advice on purchase--miter saw?
 

I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S

uriah wrote:
I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?


Why don't you get a real nice Dewalt, save all the packaging, and sell it on
Ebay when you finish your project? Think of it as a cheap rental.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

One other thing to look for a laser on the saw. It can really help when
cutting molding.

--

---------------------------------------
Brian A. Dye

http://tech-home.com
---------------------------------------


uriah wrote in message ...
I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S

Dewalt's are nice, but not work the money for the average homeowner.

I purchased a ryobi 12" compound miter saw. It was cheap and works
very well.
For molding I bought a dewalt 12" 80tooth blade. Makes real clean
cuts, just so you dont trash that expensive molding you just purchased.
I used the saw so far for just about everything you can imaging and
its still working great. (molding, ripping 2x4's, doing siding...)

If money is no object, man would I go for one of those dewalt sliding
compound miter saws.....

uriah wrote in message ...
I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S

One of the best and easily obtained is the DeWalt. You can buy one and then
later sell it for overall less cost than renting.

While I normally do not recommend cheap tools, you can get a Ryobi for about
$100. If you do, you may want to consider getting a better blade for it. I
have no experience with the original blade so check it out. If the cut is
smooth enough, good, but if not a Freud blade is a good bet. In your
case, the most important part is accuracy of the cut so you may have to
adjust it to get it perfect. Durability is not a factor since it is a one
shot deal.

For molding, a 10" is very adequate. You can spend more money for a 12" or
a slider and get more capacity, but for you needs, it seems overkill. If
you have ideas of putting on a deck in the future, the miter saw will be
handy also.

I have one of the new 12" DeWalt sliding compound miter saws and stands and
love it, though it's a little much to "man Handle" for 75% of the jobs I do.
I'm actually considering supplementing with a cheap Ryobi for small less
accurate jobs.

" After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S


A couple of posters made accurate statements in context but may confuse you
since it sounds like they disagreed.

A 10" blade will cut up to 3 1/4" crown. If you are installing the bigger
stuff you need a 12" blade.

A 10" blade will cross cut 1 x 6 or 2 x 6 stock (5 1/2" actual) at 90
degrees.

The maximum on my saw anyway, a 10" blade will allow a you to cut when the
board is standing on its edge is a 3 1/4" piece of stock. Think basboard.
Actually the new specs seem to say a nominal 4 x 4 so that would be 3 1/2"


No matter what name brand you buy you should be able to recover about the
same % when you sell it later if you take care of it and have the packaging.

At Lowes they have a Delta (Model: MS250) for $78 or the Dewalt for 199. I
remodeled 4 house and done numerous small jobs with my Delta (36-075). $78
bucks is only 2 days rental.

Happy shopping.


Colbyt

Has anyone just used the old miter box? I'm having the same issue right
now about what miter saw to buy for crown molding, but was told that I
can only use a 12" saw for molding. I'm not wanting to spend 300 on a
saw for doing molding in one room, plus another 50 bucks or so for a
blade with enough teeth to not rip up the molding. I'm only doing one
room. Has anyone had experience using a simple miter box and miter saw
(manual). I figure if the guys used them in 1928, why not spend 20
rather than 350. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
David

"Dave" wrote in message
oups.com...

Has anyone just used the old miter box? I'm having the same issue right
now about what miter saw to buy for crown molding, but was told that I
can only use a 12" saw for molding. I'm not wanting to spend 300 on a
saw for doing molding in one room, plus another 50 bucks or so for a
blade with enough teeth to not rip up the molding. I'm only doing one
room. Has anyone had experience using a simple miter box and miter saw
(manual). I figure if the guys used them in 1928, why not spend 20
rather than 350. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
David


You will develop a firm appreciation for the workmanship in older homes
after using a manual miter box.

Most of those joints were coped not mitered.

A decent quality miter saw and box will set you back about $50. I have used
one many times and before I did again I would use the $50 at a rental place.
If you can't install one room in one day there is a problem.

Colbyt

uriah wrote in message ...
I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?

Agree with those who suggest you borrow one from a neighbor. I've had a
professional grade manual mitre box for many years, a Sears Craftsman, and
have done many rooms with it, including crown moulding. I figure to
rationalize an electric chop saw, I would have to be in the building trade.

"HotRod" wrote in message
...
I think the cheapest and best brand to get would be a Myneighboursdewalt,
usually the price is great and if they are like me we never remember who
we
lend our tools too.

Also ... Never borrow from an optimist. Pessimists never expect it to be
returned.

Suggestion oft repeated in rec.woodworking newsgroup is buy the best
and cry only once and buy cheap and cry EVERY time you use it. Check
classifieds instead and use a good blade with it.

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 02:41:15 -0500, " uriah wrote:

I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S

Miter boxes are dead with todays molding. If you learn the art of
copeing corners, thats a
different story. Miter boxes were ok for just basic corners, but what
happens when they
are more than 90 degrees. Putty time I guess.... Or look at it this
way, crown molding
comes in 45/45 and 52/38 (depending on where you live) If you dont
have the corners
dialed in right for the type of corner, you just wasted your money (and
time).

The miter saw (compound miter is really a min. way to go) is what I
would buy.
If you want to do ANY work that requires cutting is a pleasure to use.

Buying a good 80 tooth blade sucks but if you want real clean nice
corners its the way to
go.

If you can't buy it, find a friend. Or if you really have to just rent
it.

Tom

Try Sears (Craftsman) Found this
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...=00 923194000
on their website.

I would just go to Sears and see what they have. AND, Sears is REALLY
good about taking things back that you aren't happy with for a FULL
refund : )

AND, you have NINETY days to be unhappy : )

Many thanks for the above suggestions. I have a bit of time yet
before I get to this part of the project so I think I will look and
research a bit more. Unfortunately my friends come to me for advice
and think a 16 penny nail means one nail costs 16 cents.

S

The best saw I have used is a nice 12 inch compound slide Dewalt that I
borrowed from work, but it does cost quite a few hundred dollars and I got
sick of bringing it home whenever I needed it, it's pretty big and heavy.
Since most of the work I do is smaller moldings ( and just general cutting
of wood for household project..., miter saws are handy to have around) I
bought a cheapie 10 inch off brand saw that was $69 at Lowes, on the
clearance rack..and it works fine. No, it doesn't have the power of the 12"
dewalt or the slide feature, but for 95% of the work it does just as nice a
job, and you can't beat the price. Forget using a miter box..it's just not
worth the hassle, the first time I tried a miter saw my miter box went on
the shelf and stayed there, even the cheapest miter saw with the cheapest
blade does a better job than a miter box, and So much easier.

--

Mikey S.
http://www.mike721.com


uriah wrote in message ...
I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
news:KTXZd.7287$I16.5584@trndny03...

uriah wrote in message
...
I will be starting a project installing both considerable amount of
molding in my house. I want to buy a power miter saw for the project.
After this I will seldom have any need of the saw. Renting one by the
day would cost to much for a diy in spare time job so can any one
suggest an econonical saw for the project?
S

One of the best and easily obtained is the DeWalt. You can buy one and
then later sell it for overall less cost than renting.

While I normally do not recommend cheap tools, you can get a Ryobi for
about $100. If you do, you may want to consider getting a better blade
for it. I have no experience with the original blade so check it out. If
the cut is smooth enough, good, but if not a Freud blade is a good bet.
In your case, the most important part is accuracy of the cut so you may
have to adjust it to get it perfect. Durability is not a factor since it
is a one shot deal.

For molding, a 10" is very adequate. You can spend more money for a 12"
or a slider and get more capacity, but for you needs, it seems overkill.
If you have ideas of putting on a deck in the future, the miter saw will
be handy also.
It amazes me how many people think Dewalt is a top of the line Chopsaw.
They still make money on refurbished tools if their so great why do they
break down so much?

"rnr_construction" wrote in message
It amazes me how many people think Dewalt is a top of the line Chopsaw.
They still make money on refurbished tools if their so great why do they
break down so much?



It amazes me how many people think the refurbished tools are refurbished
tools.

They sell them that way so they can have a cheap price at the factory outlet
stores and not **** off the retailer down the street selling them at full
price. The clothing industry has been selling "irregulars" for decades like
that. Tools and appliances are called "refurbished" for the same reason.

There are other good brands out there, Bosch, Makita, etc, but DeWalt is
still one of the best.