I've lopped it off, put it a jar of vodka, and taking it down to the PO later on this morning ( well, once I've stemmed the bleeding I will)

 

[Comic Book Guy]

... Festool...

Before splashing the cash on Festool you might want to see these videos from Ave: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ave+festool

Have to agree with the comments about blade quality. A good blade does make a big difference and is worth investing in.

Cheers,
CBG.

 

[spoozbucket]

Before splashing the cash on Festool you might want to see these videos from Ave: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ave+festool

Have to agree with the comments about blade quality. A good blade does make a big difference and is worth investing in.

Cheers,
CBG.

Awesome, thanks, I had a feeling that it was just for cashed up hobbyist wankers but wanted to try it anyway. I liked the look of their battery drill as I think my Panasonic batteries are starting to tire and there's no point in re-packing Ni-Mh batteries. Plus I refuse to purchase any future Panasonic stuff in Oz as their warranty department don't like me and I don't like them, dickbags!

 

[Art Vanderlay]

Mitre Saws - what to look for?

your hand......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/hea...d-off-with-a-power-saw-has-it-reattached.html

 

[Knuckles]

Mitre Saws - what to look for?

your hand......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/hea...d-off-with-a-power-saw-has-it-reattached.html

Bwahahahahahaha......gold.

His watch was still on the wrist so the neighbour removed it and put it in the bowl of ice.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

Objection your honour! I'm betting it was way more than $400 in 06, and in spite of the number is no close cousin of the current one. So would you sell yours for $200 and take on a brand new one for just $180 changeover ?

Either way, I've lopped it off, put it a jar of vodka, and taking it down to the PO later on this morning ( well, once I've stemmed the bleeding I will)

You'd be right about being way more than $400 in '06. Think double.

But since you have something of mine in a jar....who cares?

 

[Morgan123]

Awesome, thanks, I had a feeling that it was just for cashed up hobbyist wankers but wanted to try it anyway. I liked the look of their battery drill as I think my Panasonic batteries are starting to tire and there's no point in re-packing Ni-Mh batteries. Plus I refuse to purchase any future Panasonic stuff in Oz as their warranty department don't like me and I don't like them, dickbags!

Everytime i've used something thats Festool I've been thoroughly impressed. Pretty much the only people who buy the range are cabinet makers and higher end/boutique carpenters. Chippy i'm working with now has a Festool Jigsaw which is no joke 20 years old, it still looks new and only the other day started to play-up.

The Plunge saw is incredibly good (Spoken by a Carpenter).

 

[crank1979]

Awesome, thanks, I had a feeling that it was just for cashed up hobbyist wankers but wanted to try it anyway. I liked the look of their battery drill as I think my Panasonic batteries are starting to tire and there's no point in re-packing Ni-Mh batteries. Plus I refuse to purchase any future Panasonic stuff in Oz as their warranty department don't like me and I don't like them, dickbags!

We have a range of gear at work, Hitachi, Makita, Metabo, Festool/Protool, Bosch, Panasonic, Milwaulkee, DeWalt and the Festool gear is worth the money over any comparable machine.

But, I like Lie-Nielsen handplanes and Blue Spruce chisels over Stanley too.

 

[Freediver]

Couldn't have a 20 year old Festool. They were called Festo until a bit over 10 years ago. Festo tools are worth buying when you see them as they last forever. I had a Festo wet/dry rotary orbital sander that was the ducks until some prick stole it.

 

[Morgan123]

Couldn't have a 20 year old Festool. They were called Festo until a bit over 10 years ago. Festo tools are worth buying when you see them as they last forever. I had a Festo wet/dry rotary orbital sander that was the ducks until some prick stole it.

It was Festo, apologies for not getting technical.

 

[MARKL]

I have a Festo planer and sander, both ridiculously good especially the planer. Both getting towards 20 years old, stupid expensive but still good value.

 

[Jim Junkie]

Mitre Saws - what to look for?

your hand......

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/hea...d-off-with-a-power-saw-has-it-reattached.html

"I didn't realise my hand had gone until I went to pick up a piece of wood and it wasn't there. It was on the floor. I thought I was going to bleed to death."

How do you miss something like that? I'm also struggling to visualise how he was holding the piece of wood he was trying to cut such that he dropped the saw on his arm. Clamps be damned, that's just mistaking your arm for a lump of wood.

 

[foxpuppet]

"I didn't realise my hand had gone until I went to pick up a piece of wood and it wasn't there. It was on the floor. I thought I was going to bleed to death."

How do you miss something like that? I'm also struggling to visualise how he was holding the piece of wood he was trying to cut such that he dropped the saw on his arm. Clamps be damned, that's just mistaking your arm for a lump of wood.

He was wearing polar fleece jacket, maybe it disguised the damage?

I hit my knee once with an angle grinder. Only a little tap as it caught on a brass fitting and kicked back. I felt the hit and thought it was just the handle that got me and kept at the task at hand.
It wasn't until a few minutes later when I thought I had water in my boot somehow and took it off to find a puddle of blood inside. I was wearing long pants and looked at my knee to see a 3-4cm cut in the fabric and no other marks. Rolled up the leg and was very surprised to see the chunk it removed without me realizing. Spinning at 10000+ rpm could be part of it...... Just missed my knee cap by mm.

 

[steve jobs' pancreas]

power tools like angle grinders, mitre saws, table saws etc give me the heebees

I had a piece of floor board bind in a table saw and spit out the front at a kajillion miles an hour, fortunately I was standing to the side

my brother had a plasma cutter that was fun to use

 

[spoozbucket]

power tools like angle grinders, mitre saws, table saws etc give me the heebees

I had a piece of floor board bind in a table saw and spit out the front at a kajillion miles an hour, fortunately I was standing to the side

my brother had a plasma cutter that was fun to use

If they scare you and you still use them I would recommend not using gloves like many videos suggest you do.
Something pointy or something spinny will either make a hole in you or slice you, if it catches something like a leather glove it can pull your hand in and really mess you up and that's no fun.

 

[MARKL]

A guy I used to work with was a cabinet maker and one of the guys in his shop dragged his fingers across the top a jointer...didn't feel a thing.

 

[Jeffgre_6163]

I believe I am superbly qualified (if I say so myself) to discuss all things wood cutting related.
I am wood machinist by trade (think the guy that makes the bits that chair makers and cabinet makers put together) , have worked as a machinist, carpenter, selling power tools at M10 and I am now a trade instructor in the carpentry workshops in a big Qld prison.
Nobody tests the reliability of power tools like a bunch of unmotivated drug dealers, murderers, wife beaters and illiterate, violent thugs
First up.
The quality of the cut is related to a lot of things: speed at which you drop the saw on to the timber ( I'm constantly telling our workers that a drop saw is not a fucking axe, let the blade do the work) how sharp the blade is, how many teeth per inch the blade has (more is better for a fine cut but will make the saw work harder) what angle those teeth are ground at, what condition the saw bearings are in, how rigid the chassis of the saw is.
When selecting a saw more $$ is generally better.
Do not buy a compound mitre saw if you will not be doing compound cuts. The extra moving parts decrease the rigidity of the chassis and accuracy of the cut.
Same goes for a sliding mitre saw, cheap ones flex and are hopeless. You are better off buying a standard non compound mitre saw with a fairly large diameter blade .
I would think that to get a saw with a 50mm thickness cut and 300mm width that cuts well you would be spending big$$.
For the record.
We have had 6 of the latest model sliding compound Makita saws at work that have only lasted about 12 months. They have failed for one main reason:
In order to allow for the compound function the back fence of the saw has to slid out of the way of the saw motor when it tilts, this is accomplished by Makita making the fence out of cast aluminium. This is very brittle, one missed timed cut by a cak handed worked and the timber gets slammed back in to the fence and it breaks, end of saw. We have also had two fail at the gear box.
Bottom line:
Spend as much as you can
Stay away from compound saws unless you really need to cut compound angles
Speed the money and buy a nice fine tooth saw blade if you want to cut fine, cabinet grade cuts