Michigan - Saginaw County | Miter cutting of moldings is an art that requires practice.. The advice about a knife blade for marking is a good start...
The miter saw has to be properly tuned - a simple miter box will not cut precisely enough...
Learning to use a story pole will help a lot...
I can muddle through but old Abe (local furniture maker) is a virtuoso and watching him is hypnotizing... I watched him finish the molding (fiddle) around a teak table top for a yacht... He had three pieces cut when I walked in and as I watched he mounted those pieces to the table top... Laid the story pole on the remaining edge and used a knife to mark it... Shuffled over to the miter saw (English made and at least 50 years old, or more)... Laid the story pole on the molding stock and knife marked... Cut the piece with careful hand saw strokes... Shuffled over to the table... Stopped to light his pipe for the tenth time since I arrived... Put a few dabs of glue in the rabbit in the back of the molding and slipped it onto the table edge and tapped in a few finish nails to hold it while the glue dried - the joints disappeared.. Just not visible... He did in 20 minutes what would have taken me half a day and still not been as good as his work... |
making perfect length miter cuts
