I have an inexpensive ryobi miter saw that I bought just to do
straight chopping when I was making a lot of crates. I just butted the
cleats, and didn't really bother with miters. The saw table will
rotate 45 deg. in either direction, but the blade tilts 45 deg. in
only one direction (meaning it's not a so-called compound miter saw I
guess?)

I would like to do some baseboard molding. Nothing fancy, just 45 deg.
angles inside and outside.

So say, looking from the top down, the inside angle is going to look
like this /_________\ where the back edge line to the wall is exactly
six feet.

With one outside angle, it looks like this /___________/ where the
back edge point to front edge point is also six feet, and so on.

How do I apply the 1 to 1 square root formula (1.414) to a baseboard
that is, say 3 1/4 tall by 1 1/4 thick, to give me the exact over or
under six foot measurement at the angle? Or should I just be using
some kind of folding bevel or miter tool? Something cheap I can get at
the BORG? If so, what?

First, you don't miter the inside corner, just the outside corners.
You want to cope the inside corners
Here is an article on installing moldings:
http://doityourself.com/info/h2molding.htm


"Bengal Ghost" wrote in message
...
I have an inexpensive ryobi miter saw that I bought just to do
straight chopping when I was making a lot of crates. I just butted the
cleats, and didn't really bother with miters. The saw table will
rotate 45 deg. in either direction, but the blade tilts 45 deg. in
only one direction (meaning it's not a so-called compound miter saw I
guess?)

I would like to do some baseboard molding. Nothing fancy, just 45 deg.
angles inside and outside.

So say, looking from the top down, the inside angle is going to look
like this /_________\ where the back edge line to the wall is exactly
six feet.

With one outside angle, it looks like this /___________/ where the
back edge point to front edge point is also six feet, and so on.

How do I apply the 1 to 1 square root formula (1.414) to a baseboard
that is, say 3 1/4 tall by 1 1/4 thick, to give me the exact over or
under six foot measurement at the angle? Or should I just be using
some kind of folding bevel or miter tool? Something cheap I can get at
the BORG? If so, what?

When making a 45 degree cut, the longer edge will extend 1.414 *
Thickness / 2 further than the short edge. In your drawing, the short
side was 6 feet long. There are two 45 degree cuts, adding 1.414 *
1.25 / 2 = 0.884 inches to each end, so the total length ends up being
6' 1.77" on the outside.

The much easier way to do this is to cut one side at 45 degrees and
just mark exactly 6' on the back of the board (or better yet, hold the
board up to the wall and mark the length EXACTLY). Then cut from the
front side being very conservative and leaving yourself some extra
length. Then flip the board over and see how close you got to the
pencil line. Flip it back to the front side and cut off a little more.
Repeat until you get to the exact correct length on the back.

Also, assuming you have a 10" miter saw (and it IS compound if the
blade bevels, even in only one direction), you should be able to stand
the molding up on edge and, therefore, only have to rotate the table,
not change the bevel. You should always keep the front side of the
molding facing outwards (towards you), since there will likely be some
chipout on the back. If you'd prefer to keep the board flat and tilt
the blade to 45 degrees, you should make all of your cuts with the
outside facing up, again to isolate chipout to the back side.

In article . com, "Josh" wrote:
When making a 45 degree cut, the longer edge will extend 1.414 *
Thickness / 2 further than the short edge. In your drawing, the short
side was 6 feet long. There are two 45 degree cuts, adding 1.414 *
1.25 / 2 = 0.884 inches to each end, so the total length ends up being
6' 1.77" on the outside.

WRONG. When making a 45-degree cut, the longer edge is longer than the shorter
edge by exacly the thickness of the board. In his drawing with two 45 degree
cuts on a 1.25" board 6' long, the total length will be 6' + (2 * 1.25) =
74.5" on the outside.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Yes; I feel like an idiot (Luckily, not a first for me). I apparently
needed some coffee.