Well if you read my review of the Kreg miter gauge, you know that I am on a
mission to find a miter gauge that will lock dead solid at what ever setting
you chose. The Kreg that I bought did not, so I returned it and bought the
more expensive Osborne 3.

Things I like about the Osborne 3 miter gauge.

1. The fence will extend to about 40 inches.
2. The miter degree settings are easy to read.
3. The miter gauge has a steel guide bar and adjusts easily to fit your
table groove.
4. The miter gauge comes pretty much assembled.
5. The miter gauge is rock steady at 0 degrees and is relative easy to
repeat that setting.


Before I get started let me begin with why I like to cut angled miters
with the end of the board to be cut at the trailing end of the board. When
cutting the trailing end of the board there is less of a chance of tear out
on the back side of the cut because the blade is cutting towards the end of
the board and does not bend the wood fibers back. If you cut the miter end
first with the rest of the board trailing the cut, the chance of tear out on
the back of the cut increases dramatically because the blade will try to
bend the fibers back as it exits the wood and they will probably break off
unless you are using a freshly sharpened blade.

Things that I do not like about the Osborne 3.

1. With the comment above in mind, when cutting a 45 degree miter with the
end of the fence closest to the blade trailing the leading end of the fence
the telescoping angle adjustment bar is extended past its limits to be able
to not flex. The intersection of the 2 bars has an over lap of about 5/8"
of an inch. There is no way an accurate 45 degree cut can be made. There
is simply too much flex in the telescoping bar at that particular 45 degree
setting resulting in a 1 or 2 degree change in the setting. Using the other
45 degree setting with the leading end of the fence nearest the blade
dramatically increases the chance of tear out on the back side of the cut.
Basically the telescoping gauge goes from 45 degrees closest to the fence to
0 degrees in the middle of the bar back out to 45 degrees at the guide bar
end of the telescoping end of the gauge. The degree setting near the guide
bar end of the gauge decrease in accuracy the closer you adjust to the 45
degree mark. Basically it becomes sloppy on that end of the bar and the
fence move back and forth dramatically.

2. While a stop is provided with a stick on rule, the rule is covered up by
the stop and you cannot see the rule to make an accurate setting unless you
stoop over and look under the stop adjustment block. Some one was not
thinking on this particular feature.

3. If you intend to use the stick on rule there is no provision to zero the
fence back if you move the fence closer or farther from the blade. This
would make the rule useless.

4. There is slop in the spring loaded angle indexing pin and the hole that
it engages so if you do not push the fence tightly to one side of the
indexing hole the setting may or may not be repeated consistently. Since
this is mostly done with feel after adjusting visually to get close this can
be easily over come.

The slop in the bar at the 45 degree setting may be a deal breaker for me.
A $180 miter gauge should not have this inherent problem. So maybe tomorrow
I try out an avoided Incra.