I had a need of one of these today. Remembered watching this video and threw one together. I don't like the one I built as the small handsaw I have made a rough cut. I think I now need one of those Japanese saws.. heh heh.. Really something with a thinner blade,. I went to a hacksaw blade but now my kerf is to wide. But point remains. Following this video worked. I put a digital angle finder on the kerf on the miter box and read 45.0 degrees. I just get to make another one.
Thanks for your ideas. I like to use wedges that are 8 to 10 degrees for various things such as clamping so I made a miter box with those two angles to make them reliably repeatable. I have not used a pull saw though, so I think I will try that also.
Nice short vid. I use a Stanley miter box which has various fixed point angles for those trim moldings that aren't exactly 90 or 45 degrees. I can see using this for picture framing or other framing where you aren't matching the exact wall or ceiling angles since virtually all houses aren't completely square and plumb. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!
@William Logan Thanks! I've bought and renovated a few crooked old houses. Most of the time you can use your 45° angles. You just need to use shims to get everything even before the trim goes on. For the jobs where I do need to cut custom angles, I usually bring an adjustable protractor. Cheers 🍺
Totally going to be doing this one. My problem is I bought the plastic one and the factory cuts are just so wide. By the time I hit the bottom my cut is off.
Nice build! I'm thinking I can try to make the cuts on a bandsaw since I don't have a table saw. A blade with 0.65 mm kerf should be OK for ryoba with 0.5 mm kerf. The only trick might be to set the band saw table to 45 deg and make one cut with the box in horizontal position, another with vertical.
Very cool, now attach a vacuum hose to the box and you got yourself a Festool miter box. Much cleaner than an electric miter saw. Now does this work for crown molding and such? Though it may take a little longer to cut, you can work indoors in the same room you’re trimming out, it may actually be faster than having to carry the piece outside and then having to bring it back in. And then there’s less clean up because it’s not throwing dust all over the place like an electric one. This may actually be the way to go.
@woodfern909 If you make the box wide enough, you could accept crown moulding. You will probably need to customize the box to have a 22.5° slot in addition to the 45° and 90°. I have used this type of mitre box on an indoor trim job. It does save time, reduces dust and gives you a cleaner cut (if you use the right saw).
Great Video! just made one this past week and its such a wonderful tool to have.Thank you! I really enjoyed the backround music also. By any chance could I get you to share the track info.
@David Letz Thanks! I purchase them at a local tool store. They have them by the checkout, so I always pick a few up because I always lose them. I'm sure you can get them on amazon or at harbour freight too.
Thanks Eric. I sold my "big" mitre saw and rely on my table saw for everything for the same reasons you mentioned. I'll add this to my jigs, BTW i'm wondering if you have any issues with the mitre slots on your Ridgid? Mine are off and its always a struggle to get a sled or crosscut sled working accurately.
@Bob Dunn Thanks! The mitre slots should be square to the blade. If anything, the mitre slots would be the most reliable. You can easily check this with a speed square. If they are not, I would take it back to home depot and exchange it. The only other thing it could be is there might be a bit of play between your rails and the mitre slot.
Then just buy a miter box on Amazon as a starting point. It's cheaper than a Table saw. That's all I had when I used to live in an apartment - hand tools and a miter box.
How would you use this for larger baseboards? Do you stand them on end and cut them or do you really just need a miter saw for 6” baseboards? Thank you
@Felonious Fisherman The miter box in this video is 12"L X 6"W for the Base / The fence pieces are 2 3/4"W X 12" L Using 3/4" Plywood. Of course, you can customize these for what ever you need. Most of the store bought miter boxes are smaller. I have made a few different sizes in the past and the one in the video seems to be the best for most of my work.
@JEREMY RADTKE Thanks! I never have issue with alignment but you should always check every time you change something. Everything should align square to the mitre tracks and the surface of the table top. Re aligning the blade to 90° can be a pain sometimes - but other than that it works well. Next time though, I'll buy something different.
If your miter box is more than 4 inches wide, you can use it to guide your saw. For hand saw work, I suggest buying a decent Japanese pull saw like this one: amzn.to/2YValnk
