Makita 792335 0 2 Inch Carbide Blade

Every carpenter and woodworker I recognise appreciates the chance to buy a new tool. In my case, I’d been looking for a reason to buy a compound miter saw for years. A few months ago, my wife and I decisive to undertake a major home reconstructing project that required replacing a number of crown moldings as well as interior framing around windows.

I speedily realized that the tool of choice would be a compound miter saw, peculiarly when tackling the crown moldings. I had suffered through a bookcase project a year earlier, using a manual miter box and back saw to give rise to the crown molding trim on various built-in bookcases. There was no way I wanted to repeat that experience! My wife, eager to see the reconstructing project underway, readily accorded to a new saw purchase.

A Saw By Any Other Name

Miter (or mitre) saws are designed to make angled cuts in wood stock by pulling a circular blade down in a plunging motion. This action gives the saws their nicknames of “drop saws” or “chop saws.” A further refinement, the compound miter saw, may cut both an angle and a bevel simultaneously, removing the need for a “work-and-turn” motion when making an angled cut that will with no problems or difficulties join to another piece of trim or molding.

The double action cut is possible because the motor is attached to a pivoting post, which allows the blade to swing both side to side and at an angle to the workpiece. Think with regards to a picture frame: the end of each piece of stock is cut at a 45-degree angle, but the cut is also made at a bevel from front to back, so the sameness face is hidden, and the joint is neat.

Determining What You Need

It’s indispensable to consider the types of jobs you’ll be doing when choosing a miter saw. A more spectacular blade may of course handle more prominent stock. I knew that for the most portion I would be working on projects like crown molding, picture frames, and baseboard trim, so a 10-inch blade would be big sufficient for my purposes.

I researched a number of miter saws, and ended up choosing the Makita LS1040. This model is very light for a mid-sized miter saw, weighing only in regards to 24 pounds. One reason the saw is so light is that the base and side rails are machined from aluminum, which gives it light weight, but also means that the saw will be durable. Because we’re reconstructing the house we live in, I knew that my wife would suppose the tools to be taken back to the workshop behind our house after each work session. Thus, the lightweight Makita genuinely filled the bill.

A distinguishing characteristic of a miter saw is the rounded miter index that allows the angle of the blade to be changed relative to the “fence,” the bar that holds your stock in place. The protractor-shaped index many times has pre-designated “stops” so you may quickly swing the saw head to the angle you want and lock it in place. The Makita LS1040 has nine stops: four to the left and right, and the 90-degree straight cut setting.

I had antecedently applied a friend’s mitre saw at a occupation site, and had experienced a lot of trouble with the grip, which didn’t fit my hand very well. So that was unquestionably one of the features I considered before choosing the Makita. My new saw has a vertical grip design with a thumb-activated safety switch that lets me use the saw comfortably with either hand. The huge paddle trigger is easy to squeeze no matter how I’m keeping the handle.

Motor and Blade Brake

There are a number of motor sizes employed in miter saws. The LS1040 has a 15-amp motor, which is one of the more spectacular motors found on this size of compound mitre saws. I’ve found that I may without apparent effort cut through tough hardwoods with this powerful motor. The saw does not feature the “soft-start” feature found on some-saws, so it does jump a little on startup. I plainly have to wait a second or two until the blade has spun up to it is full 4600-rpm speed, and then make my cut. This gives me a little extra time to consider the cut I’m regarding to make, remembering the old adage of “measure twice and cut once.

Another feature I actually like on this saw is the electric brake on the blade. These brakes without delay slow the blade when you release the trigger. If a blade does not have an electric brake, it may spun for 10 seconds or longer, which may represent a real hazard to you or to the stock you’re removing from the fence. My venerable old table saw (also a Makita) came with the electric brake feature, and has made me a real believer in this safety device.

Miter saw blades come in a potpourri of materials. Less highpriced blades are normally made of steel, and are fine for quick jobs using soft woods such as pine, but they will dull speedily if you’re using hard woods like oak. High-speed steel blades will hold an edge longer, but the real ticket is a carbide-tipped blade, which will stay sharpest the longest. I was pleased to see that the Makita LS1040 came with a 40-tooth carbide-tipped blade, perfective for a potpourri of tasks I’m doing. When I do need to change the blade, there’s a shaft lock that immobilizes the blade, making it requiring little effort to get a wrench on the blade arbor and loosen it, avoiding nicked fingers.

So, those are the things I looked for when choosing my miter saw: a powerful motor, the capacity to make both angle and bevel cuts at the same time, an easy-to-use grip, and safety features like the blade brake. I’m glad l got a lasting saw, because once the crown moldings were finished, my wife started thinking with regards to adding a chair rail in various rooms, and I was off to the lumber yard again.

Price

Compound miter saws are more highpriced than single-action mitre saws, but the comfortableness of a one-pass cut for both the angle and the bevel made it the right choice for my jobs. The Makita LS1040 lists for just over $300, but you may ordinarily find it at Amazon or other online stores for less than $200.