If you’ve just got your first miter saw, one of the first things you should do is learn everything you can about it first before you even turn it on.
A miter saw is a very powerful machine that can help you carry out a lot of projects in a shorter time, because it’s the best tool for making crosscuts through materials like wood and non-ferrous metals. But it can also be a very dangerous machine to operate if you don’t know what you’re doing.
They come equipped with fast spinning blades that spin up to 4000 RPM and above, and can cut through most building materials. So, you see why you need to know your way around the saw before you even turn it on.
Apart from that, so many other people have used a miter saw before you and they have a weight of knowledge, tips and tricks you can learn to help you not only operate your miter saw safely, but efficiently as well.
That is why I’ve listed 13 important miter saw tips and tricks right here in this article, so you can get the best value out of your miter saw.
1. Let the blade come to full speed before cutting
This is one of the first tips you have to learn about miter saws. When making a cut, grab the handle press the trigger and wait for a few seconds for the blade to get to its maximum speed before dropping it and allow it to come in contact with the material you’re cutting.
You can’t let the blade contact the material unless it’s at it’s maximum speed.
After the cut is made, you also have to release your hand from the trigger and allow the blade to come to rest without raising it from the work piece yet, and also holding the work piece firmly on the miter saw table.
Lifting the blade off the work piece prematurely before it comes to rest can cause the off-cut to fly off the table, especially if it’s small and may cause injury if it hits someone.
2. Upgrade the blade
Out of all the miter saw tips revealed here, this one is probably the one that’s going to save you a whole lot of frustration and stress. Any saw, whether it is a miter saw, table saw or circular saw is only as good as its blade. If you want to make better cuts, you have to upgrade the blade to a better quality one.
This is very important especially if you engage in finish carpentry or cabinetry. You need cuts that are smooth and flush, a good blade makes all the difference.
A compound miter saw might have a good motor, bevel and slide effortlessly, but if the blade is not good, it’s still going to suck.
So, invest in a good quality blade, so you can get the best results from using your miter saw.
3. Use a Fastcap stick to hold very small materials down
Cutting small workpieces on a miter saw can be quite tricky and even dangerous if you’re not careful. You don’t want to hold these small workpieces with your bare hands because you don’t want your hands anywhere close to the blade. That area close to the blade is a danger zone and you don’t want to have your hands there.
So you have 2 solutions. The first one is to clamp down the small workpiece to the saw fence before making the cut.
The second option is to use a Fastcap stick to hold it down. The Fastcap (a.k.a million dollar stick) acts as a sacrificial arm you can use to hold down the small piece against the miter table. In case of any accident, the stick takes the blade and not your hand. I guess that’s why Fastcap calls it the million dollar stick.
4. Add an auxiliary fence for cutting small pieces
Apart from keeping your hands far away from the blade, there’s almost no danger when cutting longer pieces of wood.
The danger lucks around when you have to cut off small pieces of a longer piece. Because the piece you’re cutting off is small, it can easily be sent flying off at a very high speed if it gets caught by the blade after the cut is made.
This, of course poses serious danger to you and any other person standing there with you in the workshop.
However, you can prevent this from happening by doing two simple things, one we have talked about before.
First, equip your miter saw with an auxiliary fence as shown in the image below. The auxiliary fence will prevent the small cutoff from falling back into the blade.
Secondly, allow the blade to come to rest before lifting it off the cut. We have mentioned this before. This is very important because lifting the blade from the cut when it’s still at a very high speed can actually make the blade to catch the small cutoff and send it flying into the air, which is the situation we are trying to avoid. Is it not?
5. Use a red marker to mark danger zones
Although a very useful tool, and probably safer to use compared to a table saw and a circular saw, the compound miter saw also very dangerous and needs to be paid proper respects.
One of the best way to pay it this respect is to keep your hands as far away from the blades as possible. To remind you of this, you can simply mark areas where the blade passes through and never put your hands in those areas.
Draw red lines on the fence and bed of the saw to remind you not to put your hands beyond those areas when making a cut.
If you’re using a 10 inch miter saw, then draw the line 7 inch in from both side of the saw base and fence and 8 inch in from both sides of the saw base and fence of a 12 inch miter saw.
6. Install a track and stop kit for repeat cuts
Whether you’re making furniture in your workshop or you’re carrying out a new building construction project on the jobsite, it is pretty inevitable that you’ll have to make repetitive cuts.
If you’re a very experienced woodworker, then you’ll know this tip already. You don’t have to mark out the same measurement over and over again.
You can just set the measurement on the miter saw, clamp a stop block to the miter saw fence at the exact length you have to cut repeatedly, then you can just make as many cuts as you need.
But that’s the crude way of doing it. The best way to make repeat cuts on a miter saw or even a table saw is to get a track and stop kit like the one from Kreg shown above.
It consist of 2 stops that slides along a calibrated track. You can slide both of the stops along the track and get the fixed at the precise measurement where you want to make the repeat cuts.
7. Use a mobile miter saw stand
It is almost impossible to use a miter saw efficiently without placing it on a stand of some sort.
If you’re in your workshop, you can actually place the miter saw on a workbench and work with it like that. However, on the jobsite, the need to move the miter saw from one position to another will always arise.
With a fixed workbench, that would be difficult, but with a mobile miter saw stand, it’s easy as eating pie.
So, that’s tip number 2. Get a mobile miter saw stand and see how flexible, comfortable and efficient using your miter saw becomes.
8. Install a laser
Many new models of miter saws usually come fitted with laser which lights a thin line across the work-piece, at the exact line where the blade will cut through.
The laser line allows you to cut faster because you don’t have to bring the blade down to the line you’ve marked to make sure it’s on the line.
Once the laser line is on your mark, you can start the saw, and bring it down on the work piece, and it will go through your mark.
What if you have an older saw that did not come with a laser? Well, you don’t have to sell your old saw to buy a new one with a laser marker (though you could).
You can actually buy a laser guard from your local hardware store or from Amazon. It can easily be fitted on the blade, by replacing the washer that holds the blade with the laser guide, and Bang!, your miter saw has a laser.
Whenever you want to make a cut, you no longer have to stress yourself trying to align the blade with your mark.
9. Cut wider boards with your miter saw
If your miter saw is not a sliding miter saw, the width of the boards you can cut with it is limited. But you can cut wider boards too with your miter saw even though it’s not a sliding one.
Achieving this fit is simple, just place a board under the wide board you want to cut, then make the cut. You’ll see that your cutting capacity will increase either by an inch or half an inch, depending on the thickness of the board you placed under it.
Another way to cut wider boards is to cut one side of the board first, then flip it over and cut the other side.
10. Buy a double tilt saw
If you don’t have a miter saw yet and you’re in the market for one, it is important that you get a double tilt or double bevel saw instead of a single tilt saw.
This is just to make things easier for you when making bevel cuts, especially if you want to use your saw for trim work.
It allows you to cut bevels in both directions of your workpiece or material without going through the trouble of flipping the material all the way around.
On the other hand, if all you want to do with your saw is to make simple crosscuts, then you don’t have to worry about a double bevel saw.
A single bevel saw coupled with a good quality blade will cut it for you.
11. Use a sacrificial board
If you’re not using an auxiliary fence, you can still cut off small pieces by making use of a sacrificial board to backup the piece you’re cutting.
The sacrificial board will prevent the small piece from being caught up with the blade and hence prevent it from being thrown off dangerously into the air at high speeds.
Apart from using the sacrificial board, don’t forget to also allow the blade to stop spinning before lifting it off the cut as this can also make the blade to get caught up with the small piece even though you’re using a sacrificial board or an auxiliary fence.
12. Make sure your blade guard is transparent
The blade guard of your miter saw is one of the most important safety feature it has. It ensures any part of your body doesn’t come in contact with the fast spinning blade while using it.
That is why you don’t want to operate any miter saw without a blade guard on it. You also don’t want to take off the blade guard just because you’re find it difficult to see through to what you’re cutting.
If the blade guard that came with your saw is not very transparent, you can always swap it with a very transparent aftermarket blade guide.
After swapping it, make sure the new guard is working properly. Make sure it’s covering the blade when you pull down the saw head and it’s retracting when you lift it.
13. Pay attention to safety
This can never be over emphasized. It’s one of the few miter saw tips you never want to forget. When you get a new miter saw, the first thing you need to do is read the instructions from the manufacture and make sure you follow all the safety procedures outlined.
If you have to change blades, make sure you unplug the saw from the socket first to prevent any accidental starting of the saw.
Like every other saw, miter saw produce saw dust when making cuts, hence it is imperative that you use goggles to protect your eyes from the dust produced.
Always keep your hands away from the danger zones and never try to hold small pieces with your hand while cutting. Instead, use a clamp.
There you have it. 13 tips and tricks to help you get the most value out of your new miter saw.
