Sumgod wrote:

Need to re-roof a 50ft long shed/'farm building. Thinks: therefore need
mitre saw for cutting numerous rafters. After much net searching have
headache! So many models/makes/types and differing prices.

I'm planning on spending £300/£400. For this dosh it seems I can get a
Dewalt/Bosch/Ryobi sliding compound mitre saw that will cut a 4 x 2 rafter.
So far so good.

For that application, pretty much any reasonable saw will do the trick.
However for your budget you could probably pick up something pretty top
end if you wanted. The Makita LS1013 is very highly rated with cabinet
makers etc for its very high accuracy and ease of use.

Is there anything else I should be taking into consideration? For example,

As someone else suggested; a proper stand. Makita do a decent one that
is quite reasonably priced (£75 ish):

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/...roduct=3781 5

This is steel, so quite sturdy, but also quite heavy.

is the max depth of cut an issue? If I needed to cut a 4 x 4 fence post
could I do this with two cuts, one from either side? And are mitre saws

Don't count on being able to cut above the stated specs of the machine.
Quite often the blade guard would foul on the work before you even get
the blade close to the timber. So rather than being able to cut in two
passes you may find you can't make any cut at all.

If you really need to work 4" tall timber, then you would have to look
at the 12" sliding mitre saws like the Makita LS1214:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?..._review#LS1214

which have large max depths of cut (if you see what I mean) less accurate on
small cuts such as moulding?

Inevitably the answer is yes - a bigger saw is harder to keep rigid etc.
However with the decent tools the difference will be fairly small. The
big Makita mentioned above is only slightly less precise than the
smaller one - and will still outperform any of the budget saws.

Apologies for being a bit wooly and unclear, but with respect to mitre saws
I'm currently clueless. Hence the appeal for some clarity here.

General background info can be found he

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/mitresaw.htm

If you have managed to shine some light into my rather dim mitre saw world,
many thanks! If not, thanks for reading nonethless.

Keep an eye on ebay for genuine second hand high end saws (rather than
the raft loads of new kit sellers). Often the prices will fall well
below new prices - especially on 110V kit. I paid about £200 for a
LS1214 110V saw. I needed to replace a couple of missing accessories for
about £35, but that was still a substantial saving over the £600+ they
normally sell for.

--
Cheers,

John.

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