The Medway Handyman wrote:

I can see the dilemma. Although I expect if you had one of the decent
stands like Dom suggested you would find its actually quite a
comfortable way of working. Using a sliding saw you can also stack up
a pile of boards and cut a number at a time. The big SCMS will
probably do 8 deck boards at a time for example.

Still got to double handle the timber - lift it up onto the saw, then down
onto the floor. Plus getting the big stand into the van.

The double handling is not as bad as you would expect - just set up the
saw close to the pile of wood, measure you next cut and snip off what
you need - taking another plank from the pile if you need.

The stands fold up into a relatively small package (I suppose my one
goes down to something a bit bigger than a pipe bender). The alloy
versions are not that heavy. (you can usually use the wheels on them to
drag them along behind you anyway)

It occurs to me that a sawboard & circular saw could be taken to the
timber, rather than taking the timber to the saw - I'd just need to
support the end, clamp on the sawboard & cut. Probably quicker.
Could be in some cases. As could be laying a number of boards
overlength and then trimming them all together with a hand held saw
and a straight edge.

Easiest way is to trim the boards after they are laid, I use a sawbord &
circ saw. If you plan things correctly you can buy the boards almost the
right size - provided the supplier has that size in stock of course.

I spent an hour or so today mucking about with some 12mm ply & a strip of
ally angle.

After a few trials I ended up with a saw board based cross cut jig that
works a real treat. I have an old, but good, B&D circ saw with a 65mm dopth
of cut, so with 12mm ply it still gives 53mm capacity.

I'll give it a try on the next deck (prolly next year by now) & see how it
goes, but I reckon it will save time overall.

might do... hard to say until you try it.


--
Cheers,

John.

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