Heh, I cut the tops off a bunch of 4x4's when I built a fence for my
last house. Since the holes were not all dug at exactly the same depth,
I decided to just put all the posts in and when the concrete base dried,
cut the tops off all of them to a standard height. I just made a square
"jig" out of wood and slipped it over the top of the post and screwed it
in at the right height. That served as a clamped edge guide that I ran
my circular saw across all the way around the post. It worked great!
I'll bet my neighbors were wondering what the bleep I was doing, but I
did get great results.

I would do the same for these timbers, but I would probably not subject
any of my saws to that. Assuming these do not have to be precision-cut,
I would go retro and use a bow saw and previously mentioned.

marc rosen wrote:
Hey MC,
I have similar thoughts to George's reply but here is a method for
cutting timbers larger than a saws cutting depth;
Make a fence around the sides of the timber to guide your circular saw
on all four sides. After cutting you will be left with a small nib
that can be cut with a hand saw or recipricating saw. That last cut
won't be perfectly smooth but the edges will look nice. Hold your
breath for each cut! Seriously, wear some type of respiraory
protection. Maybe wet down the area so the dust/chips don't blow
away.
Would your miter saw be able to make a contiguous starter kerf on each
face? If so, that's a simial approach to my first suggestion.
Marc



On Jul 15, 4:48 am, "MiamiCuse" wrote:
I have six pieces of pressure treated 8"x8" railroad ties (8' long) that I
need to cut into short, 8"-10" long sections. What is the best way to go
about it? I can't use my compound miter saw with such a large cross
section, and I am not sure I can get a clean cut with a circular saw (not
with my skill level). Any suggestions?

Thanks,

MC