Please save me from butchering my wood more than I already have.


Justice

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Please save me from butchering my wood more than I already have. And, excuse my ignorance, because I have to ask at this point.

 

Is it at all possible to make compound miter cuts (for a large picture frame) using a 7" chop saw blade on 7" wide trim? Please tell me that I can, so I can call what I am having right now a minor "brain blip" and let it pass. I need to get these pieces cut today.

 

I've used this little chop saw for other projects that it wasn't really best for (and always made it work), but it's just not happening with the 7" wide pieces that I am currently trying to get cut. I can handle the truth, so let me have that above all else.

 

Thanks!

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No Ma'am, this will not work. Larger chop saws are very common in the trades so you may have succes borrowing for the length of a trim job. A straight edge guide for a circ saw is not a bad idea. Flipping your piece on the chop you have can be done if you have the hand tools to cure the cut that never lines up.

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Thanks Coop. And, Shaffer, I have "flipped 'em" successfully other times, on trim that wasn't as wide. Feel like I am having a brain freeze with this one. When people tell me it cannot be done I usually find a way, but maybe this time there isn't a way. Somebody try it at home, and let me know how you get it to work if you do. I am tempted to go buy a 12" chop saw now. But, I don't really need one. ; ) Help anyone?

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You're assuming that because you have a 7" diameter blade that you should be able to cut a 7" wide board.  And that would be true if the blade settled more than halfway into the relief slot in your saw.  But it doesn't.  It probably only goes in an inch or two, give or take, which means you do not have access to the full diameter of your blade.  New saw or a miter box is in your future.

 

Possibly dangerous and/or inaccurate something to try...set a long 2x6 under your 7" workpiece.  I hesitate to suggest this...don't do anything stupid.

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Eric, thanks for the input.  As my hubby said, "Better to have butchered your trim than your hand." I just figured I'd flip it and be really careful, but it just isn't happening the way I'd like today. I knew I should have gotten a 12" compound miter saw back when I bought this cheapo chop saw.  I was being frugal since I didn't really need one back then and had no place to put the larger saw. I just hate to spend $30 to make 8 cuts, even after wasting the day. That'll teach me to use the wrong tool for a job Thanks guys!!

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There is much more than Eric's description (sorry Kiki.) When you swing the saw to 45°, you are making a cut that is 7" times the square root of 2. As a general rule, sliding saws will miter two to three inches less than the blade width. A 7" saw will do most of what you might want to do with 3" stock.

My ten inch non slider just measured 3.5" on 45°.

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Then when you miter the cut, it is even longer than the 7". I doubt you can do it on a 12" unless it's a slider. Be right back, going to check

 

Coops right, I'm crazy.  No way to get a miter on a 7" board with a 7" saw.  It was 90* in my mind.  Scratch my thoughts altogether.  Glad you didn't try what I suggested anyway.

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Because no one seems to have raised the issue...

 

Picture frames are easy to make… But they are deceptively difficult to make well…

 

A large frame (assuming it contains a large item) places considerable force on the miter joint… Without reinforcement, miter joints by themselves are very weak --- a large miter joint is going to fail without reinforcement...

 

I don’t know how much research you’ve done on miter joints, but a joint requiring 7” of cut is non-trivial…

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Yes, I have the compound miter saw. But for what you need it for, you don't need the compound part. A "chop saw" will work if you had the capacity. A 14" saw would be huge, if they make one. I think the best solution would be a sliding miter saw. As I don't have one, maybe someone that does can chime in with the cutting capacity of theirs

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