In the early spring, I was up in Oregon straightening out my fly line—sometimes that takes a week or more, if you know what I mean. While I was up there, Brandon Vaughn from SawGear invited me to his office for a peek at their new automatic length measuring tool.

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I’d heard about the SawGear, and played with it a little at the JLC Live show in Providence last March. Mike Sloggatt had dragged me over to the saw he was using, with my heels smoking. I kept saying: “Who needs a computer for measuring at a miter saw? All you need is a tape and a #2 1/2 pencil.”

But Mike was serious and convincing: “You have got to see this. It’s the future. You know how younger guys are more and more into computers? And the guys we’re getting on the jobs know less and less about carpentry? This thing’s the answer.”

I spent the better part of a day with Brandon, getting a private tutorial on how the tool was developed. I met some of the engineers and received one-on-one training. Ever the skeptic, my last words were: “Send me one and let me work with it. I’ll let you know what I think.” Brandon showed me how it cut casing, but I wanted to get it in my shop, make a cut list for baseboard and crown, and really see if it worked.

Here’s what I learned in my shop.

Setting up the SawGear

Setup on my saw stand was a snap. In fact, it took a lot longer to unpack the new tool than to set it up. All I did was screw the two mounting brackets down to my wooden extension wing.

The fence snaps into the brackets.

Two knobs lock it down.
A long spindle on the bottom of the Controller—the brains of the tool—mounts to a matching gear in the top of the fence.

The Controller is locked to the fence with two pivoting cam locks. Rotate the levers parallel with the fence to engage the locks in the channel, then rotate the levers perpendicular to the fence and lock down the cams (below). It’s that easy to set up the Controller.

Once plugged in, you simply push the on-off button and the screen lights up with questions, like “Which side of the saw is your fence on?” You can use the SawGear on either side. After picking your language and units (metric or inch), the Controller prompts you to push the START button.

Honestly, when the flip stop suddenly came alive and hummed out to the end of the fence, I was thrilled. That’s the first step when you start up the saw—it measures the length of your fence and enters that measurement in the Controller. You’re asked to confirm the length, which is also included by the manufacturer on a tag at the back of the fence.

Calibrating the Controller

There’s only one more step to go: calibrating the saw so it knows the distance from the stop to the blade. And that’s easy. Just make a cut and measure it precisely. Then press the CALIBRATION button. I like to call it the Distance button, maybe because there’s a D on it? (see photo, left) Enter the length of the piece you cut, then press the START button. Now the SawGear is ready to cut—at least ready to cut any butt-cuts.

The more precise you are about measuring and entering the distance to the blade, the more precise the SawGear will be. I never learned to count thirty-seconds—I just called them a “hair” strong or a “hair” weak. And sixty-forths? Right.

One easy way to set the saw precisely is by using the INCREMENT button. Here’s how I do it:

Make a mark at an easily identifiable measurement—like 12 in.

Enter 12 in. into the SawGear and press START.

Put the piece of wood against the fence, and then push the INCREMENT button until the saw blade is lined up perfectly with the measurement mark.

For some carpenters, it might be easier to make a small kerf and align the blade with the kerf by pressing the INCREMENT button. On my Kapex, I calibrate the distance to the laser, which is adjusted to cut right in the center of my pencil lines.

Cutting casing is like cutting cake

Cutting casing with the SawGear is different than the technique most carpenters use. Since the SawGear is really a computer-controlled flip stop fence, instead of measuring to the short point, you have to measure to the long point. But you don’t have to do the math. The SawGear does that for you.

Start by pressing the WIDTH button, then enter the width of the molding (see photo, right). Once again, the precision of the tool is dependent upon the precision with which you measure the molding. Enter the width of the molding then press the START button.

To use the SawGear while cutting casing legs, either the long point of the casing will be against the flip stop, or the butt end of the casing will be against the flip stop. Be sure to press the correct X or Z button prior to pressing the START button, so that the stop will be positioned in the right location.

When you cut casing legs with the SawGear, you'll be using both the X and the Z angle buttons for right-hand and left-hand legs.

Cutting head casing is just as easy. Simply cut a miter on one end, then press the Y button and enter the short point length (see photo, left) . The SawGear will calculate the length of both miters and set the stop accordingly.

One word of advice: be sure to check the calibration of the saw before you start making repetitive cuts! Right—measure twice. If the length of a miter cut isn’t precise, it’s easy to re-calibrate the saw for each of the X, Y, and Z angles.

Start by pressing the CALIBRATE button, then choose the X, Y, or Z buttons (whichever angle you’re working on). Make a cut, measure it precisely, and then press the START button to enter the length of the cut in the Controller. Now you’ve calibrated the Controller precisely for that angle/cut.

Laser etched digital precision

I couldn’t help but ask how the thing worked. I was surprised by the answer, even more surprised at how computers and technology have changed the way we work and the way we will work in the future.

The motor on the SawGear is etched with 3,000 laser marks every inch . An encoder reads those marks as the motor turns, and the flip stop races along the fence. That’s how the Controller always knows precisely where the stop is located.

Cutting Baseboard and Crown

Cutting baseboard and crown using the SawGear is much different than cutting casing. For one thing, it’s easier—you only have to push an angle button when you’re cutting with the long point of an outside corner against the fence.

But cutting baseboard and crown molding also reveals a minor hiccup with the SawGear.

Ironically, the kink in this system isn’t related exclusively to the SawGear, but also involves the saw you use. I’ll get to that below. First, I’ll explain how to cut baseboard and crown using the SawGear.

Most miter saws are designed to pivot around a single point, and that point is flush with the line of the miter saw fence.

Therefore, when measuring for cuts on the left-hand end of material that is standing up (cutting baseboard and crown in-position), or when cutting bevels in material that is lying down flat (cutting baseboard on-the-flat), you don’t have to enter any angle information—you don’t have to press the X,Y, or Z buttons—if the right-hand end is a butt cut or an inside corner. If the right-hand end isn’t an outside corner, all cuts on the left-hand end of the molding are measured as if they’re butt cuts.

Let me say that again: When using the SawGear, you push an angle button only when there is an outside corner on the RIGHT end. Here’s why:

For pieces that have an inside corner on the right end, you measure to the long point of the miter, which is the same as measuring for a butt cut.

But for pieces that have an outside corner on the right end, you measure to the short point of the miter, so the Controller must be programmed to add the thickness of the molding.

Therefore, when cutting pieces that have an outside corner on the right end, you have to press the Z button and then enter the measurement before cutting the left hand end. Of course, before you do that, you must first calibrate the SawGear for the molding you’re cutting: Press the WIDTH button then enter the thickness of the baseboard.

If you’re cutting crown molding, press the WIDTH button and then enter the projection of the crown molding.

The Hiccup

You might have already guessed that the functionality of the SawGear is dependent on the miter saw’s engineering: If the saw isn’t designed to cut at a single pivot point—and not all saws are!—then cutting crown and baseboard with the SawGear isn’t as simple. Here are a few examples.

I made test cuts on my Kapex in the miter position first. The measurement for the inside corner and butt cut was dead on, but the measurement for the outside corner was off by 1/16 in. After adjusting the saw fence and moving it back just a hair, the measurements were within 1/32 in. (see photo, left). When I tested the bevel cuts, all the measurements where within 1/32 in.

I tested my Milwaukee chop saw, too (model #6950-20). Cutting miters, the measurements were dead on, but cutting bevels, the butt cut measured 8 3/16 in., the inside corner measured 8 in., and the outside corner measured 8 1/4 in. Definitely not within an acceptable tolerance range (see photo, right).

I also tested my old DeWalt 706. The miter cuts were within 1/32 in., but the bevel cuts weren’t. The butt cut measured 9 3/16 in., the inside corner cut measured 9 3/32 in., and the outside corner cut measured 9 1/8 in.

Finally, I tested my Bosch 4410. Both the miter and the bevel cuts were within 1/32 in., which really surprised me. I’ve adjusted and calibrated the miter angles on all my saws. To adjust the miter angles on Bosch saws, the fence must be moved incrementally (see “Miter Saw Tuneup.”)

Surprisingly, even though I’ve tapped my fence around a few times, the saw still cuts almost dead-on using the SawGear.

Is there a workaround?

For most carpenters, 1/32 in. isn’t a deal-breaker. And from what I’ve found, that small error occurs only during one cut—usually the outside corner cut. It wouldn’t be tough to learn that you have to push the INCREMENT button once to adjust the flip stop for outside corner cuts. The default measurement for the increment button is 1/32 in. (that can be calibrated, too!). So each time you push the increment button, the flip stop moves 1/32 in. to the left or to the right.

However, if your saw doesn’t pivot almost perfectly around a single point, the workaround isn’t easy or full-proof. While you might be able to program the X and Y buttons for making butt cuts (you can’t re-program the Z button because you use that one for cuts with outside corners on the right end), inside corners, or outside corners on the left-hand end of moldings, those “special” programs would make it impossible to cut casing simultaneously, or even crown and base simultaneously. Those special programs would also have to be figured out and entered each time you cut that particular molding, slowing down productivity. Understanding and entering these ‘special’ programs might also be beyond the ability of some crew members.

The manufacturer claims the SawGear will cut labor costs by 30%. I haven’t tested that. I’m not sure how I could. But I do know that once the tool is set up, it’s MUCH faster than using a tape measure! The 8-foot system will run you $2,200, and the 12-foot system goes for $2,500, making the SawGear a pretty expensive tape measure; but I suspect we’re seeing an early preview of what the future holds for carpentry: laser measures, automatic digital mitersaw fences, bluetooth, iPads….

Every carpenter should know that when you buy a new chisel or hand plane it’s not razor sharp out of the box — you have to sharpen it before using it. Well, the same is true for miter saws. They don’t come from the factory in perfect tune.

Besides, after you’ve dragged your saw in and out of the truck a few dozen times, or jammed heavy stock against the fence, or maybe even had it flip off the back of a saw stand — or a tailgate — all those precise adjustments can get seriously out of whack. If you’ve noticed joints not quite closing up for you lately, it’s probably time to tune up your saw. Here are a few tricks to get that big investment dialed in just right.

Blade considerations

Setting up a saw properly isn’t possible with a dull or bent blade. Deal with that first. If you don’t have a fresh blade, get a new one and install it before going any further. But which blade should you buy?

Do not use the same blade in your miter saw that you use in your table saw. Ripping and crosscutting blades have different grinds. For the miter saw, I prefer a thin kerf crosscutting blade with 60 teeth or less. This type of blade often comes on new saws. My reasons for this preference are:

1. They produce less friction, requiring less motor power.
2. These blades cut just as straight and flat as a 500-tooth Hackaboard. (Straight and flat are the most important requirements in finish work. I rarely need glassy smooth end grain that a 90-tooth blade might produce.)

Next, I frequently use both the chop saw and the sliding saw to cut with the grain, and these blades do that job best. And last, when these blades are sharp, they don’t flutter on a plunge cut any more than a 1/8-in. thick blade with 100 teeth. However, many carpenters choose thicker miter saw blades with the maximum number of teeth, 80 or more for a 10 in. or a 12 in. blade.

Manufacturers that seem to dominate the field of blade making are Forrest, Tenryu, Freud, Amana, and Ridge, to name a few. Plus, nearly all saw manufacturers offer their own brand of upgraded industrial blades. Once you’ve put a good blade on the saw, do some basic checks before you cut into that walnut mantle shelf.

Check the table

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A machine shop checks a surface for straight and flat with a machinist’s straight edge or surface plate, and those tools can be expensive. However, a good framing square is adequate for checking the table and fence of a miter saw. Put the framing square edge down on the saw table to make sure it’s flat. You can use various types of paper to measure for irregularities. An index card is eight thousandths (.008) of an inch thick; notebook paper is .004 in. thick; and paper from the phone book is .002 in. thick.

I should mention that it’s unlikely that your saw table is out of flat, because modern saws are well supported at their centers. But if a strip of notebook paper can slide under the framing square blade, you may need to make some adjustments so that vertical cuts can be dialed in perfectly later on. If a piece of cardboard fits under the blade, then adjusting the saw head to cut square on either side of the table will be impossible.

There are two possible ways to flatten a sway back table. You either scrape it flat, or flip the saw over onto parallels and straighten the table on a press. Scraping is a job that requires special tools and skills. Pressing to flatten a saw table should be done in very small increments and with great care. Cast aluminum will break. If the space under the straight edge is more than .010 in. (thicker than an index card), you may just want to take the saw to a repair shop and have them flatten it.

Straighten the fence next

After confirming that the saw table is flat, check the fence next. A bowed fence is the most common reason that a miter saw doesn’t make accurate cuts.

Using a framing square and a piece of telephone book paper as a feeler gauge, press the paper against the fence with the square. You shouldn’t be able to withdraw the paper anywhere from one side to the other (see video, below). If there is a gap, you need to adjust the fence. I shoot for perfect with this operation.

To straighten a two-piece fence, loosen the screw closest to the gap and tap or pry the fence lightly towards the framing square. Stop when the two sides of the fence align, and snug the screw. Check the entire fence again as before, and then tighten the screw firmly.

To straighten a one-piece fence, loosen the screws closest to the gap and use a pry bar to straighten the fence. Keep tension on the pry bar as you tighten the screws. An extra person is a big help with this procedure. By yourself, you have to hold the bar in position, drop the straight edge, pick up the wrench and tighten the screw. It can be a real juggling act and you may have to do it two or three times to get it right.

A word about calipers

Calipers are very inexpensive these days, both dial and digital. Whether you are working with metal or wood, calipers can help you do very fine work. When you’re sizing the depth and width of dados and grooves, nothing works as well as calipers. Working in “thousandths of an inch” may sound funny to some carpenters, but it can save a lot of frustration and time in the long run. Besides, most routers have micro-fine adjustment knobs that operate in those tolerances. For miter saw adjustment, calipers can tell you precisely how much tweaking you need to do. You don’t have to own calipers to adjust your miter saw — unless you want it to be dead accurate.

Calibrating the miter gauge

Many carpenters make their living with miter saws that don’t cut accurately. While the “keep cutting ‘til it fits” method might work, it can waste a lot of time and produce a lot of sawdust. If a saw is adjusted perfectly, assembly time is reduced, and the enjoyment and pride of our craft is increased. Most of us chose the finish carpentry profession because of the pleasure of tightly fitting pieces together to beautify and complete a living space. Working with tools that don’t perform accurately can frustrate that process. To adjust a miter saw for precise miters, begin by squaring the blade to the fence.

A quick check

To check if your saw is cutting square to the fence, start with the widest piece of stock you can crosscut with your saw. The longer the cut, the greater the accuracy of the measurement. Plywood or MDF will work just fine for this test.

For a quick rough check, hold the piece snug against the fence on one side of the saw, and trim a little off (see photo, left). Then, with the same edge against the fence, flip the piece over to the opposite side so that the bottom is facing up. Lock the saw head down so that the teeth are below the saw base. You’ll probably have to use a bungee cord to pull the saw down far enough. Then slide the cut edge of the board up to the blade. It should touch the blade along its entire length.

If there is a gap in the front or the back of the cut, the adjustment you need to make to square the saw is only half of that space. So be conservative as you make the adjustment. What may seem to be a tiny adjustment can send the cut past square in the opposite direction.

A closer examination

To find out exactly how much the saw is off, you have to use calipers. Start by making the same initial cut described above, but when you flip the stock to the opposite side, cut off a piece about 1/2 in. wide.

Keeping the cutoff correctly oriented to the saw fence, measure the width of the cutoff closest to the fence, which is .479 in. in this example.
Next, measure the other end of the cut, which is .436 in. The difference equals .043 in. Divide that sum by 2 (because two cuts were made), and the resulting .022 in. represents the error in the saw of over 1/64 in.

My DeWalt produced a piece that was off by .010 in., meaning that each cut would be out of square by .005 in. in a full length cut. Five thousandths of an inch might not sound like much, but a gap that size in a mitered casing joint is visible from four feet away.

Four-cut calculation

For those of you who are after even greater readings, Festool describes a four-cut calculation method in the instructional PDF for testing the accuracy of their Kapex saw. Instead of the two cuts used above, four cuts are made on a piece of stock.

The final cutoff is measured, and the difference is divided by 4 instead of 2, hypothetically quadrupling the accuracy of the measurement. Festool also has a mathematical formula in their online instruction manual. You can plug in the measurements from your final cut, hit the ‘Calculate’ button, the find out exactly how much to adjust the angle and in what direction. But here’s a bit of irony: All of these careful measurements and formulas only determine the amount of error in the saw. Adjusting a saw (even the pricey Festool) is far less precise than these testing methods!

Adjustment is trial and error

Now that you know exactly how much to adjust your saw, it’s time for a little or a lot of trial-and-error — how much depends on your idea of perfection. Like I said earlier: the testing method is a lot more accurate than the adjustment system. No manufacturer yet that has come out with a mechanically controlled method for adjusting the miter cut on their saw. In other words, we can measure tolerances all day long, but no saw that I’ve ever seen has a micro-fine adjustment knob or screw to dial in those tolerances. Tight-tolerance adjustments just aren’t easy.

When it comes to adjusting the miter gauge on a saw, I know of only two types of miter saws: those that have movable fences, and those that have movable miter scales — move the scale and you move the saw head in relation to the fence.

Movable fence adjustment

The miter gauge on the Bosch miter saw doesn’t move — it’s cast into the base of the saw, along with the detent positions (see photo, right). To calibrate the angle, you have to move the fence. A good machinist’s square can make fence adjustments easier. In fact, some saw manufacturers, such as Milwaukee, say that a square gets the saw as precise as it needs to be. Still, a machinist’s square can get you close enough for making initial test cuts.

First, make sure the saw is secured in the 90° detent, then lock the head down with the teeth on the blade below the base of the saw. If the transport position isn’t low enough, use a bungee cord to pull the saw head down (see photo, left).

Fig. 10 (Click to enlarge)

Slightly loosen the screws securing the fence, but leave them snug, so that the fence won’t move with your fingers. Press the square tight to the fence and place your feeler gauge (a piece of phone book paper) between the back side of the blade and the square (see Fig. 10).

Fig. 11 (Click to enlarge)

Without moving the square, check the front side. Adjust the fence by tapping it lightly with a rubber mallet so that the feeler gauge rubs the same at both the front and back of the blade (see Fig. 11). When you’ve squared the blade to the fence, lift the saw head and check to make sure the fence hasn’t bowed from the squaring process. If it has, re-straighten the fence, and adjust the miter angle again. Repeat the process until the fence is straight, as well as square, to the saw blade.

Miter scale adjustment

For a saw with a movable miter scale, swing the saw head until the it clicks into the 90° detent. But don’t lock the handle down, or the scale might not move. With this type of system, the actual scale has the detents that hold the saw head in position. So moving the scale moves the saw head in relation to fence.

Any movement of the miter scale must be incremental and controlled. The slots for the screws that secure the miter scale are elongated to allow for a lot of adjustment parallel to the fence. But with many saws, there is enough play for the scale to move perpendicular to the fence as well. It doesn’t take much movement to throw off the 45° miter even when the 90° miter is right on.

To keep track of the scale position, stick a piece of masking tape on the saw at both ends of the scale, then index the scale to the tape with a fine line.
Once the screws are loose, move the scale by tapping the miter handle gently with a soft mallet.

With my DeWalt miter saw, I loosened the scale plate just enough to pry it over with a screwdriver (see below).

Then I made another test cut using the two-cut method. It took me 6 tries before I could get the error down to a .004 in. difference, near perfect for an 8-in. crosscut in wood. That meant that each cut was out of square by only .002 in 8 in., or .001 in 4 in. — more accurate than a framing square.

45° Miters

After adjusting your scale plate, always check that the saw is cutting perfect 45° miters, too. To check for perfect 45s, rip a piece of 1/4 plywood or MDF. You could use thicker stock, but it will offer more resistance as it’s being cut. The ripping should be perfectly straight, and as wide as you can miter.

Lock the miter at 45° to the right, and cut four pieces long enough to allow for a left hand miter. Set the saw at 45° to the left, then stack and cut the pieces in the same order as you cut the left hand miters. When the pieces are assembled you should have no gaps.

If you do have gaps in the miters, and if your saw has an adjustable miter scale, loosen the outer mounting screws and push or pull the scale toward or away from the fence to adjust the 45° miter without messing with the 90° cut. If the plate doesn’t have enough wiggle room, you can file the screw slot, but personally, I don’t care enough to do that.

If your saw doesn’t have an adjustable scale, you may have to adjust the miter each time you cut. This only matters when you are doing broad miters such as big casings, or landing treads, or any other wide pieces mitered on the flat.

Calibrating the bevel

Adjusting the bevel angle can be a little tricky on some saws, while on others, it’s actually easier than calibrating the miter. Like the miter adjustment, I start by squaring the bevel to the table. For some carpenters, and some manufacturers such as Milwaukee, that’s perfection enough. But for others, that’s just the beginning. The two-cut and four-cut testing methods work just as well in the vertical for checking the bevel as they did on the flat for the miter.

First, lock the saw head down, so the teeth of the blade are beneath the saw base. Then hold a good square against the saw table, just touching the blade so it doesn’t deflect. (Remember, the table must be flat.) Use a sheet of phone book paper as a feeler gauge to ensure that the blade is parallel to the square, and adjust the bevel as necessary.

Each saw has a slightly different mechanism for calibrating the bevel. Here are a few of them, but you should check the manual that came with your saw for precise instructions. If you threw away the manual, most tool companies provide manuals you can download from their websites.

DEWALT

Fig. 15

Of all the miter saws I’ve used, DeWalt seems to have the most pragmatic and intuitive adjustment features. To adjust the bevel on the model 706 DeWalt saw in this article, I worked with three separate bolts: one for the 90° detent, and one for each of the 45° stops on either side of the saw. The bolts are very easy to access and the process is straightforward.

The 90° adjustment bolt is located on the top of the bevel hub. Simply turn that bolt clockwise and the blade tips to the left; turn that bolt counter clockwise, and the blade tips to the right (see Fig. 15). To adjust the 45° degree stops, just back out the stop bolts, or thread them in deeper.

MILWAUKEE

On the Milwaukee saw, first remove the dust chute.

Next, move the bevel adjustment lever to the middle position and wedge the lever in place with a screwdriver or small prybar.
Loosen the two screws on the front of the bevel arm. The wrench supplied with the saw fits these torx-head screws, but the handle doesn’t have enough leverage, so you’ll need a socket set. You’ll also need a T25 torx wrench for the bevel adjustment screw.
Once the screws are loose, use the T25 wrench to adjust the bevel setting: Clockwise tilts the blade to the right, counterclockwise tilts the blade to the left.

Here’s something to consider: if a screw has 20 threads per inch, it advances .012 in. for every quarter turn. So a little goes a long way with these adjustments.

BOSCH

Adjusting the Bosch saw is similar to the first two. Before you start, back out the main depth-stop screw so the blade can drop below the throat guard, then remove the back cover to view all the adjustment bolts — and the adjustment tools.

Before touching any of the adjustment bolts, lift the bevel lock lever and set the saw in the 90° detent. Now loosen the bolts labeled A and B in the photo below.

The wrench supplied with the saw works, but it’s easier with a 10-mm socket.

Next, loosen the set screw labeled D using the 4-mm Allen wrench supplied with the saw. Back out the screw at least three full turns.

Now rotating bolt C clockwise tips the top of the blade to the left.
When the blade aligns with your square, tighten set screw D, and go back and tighten bolts A and B.
Finally, adjust the right bevel stop at 45° using the Allen wrench supplied with the saw. That adjustment screw is on the lower end of the saw arm.

FESTOOL KAPEX

Adjusting Festool’s Kapex saw is a bit different. The Kapex isn’t equipped with a micro-fine bevel adjustment bolt or screw, which means that dialing in the tool isn’t nearly as accurate as the 4-cut calibration test they suggest. But there is a work around.

Start by locking down the bevel in the 90° detent. Next, loosen the two adjustment screws at the back of the motor. I found it easiest to remove the cord reel. You can even use the wrench supplied with the saw (see photo, left). Festool suggests two ways to adjust the saw: You can move the entire head or just the bevel plate. To move the entire head, keep the bevel locked in the 90° detent. To move just the plate, release the bevel lock lever.

Because there is no micro-fine adjustment bolt on this saw, the head and plate move freely, making it very tough to dial in a fine adjustment. But here’s a solution: Before loosening the two adjustment screws, cut two perfectly square pieces of stock. If you’ve adjusted the miter angle first, you can cut those blocks on the flat.

Clamp one block against the miter saw fence while sliding it snugly against the blade. Get the other block and clamp ready for the opposite side. Then loosen the two adjustment screws. Wiggle the saw head a little until the blade is flat against the first block. Now clamp the second block against the opposite side of the blade, tapping it gently to trap the blade between the blocks. When the blade is secured in a perfectly square position, tighten the two adjustment screws, then check your cuts again using the two-cut or four-cut testing method. Once more, trial and error is the only way to further refine the adjustments. With patience, you can dial in the bevel angle even closer.

Know your saw

When it comes to miter saws, the best piece of advice I can offer any carpenter is: Know Your Saw. When the saw cuts a perfectly square bevel, but the miters aren’t perfect, you may have to make miter adjustments each time you use the saw. Knowing your saw means practicing and perfecting your miter saw tune-up procedure.

One additional problem you may encounter with a miter saw — and especially a sliding saw — is blade tracking. The saw blade must be perfectly parallel with the rods. If not, the trailing edge of a saw blade will cut a little more wood as it passes through the kerf. The same type of problem can show up while doing tall plunge cuts with a standard miter saw. If the blade plate rubs and burns wood at the top of the cut, then the blade is not in the same plane as the arc of the saw head. But professional saws are machined on CNC equipment that maintains tolerances within .0005 (five ten thousandths!) of an inch. If your saw isn’t tracking perfectly, then it’s likely something happened to the saw after you bought it. The blade arbor may be a little out of whack from a sawing accident. The head may even be bent. Or maybe you didn’t see it fall out of the truck before your helper stuck it back in there real quick.

There are no adjustments for blade tracking problems. You either have to replace parts or buy a new saw. But before you send your saw to the junkyard, consider this:

When my Hitachi was brand new, a handrail fitting slipped out of its clamp and twisted the blade as it slammed between the fences. The head was bent so badly that the blade was out of perpendicular to the hinge pin 1/8 in. across its diameter. That brand new saw sat in my garage for a year before I decided that I had to figure out how to fix it.

I clamped the head in a vise, clamped a bar near the blade arbor and bounced on the bar — I mean, with all my weight — well, a lot of weight. It made a loud popping sound. I rechecked the blade/pin relationship and found that the error was only .010 in. over the radius of the blade. I guess I was lucky to get it that close. I’ve been using that saw for six years now, and I’m satisfied with it. I have never had the blade plate rub on a fresh cut, though I’m sure there must be cracks in the casting. You can’t bend aluminum castings much at all. Of course, the right way to fix that problem would have been to buy a new head casting. But, it wouldn’t have cost much more just to buy a new saw!

I hope these ramblings have been useful. I was glad for the opportunity to write this article because it pushed me to tune up my own saws. These modern miter saws are amazing. But just as that proverbial little girl who had a little curl: When they’re good, they’re very, very good; but when they’re bad, they’re horrid! Inaccurate cuts are rarely the fault of the saw, and most often they’re something that can be corrected with a little attention.

Read this article in its original format at TiC Issue 2!

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AUTHOR BIO

David Collins has been making stuff all his life. At age seven, he carved swords, canoes, and all sorts of things with his own pocket knives. At age eight, he made popsicle-stick fences to go around the Christmas tree — he painted them silver. David’s first entrepreneurial endeavor was trying to sell those silver fences. His 81-year-old mother still keeps some of those things in her cedar chest.

David’s first construction jobs were in the summers of his 14th and 15th years, working for a roofer.

David always took things apart to look inside and “make improvements.” He dismantled mini-bikes, old pieces of motorcycles, and a Victoria Bergmeister, which he bought at age 15. His most ambitious teenage project was rebuilding his parents ’57 Ford, although he did have plenty of help with that. After graduation, David and a couple friends drove that car to California to see what the “Height Ashbury” thing was all about—didn’t figure it out, but it sure was interesting.

While David messed with all of those things, he was also captured by music. His mother recognized the talent in David and his siblings early on, and she faithfully drove them to their weekly piano lessons. He didn’t like to practice, but the threat of mom’s pancake turner crackin’ his butt kept him at it. He thanks her for that discipline today.

In his early 20s David worked as a framer, and soon decided that he was going to need a college education. But music was his first love, so he signed up for the music program at OSU. He couldn’t take very much of it — he’d go to school for a while and then work for a while. After seven years, David finally graduated with a B.M. from Capital University.

In 1973 David married Kathryn Hartley. She endured about half of David’s education and a great deal of other stuff since. After graduation, the church where he was pianist hired him to teach choral music at their school. Never having considered the financial implications of a music degree, the ’70s and early ’80s turned out to be lean years. Construction work in the summers got them by. He worked for the great Dave Porter of Columbus every summer through the ’80s, trimming high-end houses. The work was always interesting and satisfying.

In 1983 and in 1986 Kathy and David adopted Hannah and Emily. In 1989, David became disillusioned with teaching. Students do what they want to do, and a piece of wood does what he wants it to do. David handed in his resignation at school and went into finish carpentry full time, a move he has never regretted.

A few years later David was running some 8-in. crown on a big job. He couldn’t cope that molding with a coping saw and got a little desperate. He’d always used the saber saw from the back side (right side up) and started figuring out a way to cope that large crown molding without banging around on the face of it. He needed to freehand the saw without the restrictions of the flat base. David hammered out sheet metal bases, and after 6 or 8 tries, he produced what is now called the Collins Coping Foot. That thing worked so well that he figured everyone would want one. David spent a lot of borrowed money on lawyers and tool and die makers and started the Collins Tool Company.

David hasn’t done any finish carpentry for-hire since 2006. He spends his early mornings with the Good Book, and writing music at his music work station. The rest of the day is spent in tool production, and tooling up for a new product called Mitertite.

With the 2007 CBC codes addressing Earthquake Defense more progressively, we’re feeling more like Carpenters of Steel than carpenters of wood! The amount of steel in new buildings in California for seismic structural engineering is changing the way carpenters frame. For production framing here in California, we used to use the words “blow and go” a lot. But those days are over. Now all anyone talks about is “mechanical connections.”

(Note: Click any image to enlarge. Hit "back" button to return to article.)

There was a time when all a carpenter needed was a set of nail bags, a Skill saw, a 100-ft. cord, and a couple of hand saws. Top carpenters showed up with a cats paw! All of that stuff fit easily into the trunk of a VW Bug. Trust me, I know. But framing today is completely different.

As you can see from this partial list of the structural hardware in the 5,600-Sq. Ft. residential building we’re currently working on, framing today is more about mechanical connections than pulling out your hammer and banging together walls and rafters.

• 900+ A35 Anchor Clips
• 400+ LTP4 Lateral Tie Plates
• 130+ Hold-Downs
• 12 HFX Hardy Fames
• 500+ Straps
• 2 Steel Moment Frames
• 2 Bent Steel Rafters

According to the 2007 CBC codes, “Any change in the plane of the structural frame has to have a mechanical connection.” The mechanical connection could be something as simple as an A35 anchor clip attaching the frieze blocks to the top plates, or HDU hold-downs for uplift. The A35 anchor clip isn’t new to framing in the United States, but with 500+ A35 anchor clips in most residential buildings, it’s no longer a simple installation. When A35 clips are required 4.5 in. O.C., most of the time we set our joist beams and joist rim, and install the A35 anchor clips before the TJI joists are installed. Yes, the A35 anchor clips are touching each other at 4.5 in. O.C.

Here, Lance is installing Simpson A35s 4.5 in. O.C. with a Positive Placement gun before we install the TJI joist.

If we install the TJI joist first, then we use a palm nailer to install the nails in the A35s. We buy boxes of Simpson A35s like we used to buy 6-packs of beer. We were always running out of beer, and now we’re always running out of Simpson A35s!

All beams must have a mechanical connection to the top plates. Toe-nailing beams down to wall top plates is no longer allowed. Since every beam has a mechanical connection to the top plates, we often use a router to dado out either the bottom of the beam or the top of the top plates, especially when the mechanical connection is an MST strap positioned horizontally for a drag strap.

Brian routing out the top plates for the MST60 drag strap.

The tools we use today are mind-boggling. I never would have imagined it twenty years ago. Now, instead of one saw, we carry three or four—with left-hand and right-hand saws for cutting rafters, Big Foot saws, and chippers (see below). And we even carry routers! For framing! It used to take 3-4 weeks—TOPS—to frame a house. Now it takes a year.

The templates we use for routing the MST straps are made out of 1/2-in. or 3/4-in. plywood with 1x2s attached with screws. The template width between the 1x2s is the width of the router plus the width of the MST straps.

MST60 strap dadoed into top plates. With the MST strap dadoed into the beam or top plates, the beam sits flat on the plates.

I live thirty miles from Simpson headquarters. Lately, I’ve given some thought to moving farther away. It seems the closer you get to Simpson, the more hardware you have to put in a building.

We use a lot of hold-downs for mechanical connections to prevent beam uplift.

In the photo to the right, we have an MST60 dadoed into the 6×12 header, an MST60 beam-to-beam drag strap, an MST48 post-to-6×12 header uplift mechanical connection, 2 crisscrossing CMSTC16 collector straps, and in the middle of these mechanical connections there is a PHD2 hold-down for the 6×12 header-to-shear wall joist beam uplift mechanical connection!

The PHD2 5/8-in. all-thread hold-down rod is drilled through the 6×12 header, and a 3 1/2-in. x 3 1/2-in. x 5/16-in. plate washer is installed on the bottom of the 6×12 header.

We use a Protool drill guide—with an 18-in. Wood Owl Ultra Smooth Tri-cut Ship Augers bit—to drill double stacked 4×8 truss rafters, as well as drilling out the holes for the PHD hold-down all-thread rods through 6×12 headers.

Brian checking hold-down placement in the basement slab to make sure we have the hold-downs in the correct location for mechanical uplift connections.

A lot of planning is required for the 50 hold-downs that are in this basement slab (see photo, left). About 30 of these hold-downs are for the uplift mechanical connections at the ends of the basement shear walls. The other 20 hold-downs are for post-to-beam uplift mechanical connections that transfer up to the roof sheathing for the continuous load path.

Before we start any job, we spend a lot of time looking at the plans for the continuous load paths that require uplift mechanical connections. A lot of the connections—per the structural engineering drawings—are un-constructable. If we see any un-constructable uplift mechanical connections, we send an RFI to the structural engineer. Or we send the structural engineer a replacement drawing or suggestion. The structural engineer then responds with a “no objection” or “objection” to our replacement suggestion…and the job or delay goes on….

When we have to epoxy in new hold-down all-thread rods, we use a rebar-cutter SDS drill bit—Bosch or Relton—to drill/cut through the rebar with our Bosch or Hilti rotary hammer. The hold-down all-thread rods require precise placement in the concrete slab, so we use an SDS drill bit—which is 1/8-in. wider than the all-thread rod—and drill the hole until we hit the rebar in the concrete. Then we switch bits, and drill with the rebar cutter until we’ve cut through the rebar. We finish off the hold-down hole with the standard SDS drill bit. Per the 2007 CBC, all epoxy hold-downs must be inspected by a special inspector. The new hole for the epoxy must be brushed out, then blown out with an air nozzle that reaches all the way to the bottom of the hole, and brushed out again, and then blown out again with an air nozzle.

A lot of these mechanical uplift connections are side by side! The MST72 and HDQ8 have a 6x post below each of them. At the bottom of the post, another hold-down secures the 6x to the basement slab.

There are 5 hold-downs in this picture! And no, I didn’t mock this up as a joke. The two HDQ8 hold-downs at the end of this shear wall are for the shear wall connections. The other three HDU4 hold-downs are for post-to-beam uplift connections.

Sometimes there is more metal in the walls than wood! So we don’t have to cut studs loose, we install all the hold-downs as we frame the walls.

We also install all of the post-to-beam uplift connections before we install the TJI floor joists. There are 11 hold-downs in this 8-ft. long wall: 6 at the top and 5 at the bottom; there are 32 of these beam-to-post connections in this building.

When we’re not planning out the location of the uplift connections—which transfer load from the basement slab up through the roof sheathing—we’re installing horizontal collector straps. A chipper that I used for cutting rafter seat cuts in the ’70s and ’80s is now used to cut dadoes in the subfloor for these straps.

Erik and Lance install the CMST14 collector strap in the 1/4×3-in. wide dado made with the chipper (see photo, right). Twenty years ago, I used that chipper to make seat cuts in rafters. Back then, I set the saw up for a  3 1/2-in. wide dado. Today we remove some of the blades for the 3-in. wide dado and the CMST14 collector strap.

All these dadoes consume a lot of subfloor thickness. The plans called for 3/4-in. subfloor—imagine what would be left! I up-sized the subfloor to 1 1/8 in., so our flush-cut CMST14s would not weaken the plywood subfloor.

On steel I-beams, it’s the carpenter’s job to layout all of the mechanical connections, like these HFX Hardy Frames with 1 1/8-in. all-thread rods, and the location of the web stiffeners on each side of the 1 1/8-in. all-thread rods, too (below).

When framing with this much steel, it’s important to keep an eye on Moisture Content. That’s something no framer in the ’70s or ’80s thought much about. Code requires that all the lumber be dried to at least 19%, but even that wet, it shrinks. And steel doesn’t. Keep in mind, we have to put 6x material for nailers on the I-beams, so excessive shrinkage can cause major problems in floors and walls (bumps and high spots in floors, cracks in walls, etc.). Luckily, on this building, it sat for so long that most of it was dry. Which also gave us a chance to go back and tighten all the bolts. Think about that. What happens when the frame is completed and dried in before you have an opportunity to tighten the bolts?

A lot of planning and calculations went into making this 67.5° roof axis point work (below). The 7:12 to 26:12 roof axis points were tough enough to calculate, let alone the 67.5° 26:13 pitch-bent steel hip rafter!

In the photo to the right, Erik is drilling 11/16-in. holes in the 1/2-in. steel plate using the Hougen Portable Magnetic Drill. After that, the 1/2-in. thick steel plate is bolted to the concrete wall, and an ECQ column cap base is welded to the plate for the joist beam uplift connection.

The first time I drilled holes in steel I-Beams back in the ’70s, it took about an hour to drill an 11/16-in. hole for the 5/8-in. bolt or all-thread rod—that was using a standard twist-drill bit. With the Hougen Portable Magnetic Drill, it only takes about 1 or 2 minutes per hole. There are two switches on the tool, one for the magnet and one for the motor. First, you position the drill bit on the hole, then you switch on the electromagnet. After that, running the tool is like operating a drill press—you just crank the bit into the steel.

We had a job in SF 1 1/2 years ago where I spent $700 for drill bits to drill a-holes through the I-beams so we could attach backing. With the magnetic drill, and using Annular Cutters, I can drill 100+ holes, instead of the 2 or 3 that you get out of a twist-drill bit.

All of the roof beams have a mechanical connection to either the walls below, or the joist beams below. “Mechanical connection” translates to mechanical fasteners, like bolts, base caps, straps, or hold-downs. Any change in the plane of the structural frame has to have a mechanical connection, which includes every common rafter and hip rafter. No more toe-nailing rafters to the ridge beams!

After we install the fascia, we re-check the building with Stabila levels, so we know where we need to add more structural hardware.

When I first saw the plans for this building, I thought it was going to be a lot of fun, but the structural steel took all the joy out of it. On the main house, we had to first install the 26/12 rafters, then sheet the roof, then cut the radius rafter tails, and scribe the bottom side so it laid on top of the roof sheathing. Finally, we had to cut a hole through the sheathing so we could put an MSTI26 from the rafter tail across the rafter. And that was for every single rafter on the main house—200 radius rafter tails, and every one had an MSTi26 strap.

Because we're required to strap every change of plane, we're nailing the heck out of the tops of a lot of rafters.

Sometimes I worry about installing all those straps. With all the engineered walls we build into homes, it’s no surprise that the other trades get us into trouble. One time, the heating and air guys came in and butchered a shear wall—they notched out the top plate. The engineer required us to install a 6-ft. long 1/4-in. x 4-in.-wide steel strap, with 16d nails 1-in. on center! I said to the engineer: “Hey, we’re just going to split out all the wood! What’s the point?” His answer: “Okay, then pre-drill the holes.”

Everything we do is about steel. Here the special inspector is doing an Ultra Sonic test on the steel moment frame welding. This testing delayed the project 3 months. First the inspector rubs oil on the steel plates, then he tests every weld. It’s like doing an Ultra Sound on a pregnant woman.

Just when you think you’re done with all of the mechanical connections, you have to screw the siding and trim to steel Hardy Frames!

“Blow and Go” = Fun

Mechanical Connections = Frustration and a lot of un-constructable engineering.

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AUTHOR BIO

Sim Ayers is the owner of SBE Builders, a commercial and residential framing company, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which was established in 1988. He uses empirical knowledge, gained by means of observation, experience or experiment, to frame buildings from the ground line (Z1), to roof axis (A1), to the bring-back line for scribing (B1).

Sim is a second generation carpenter. He is passing on the family tradition to his two sons Brian and Erik. As a typical California production roof cutter and stacker in the 1970s and 1980s, Sim keeps a sharp eye out for new information on roof framing geometry, or for writing online scripts that use a tetrahedron to show the relationship of geometric framing angles for use with the carpenter’s steel framing square. His online tools can be found on the web at www.sbebuilders.com/tools.

On most jobsites today, the sight of a hand tool brings stares, questions, and, more frequently than not, a shaking of heads that some poor fool couldn’t afford a tool with a cord or a lithium-ion battery attached to it. Yes, many times a battery-powered tool is exactly the right tool for the job. But not always.

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There are times when a power saw is just too big to get into a tight spot. And there are times when the power saw is in the basement and you’re working on the third floor. Besides, a power saw will also leave marks on the edge of a board, which need to be removed, and that can just pose a whole new problem.

I think it is a shame—actually, a detriment to the craft, and to craftsmen—that the occasional use of hand tools is not more common on jobsites. Unfortunately, all of us tend to use the tools and techniques we have been exposed to, and, over the last several decades, exposure to hand tools has been reduced to the point where they are all but on the endangered species list. But they shouldn’t be. In the situation I’m about to tackle, I’ll demonstrate how hand tools can sometimes be the most efficient solution to the problem.

In a recent post on the JLC Finish Carpentry forum, a contributor asked how to cut back a tread that was already installed and couldn’t be removed or cut on a miter saw. The tread material was Jatoba, commonly known as Brazilian Cherry. The carpenter tried a Multimaster on a scrap of material but the blade dulled quickly and overheated, burning rather than cutting the wood. Besides, even if the tool could have cut the Jatoba, it is tough to cut a perfectly straight line with a blade that’s vibrating at a few thousand rpm.

Another contributor suggested using a circular saw, but the saw table would hit the riser before the saw could make much headway.

And another contributor suggested using a reciprocating saw, but I suspect that was a tongue-in-cheek response—at least I hope so!

Identify the problem

Solving the problem required a different approach, a new way of thinking, at least for many contemporary carpenters. And yet, the solution would have been obvious to our grandfathers: hand tools. In fact, the solution to the problem is nearly identical to the procedure used years ago to produce housed stringers—a perfectly straight groove needed to be cut, one that terminated before the edge of the board. In this case, the job was going to be somewhat easier because a constant depth of cut would not be required, plus the cut would be a simple right angle and not on a pitch.

Hand tools do what power tools can’t

I started this cut by placing a framing square against the riser so I could strike a line with a marking knife at the point where the cut needed to be made. I struck the line several times to establish the top of the cut, which is the most visible part.
Next, I struck a second line a few inches long on the waste side. To locate this line, I measured back 1/2 the diameter of the drill bit. I was using a 1/2-in. bit, so I measured back 1/4 in. from the first line.

But before cutting with the saw, I first drilled holes so that the saw dust would have somewhere to go, rather than building up at the end of the cut. Some of you may not know it, but that’s one reason a saw might jump out of a kerf; and besides, if the sawdust builds up at the end of the cut, the saw won’t cut clean all the way to the edge of the board.

I couldn’t drill those holes with a power drill. I needed more reach to clear the riser. But an old brace and bit worked perfectly.

Precise control

By striking the center line with a knife, I define the precise location to place the leading point of my drill bit, which means I can “feel” that spot as well as see it. This technique ensures that the edge of the hole will land right on the line of the cut.

I use a chisel to clean the cut—it’s easy to remove the small pieces between the holes with a sharp chisel.

Ensuring a perfect cut

Now this is the most important part! Before taking a saw to the tread and cutting along the first line, I cut a shallow groove on the waste side of the line using a skewed carving knife. I held the knife at about a 20 degree angle, 1/16″ away from the cutline on the waste side. The small wedged sliver of wood I removed along the cut line provided a positive location to begin cutting below the surface of the wood, while the chamfered edge forced the face of the saw tightly against the cutline. This is a trusted technique used by craftsmen for centuries. As long as the saw does not jump out of the track, a straight cut is all but assured. Trust me, that’s a technique lost to a lot of contemporary carpenters.

While making the cut, I tilted the saw blade just a bit, too. It is helpful to undercut a slight amount. Otherwise, a shoulder plane can be used to square the edge of the cut, and a chisel or joinery float can be used for the very corner where the shoulder plane can’t reach.

From start to finish, I spent fifteen minutes making that perfectly straight cut. And most of that time was spent taking the photos!

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AUTHOR BIO

Keith Mathewson started working in the construction industry in the late 1970s as a summer job during college. He stayed in construction for another five years, then took a different career path for ten years.

In the early 1990s, Keith got back into construction in a much bigger way. He opened a shop, and taught furniture-making after-hours. In 2004, he transitioned out of furniture-making and teaching back to finish carpentry, where he specialized in high-end custom homes. Since 2007, he has focused on stair-building.

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Greg has been building and installing custom cabinets in North Yarmouth, Maine for going on 25 years. About ten years ago, after a particularly challenging installation, he made this set of cabinet jacks with a couple of bar clamps and some cabinet scraps. Well, okay, there’s a little more to it than that, but it is a fairly simple, inexpensive design.

Each jack is comprised of:

• 3/4″ pipe—15 1/2 inches, threaded one end
• Pipe clamps
• 3/4″ plywood—22 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, 4″ x 10″
• 1/2″ plywood—(2 pcs) 7 3/4″ x 10″
• 1 1/8″ hardwood—(2 pcs) 3 1/4″ x 10″
• 1/2″ hardwood cleats—(2 pcs) 3/4″ x 18 1/2″
• 3/4″ pipe flange
• 1/4″ steel—3/4″ x 9 7/8″
• 1/2″ UHMW-PE—-3/4″ x  9 7/8″
• 2 1/4″ latch
• Drywall screws

The jacks nest together for transport, with the clamps cradled and secured by their own weight.
Casement latches lock the two jacks together for transport and storage, one latch at each end.
Keep the jacks horizontal when transporting, as the bar clamps are only held in place by gravity.
To use the jacks, first remove the clamps from the cradles.
Then unlatch and separate the jacks.
The rail strips on the base of each jack help secure the jacks in a single package for transport.

The UHMW-PE is friction-fit into the dado and can be adjusted using set screws. This ensures a snug channel in which the pipe clamp sits.

After the set screws are adjusted, the UHMW-PE is snapped into place.

The bar clamp is then inserted into the jack.
And we’re ready for some lifting!

This may start a firestorm of debate, but Greg finds it easiest to set his base cabinets before his uppers. He then places his jacks on the level bases, lifts his upper cabinets onto the jacks, and raises them into position.

Greg is always finding new ways to use his jacks to save his back.

One of the driving forces in Greg’s design was the weight of his large, custom boxes. He hated lifting those behemoths up and down as he scribed them to fit perfectly. So, he sought to eliminate the need to take each cabinet down to the ground in order to plane it to fit wall variations. He figured that if he made the jacks sturdy enough, he could do the alterations with the cabinet in place. Lift it once, scribe it, plane it, and screw it to the wall. Then it’s on to the next beast.

Greg designs all of his cabinets with a 1/4″ scribe to accommodate wall undulations. In order to make this fitting easier, he rabbets the back edge of his panels so that he only has 1/4″ of material to remove at the scribe locations. After plumbing and leveling the cabinet on the jacks, he pivots it away from the wall just enough so that he can use his backsaw to cut away the bulk of the material. He then uses a low-angle block plane to finish the scribe.

With the jacks adjusted to approximately the right height, the cabinet is lifted into position.
The jacks are adjusted and the cabinet is shimmed away from the wall, so it sits level and plumb.
Greg anticipates the wonky walls of an old house, so he designs all his visible panels with room for scribing.
After marking his scribe line, Greg pulls the cabinet away from the wall and uses a backsaw to cut close to his line.
He then finishes with a low-angle block plane.
The cabinet now fits tight to the wall and is ready for final installation.

Greg designed his jacks for use with his unwieldy custom cabinets, but also uses them to install stock cabinetry. They work great and eliminate the need for a helper on many installs. So, whether you are a custom cabinet maker installing hundred pound boxes, or a trim carpenter hanging a bunch of 24/30s, I think you will find these jacks a great addition to your arsenal.

(Video: Blackfly Media. Photography by Trudy and Ben O’Connell.)

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AUTHOR BIO

Ben O’Connell landed in carpentry when, at the age of 24, he realized he’d better hurry up and learn a useful trade. After four years of production trim work in upstate NY, he headed for Portland, Maine, where he knew he wanted to be. He soon bought a fixer-upper, found the woman of his dreams, and started his own business. Sounds like a perfect story, but then the bubble burst, and carpentry became less awesome and more stressful.

After some soul searching, Ben decided to call it a day and move on to the next interesting career. Ben and his wife, Ana, recently opened a catering business featuring Ana’s recipes from Spain and the Basque country. As a final project in his carpentry education, Ben built a food cart, which he operates on the streets of Portland.

When he isn’t schmoozing on the streets, Ben enjoys carpentry, golf, and hangin’ with the band.

A carpenter acquires many tools over time. Some of these tools come with decent storage containers, some don’t, and some come with nothing at all.

In this article, I’ll take you through my process of designing and building a box for a tool that has many accessory pieces and no box to keep it all together.

Years ago, good tools came with quality steel boxes that housed all of the components, but, for the most part, this is a thing of the past.

Many of today’s tools come with a plastic case or a carrying bag. Unfortunately, the hinges and snap connectors on plastic cases don’t last very long, as they get banged around in the back of a truck or van. And nylon bags, while nice, don’t really protect the tools at all, making this kind of bag useless as a permanent storage solution. Don’t get me wrong, nylon bags have their uses. As a matter of fact, I use a big red Milwaukee tool bag at the end of the day to gather up all of the little things that make their way from the van into the project site: extension cords, drop cloths, leftover hardware…you get the picture.

Here's a box I make for my Collins clamps.

Some tools come with good cases but end up casualties of their own success: Tools by DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosche, Festool, and all the other top brands, practically scream “Steal me!” depending where you are on a given day. For this reason I’ve gotten to the point of making my own storage boxes for new tools as soon as I get the chance, even when they come with adequate boxes. These homemade boxes are generally made entirely of scrap material, so they are very cost-effective, as well as utilitarian.

For the purpose of this article I’ve chosen to make a custom container for my Central Pneumatic flooring nailer/stapler. Not exactly a high-end target for thieves, but it does meet the other criteria: a tool with a lot of ancillary parts, which, if left to their own devices, would probably be lost in a year’s time.

I start by gathering up all of the things that I plan to store together, and lay out the individual components as I would like to have them in the box. Now I can get my measurements for height, length, and depth.

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First, cut out both sides according to length and depth, and tape them together end-to-end. Be sure to make your measurements from short point to short point or it may be too narrow.

After all the pieces are taped end-to-end, flip the whole assembly over, spread glue into all of the corners,
and fold the assembly together into a box.

Before the glue sets, cut the back piece from 1/4″ plywood. Glue and nail the back in place, squaring up the box. I cut the back piece a little proud on length and width, then trim it off on the router table with a flush cutting bit. This not only looks neater but keeps things from getting caught on the edges.

I cut the face frame out of solid stock. In this case, 1×2 pine. Mill a 3/8” groove in the end of your stock so the 1/4″ plywood—which you will be using for your front cover—will be able to slide freely.

Note: I usually keep the piece that will be the top (or handle) separate from the rest. Since you’ll be fitting and gluing the front cover into this piece, you want the groove to be a bit tighter in this one.

For the face frame, cut all four sides equal to the sides of your box (measuring from long point to long point). Tape and glue these pieces together like you did with the sides, only do not glue the piece that will be the top/handle of the box (see photo, right). For now, just tape this piece together with the rest to form a rectangle, square it up, and set it aside to dry.

Spread glue on the bottom of the finished box, and on the left and right sides, but don’t get any glue on the top piece of the box. (see photo, left)

Next, orient the face frame properly on the box, with the sides and bottom set precisely in position (but no glue on the top/handle piece!), then nail the three sides of the face frame in place.

At this point you can remove the top/handle piece and trim off any excess at the router table.

To complete the project, all you need to do is cut a piece of 1/4″ ply for the front and glue it into the groove of the top/handle piece.

Now you can set the tools into the box and glue up whatever cribbing or stops you need to keep everything in place.

Add a carrying handle, and there you have it—a finished box with a slide-out front cover!

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AUTHOR BIO

Dan Broadbelt has spent all of his adult life building and fixing things.

He joined the Army in 1980 and spent the next 25 years in C/E (communications electronics) Maintenance, fixing everything from AM/SSB radios, FM radios, Microwave radios, Teletype equipment, mine detector sets, multiplexers…ad infinitum. This career wasn’t really a choice, it just kind of happened.

During this time he also began to build furniture and cabinets as a hobby, reading every book or magazine on woodworking that he could get his hands on.

After retiring from the Army, Dan spent time as a carpenter, cabinetmaker, and then handyman. As a handyman he found a new calling. It was an opportunity to put his knowledge of all types of work and trades to good use, helping others, and working for himself. Alas, starting a new business in your 50s leaves precious little time to do the things he used to enjoy, such as competitive swimming and running. He hopes he’ll have more time for these activities in the future.

Dan’s handyman service is called “In a Fix Property Maintenance.” He currently resides in the Reading, Pennsylvania area.

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A miter saw is probably the key tool for any good carpenter. While other tools may or may not be in a carpenter’s arsenal, one thing you can count on is that everyone has a miter saw. One very important element to the miter saw is the stand on which it rests. If the saw does not have a good stable place to rest, operating the saw will be tedious and frustrating.

On various job sites, I have seen “carpenters” using miter saws which were set up on the ground, on top of saw horses, and precariously perched on all variety of stuff.

I remember seeing some guys with a miter saw set up on a couple saw horses, with no extension wings, cutting crown molding for a coffered ceiling. The guy was using the palm of his hand to hold the crown against the fence while the other fifteen feet of crown was hanging off the saw and drooping on the ground across the driveway. I thought “Man, that has got to be a pain.”

I used to have a saw set up on a small adjustable height scaffold, like the ones you get from the big box stores. I made some extension wings out of plywood. The plywood had dowels set into the end which would slip down into corresponding holes which were drilled into a block of wood that was bolted to the side of the miter saw.

This setup worked fine for a while, until I started doing more work for this one particular builder, who would hire me to do more than just build and install his cabinets. On one particular job, he wanted some small shelves, built on-site, to hang on a wall. These shelves were made from 1 x 8 materials, and had to have an angle cut on them to fit the 45^o corner on which they were to be installed. Well, my little 10-in. saw was not able to make the angled cut for these two shelves, so I had to “make do.” The cut was not perfect and I was frustrated.

It was then that I vowed to upgrade my saw at the next opportunity. Especially if I was to continue to work with this contractor.

I came across an individual selling a brand new 12-in. slider for a great price, so I jumped on the deal. I quickly realized that the old setup I used for my 10-in. saw was entirely too small to accommodate this beast. This new saw was back-heavy and would try and tip off of the back of my skinny scaffold. Even if I clamped the front down it would try and tip the whole set up over.

Thus began the search for the perfect miter saw stand.

Reading a lot of articles and forum posts about stands led me to one of the more popular stands among carpenters, made from steel with extruded aluminum wings. Unfortunately, the company I was looking at no longer builds those stands, and they were cost prohibitive. But I liked the design, and, being the self-respecting woodworker that I am, decided that anything built from metal could also be built from wood.

I wanted the stand to be high enough for me. I am not exceedingly tall, but with most of the portable stands I see at the retail stores, I would have to bend over too far to see what I was doing. Then again, it may just be these old eyes don’t see as well as they used to. I also wanted a solid extension wing, not just a roller stuck out two or three feet to the side, because I often use the wings as a work top.

I like to think of myself as the type of person who can learn from other people’s mistakes. So, during my research, I tried to find out what people liked and didn’t like about their stands—the idea being to take a little bit of wisdom from a lot of different people. Thanks to the countless years of experience from other carpenters (who are far more skilled than I am), I came up with this current model of miter saw stand.

I knew that, first and foremost, I needed the saw to be stable. Using 2 x 4s for legs was out of the question, due to bulk. Being a cabinet maker, I have a lot of 3/4-in. thick lumber laying around the shop. I happened to have some Hickory leftover from a recent cabinet job. I knew the Hickory would be strong and heavy enough to provide a good base for my 65-lb. miter saw. I thought about using 3/4-in. plywood for the top, but figured 1/2-in. would work fine, especially after edging it with solid wood.

During the assembly of the legs, I realized that I had to weave them together before I could close each complete set, which is a little troublesome (see below). If I were to build another stand, I would probably build the legs so that one set fit inside the other set.

I used simple door hinges to attach the top to the legs (see below). I rounded the edges of the legs to get rid of any potential splinters, being careful to leave square all areas of intersection. Pre-drilling the screw holes was absolutely necessary, because that Hickory is h-a-r-d hard!!

On my previous setup, the wings were attached to the saw. On my new stand, I attached the wings separately, which I like a lot more. I made a little tab to slip the hinge pin through to make pulling the pin easier. I also filed down the raised/knurled portion of the pin near the head so it would not stick in the barrel as much.

The wing design is pretty much a carry-over from my old setup, as it worked just fine. It’s important that the weight of the wing bear on the leg and not the hinge. I also made sure that when in the “open” position the leg would be angled outward a little and not straight up-and-down.

The legs for the wings also had to be adjustable. I put a threaded bolt with a knob on the lower section, with a dowel inserted above it to guide it up and down through the slot in the upper section.

Overall, I am happy with the setup. I like that it folds up flat and tucks away on one wall of my van. I don’t always work around a lot of different trades—mostly home owners, who are as impressed with my stand as they are with my cabinets. Also, one contractor I do work for has a few guys that ohh and ahh over it. That makes me smile.

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Chapter 1: Part 2

A serial publication of excerpts from Trim Made Simple by Gary Katz

Training techniques for apprentice carpenters and serious DIYers

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Use pocket holes for easy joinery

Experienced carpenters use clever jigs, fixtures and techniques for fastening two boards together in perfect alignment. Newcomers frequently give up before they learn how to succeed. Avoid failure and frustration by using pocket hole joinery whenever possible.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Clamp the jig to a work table. Secure the pocket hole jig to a piece of 1/2 in. plywood. To support the workpiece, attach short pieces of 1x to the plywood exactly the height of the jig. Always clamp the plywood to a worktable. [NOTE: Click any image to enlarge. Hit "Back" button to return to article.]
2. Adjust the clamping pressure. Lock the toggle clamp down, then thread the plunger up to the workpiece. Lift the toggle clamp and thread the plunger toward the workpiece one more turn, then back the lock nut all the way to the end of the threads.

3. Adjust the stop collar. Place the bit in any of the three bushings. Slip the stop collar over the bit. Lift the bit until the tip is slightly above the jig—so you won’t be drilling into the jig. Then tighten the stop collar with an Allen wrench.
4. Use the bushings. To drill pocket holes in horizontal material, use any of the three bushings. To drill pocket holes in the ends of  3-1/2 in. material, use the outer two bushings; for 2 1/2-in. material, use the left two bushings; and for 1 1/2-in. material, use the right two bushings.
5. Use a high-speed drill. For drilling a few pocket holes, a cordless drill works fine. For drilling a lot of pocket holes, use a corded power drill. Place one hand on the work piece, to steady it. Hold the drill in the other hand, squeeze the trigger, wait for the bit to come up to top speed, then slowly push the bit straight down into the bushing. Feather the trigger off and on while removing the bit.

The real trick to doing fine finish work is careful layout. For most tasks, you don’t have to be a journeyman carpenter to achieve success. Just plan ahead and work slowly, methodically checking your work as you go to avoid mistakes. Though the supports don’t have to be installed perfectly, take pride in everything you do and your confidence and work will improve quickly.

Install the supports

1. Layout the inside supports. To allow plenty of room for your saw, measure over 2 in. from the base of the saw.
2. Draw layout lines. Use a carpenter’s square to draw layout lines for both supports, perpendicular to the edge of the base.
3. Locate center supports. The end supports are easy, make them flush with each edge. Then measure over and mark the center of the center supports. Remember, those marks are centered on the support. Draw layout lines 3/8 in. to one side.
4. Glue and clamp supports. Don’t attempt to drive pocket screws, or any fastener, without clamping the material in place. Otherwise, the force of the screws will push the material off the layout line and the job won’t be successful or enjoyable.

5. Drive in Pocket screws. Set the clutch on your cordless drill to a low setting, so the screw won’t strip. Steady the support with one hand. Use a long square-drive bit, align the bit with the hole, and apply even but gentle force directly in line with the screw, the hole, and the driver bit.

Tips From a Craftsman

Don’t use drywall screws in pocket holes. Drywall screws are tapered beneath the head. As the screw reaches the shoulder of the pocket hole, the taper will split the material. Pocket screws have flat heads and won’t split the material.

Most carpenters learn by making mistakes—sometimes a lot of them. Unfortunately, the more mistakes we make, the longer it takes to build confidence.  Here are two tips that will help you avoid frustrating mistakes:

1. Measuring and Marking Always use a #2 1/2 (2 5/10) pencil. These pencils are available at office supply stores and online (www.officeworld.com: $2.00). Slightly harder than #2 lead, these pencils are great for carpenters because they leave a sharper, crisper line, and they stay sharp longer.

2. Use Clamps Safety and craftsmanship are inextricably bound together. You can’t have one without the other. And you can’t do fine work if you’re using your hands as clamps. Before operating any tool, clamp the workpiece securely to a work bench or table. That way, rather than securing the workpiece, you can concentrate your mind and your body on the work.

Install the Top

Once all the supports are fastened, the top is easy to install. But don’t hurry the process. Set up the procedure carefully, so you won’t end up with any unnecessary holes or marks. Start by laying some scrap 3/4 in. material across the supports, so it’s easier to cut the top in half.

1. Cut the top in half. Some miter saws won’t cut all the way through a 12 in. wide board. No problem. Cut half way through from one direction, then turn the board over. Align the cut with the miter saw blade, then cut through the other half.
2. Position the tops. Lay each top upside down behind the supports. To allow room for the saw, slide the tops 1 in. past the inside supports. The top should hang over the supports and provide a 1-in. lip for clamps.
3. Mark center lines. Use a square to trace center lines on both tops for each support.
4. Glue and clamp the tops. Set each top on the supports, 1 in. past the inside support nearest the saw. Flush the tops with the base and the front edge of the supports, then clamp both tops in place.

5. Drill countersunk holes. Use a countersink bit to drill two or three holes on each support line, 1 1/2 to 2 in. in from each edge.
6. Fasten the top. Drywall screws are okay for many wood-working tasks, even for fastening down the top, but square drive screws are stronger and preferred by craftsman.

Soup up your saw

Installed on a good stand, a miter saw is more than just a saw, it’s a measuring, marking, and layout tool, too. Even the fence on a miter saw is important for layout and measuring, which is why I prefer installing an auxiliary fence on my miter saws. And because finish work is mostly repetitive—we rarely cut just one 32 1/2 in. head casing—a repetitive stop system is also a must: It takes too much time to pull out a tape measure for every cut, and besides, measuring and marking is more accurate with a jig. Here are two simple ways to improve your saw and your craftsmanship:

Attach an auxiliary fence

1. Cross cut the material. Rip or buy a short piece of material the same height as your miter saw fence. Cut the material the same length as your saw, measured all the way from one side of the saw to the other.
2. Fasten the auxiliary fence. The miter saw fence should have two holes in each side. Temporarily clamp then secure the auxiliary fence to the miter saw fence using four #10 x 3/4 in. screws.
3. Cut through the fence. Set the saw at 45 degrees and make a cut through the auxiliary fence. Swing the saw to the opposite 45 degree miter detent, and make a second pass through the fence. Allow the blade to stop each time.

Make a repetitive stop system

1. Install a wooden fence. Cut a 1 x 4 the length of the extension wing. Use pocket screws to fasten the wooden fence about 1 in. behind the miter saw fence. To prevent binding from bowed boards and moldings, do not make the repetitive stop fence flush with the miter saw fence.
2. Make repetitive stop blocks. Cut two pieces of 1 x 4, each about 8 in. long. Clamp and fasten them together permanently with screws.
3. Cut a 45 degree cleat. Cut the cleat off the end of a 1 x 6.
4. Drill pocket holes. Clamp the cleat securely in the pocket hole jig, with the right-angle edges down, and drill one pocket hole in each direction.
5. Fasten the cleat. Use pocket screws to secure the cleat inside the stop block. The cleat will create a perfectly square stop block.
6. Clamp the cleat to the fence. For repetitive cuts, measure and cut the first piece. Use the first piece to position the stop block, then clamp the block to the fence. Cut a second piece and check that it’s identical to the first piece before proceeding.

You’d think that after 15 years in this business I’d hate tools, but I love them. The problem is, how to get them to the job, and how to store them so I can find them!

Although I have owned pickups, which are great for framing work, my choice for work vehicles has always been a van. And for finish/trim/cabinet installers, it’s hard to beat an Express Access Van. I first saw this vehicle advertised in The Journal of Light Construction and decided that, if possible, I would own one some day.

Fortunately, that day came.

This is my 2004 1/2 ton Chevy Express/Access van. It came factory equipped with AWD (a must when you live above the snow line) and the access panels. GMC was running a promotion when I bought my van, whereby the interior shelving and cab door were installed at no cost to me by Carter Industries. I also went for the roof rack and tow package.

This is the only van I use for my business, which is interior finish and pick-up work on mostly new construction.

Some benefits of a work van:

• No trailer to drag around, but if I do need to pull something, the tow package has a button for electronically shifting to a tow gear.

• Even more than a truck with a cap (for you west-coast carpenters, that’s a shell), a van keeps tools organized, dry, and out of sight at the local parking lot.

• The shelving is adjustable.

• Cords and hoses can be hung on the front wall and rear shelf side, to get them off the floor.

The side flip-up panels (see above) allow easy access to small items, which are organized in bins on the shelves. There are three panels total, two on the driver’s side and one on the passenger side (see below). Each access panel can be opened remotely by pressing a marked button on the key fob.

This is the passenger side panel which opens to a cabinet with three drawers for small parts. There’s also space for three nail gun boxes, one nail gun bag, a tool bag, and there’s a shelf on top which holds levels and my 3rd-hand telescoping poles.

Note the fluorescent light on the underside of the panel (above). Each panel has its own switched fluorescent light, which is great for when it gets dark; the cargo area has two additional fluorescent lights besides the cargo light.

The van’s double side doors allow easy access to the floor and shelving in the front of the cargo area, eliminating crawling over stuff from the back doors.

The shelving package came with a cab/storage divider that has a door to access the back from the cab (to the right of the bins in the photo, above). The door can be propped open to allow inside transport of material up to 12 feet long. It also provides a safety barrier between the load and the cab, but still allows me to see through it (see below).

Here’s a view of the rear. Doors and small cabinets can fit inside for transport. There are two shelves on each side which are easily accessible from the interior (there is a lockable door on the lower left). I can get eight-foot pre-hung doors, full plywood sheets, or small cabinets inside this van. Cords and tool bags are stored here for easy access. Also, a portable table saw, chop saw, other larger tools, and full 4×8 sheet goods can all be loaded at the same time without worrying that the sheet goods will crush the tools, like they would in my old pickup.

My chop saw and table saw are mounted on portable stands which I can easily load, one end at a time into the rear of the van, which is much lower than most pickups.

This is what I carry most of the time when starting a job. The Trojan Miter stand has seen about 15 years of duty. The Ridgid table saw is heavy, but has performed well. The small Senco compressor is totally adequate for my needs and doesn’t require a lot of amperage or a large cord. The Rubbermaid cart is my buddy for door hanging, as it carries my gun, nails, shims, etc. Notice the swivel fitting on my nail gun, which makes the hose last much longer.

Sure, a pickup with a cap can work great for certain types of work, but I think it’s hard to deny that when it comes to flexibility, security, and ample storage space, nothing beats a good van.

Please feel free to share pics of your work vehicle, and especially any customized accessories you’ve added that make your job easier!

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AUTHOR BIO

Doug got started doing small projects as a teenager, having always been interested in tools. His grandparents owned an old hardware store near Muncie, Indiana—the kind with 16-foot ceilings that had rolling ladders on each side, a wood floor, a hand-operated freight elevator, and a penny peanut machine! When Doug got out of the Air Force in 1978, he took a job as a laborer for a framer, then did handyman work, then a stint with a sauna company (which is where he first learned to hang doors). His next major move was to a larger builder who put him on the finish crew, where he had the opportunity to supervise some commercial projects.

Next, Doug and his wife started a retail portable spa store. That lasted for about eight years, during which time he got his contractor license in order to be able to do installations (decks, gazebos, etc.) for their customers. Doug continues doing various finish work, both for himself and other contractors.

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Festool graciously hosted eight attendees for this special class. The group included professional carpenters, woodworkers, and one retired dentist who now chips away at wood instead of teeth. The trainers, Steve Bace and Brian Sedgeley, were experienced and knowledgeable about building cabinets using the Festool system and approach of “Faster. Easier. Smarter.”

I build cabinets, entertainment centers, bookcases, and custom carpentry projects day in and day out. Over the years I have worked hard to improve the way I build cabinets, mostly by learning from mistakes and gaining experience with each project. Several years ago I bought my first Festool tool—the TS 55 saw and guide rail—to help knock down sheet goods faster. That tool made a tremendous difference in how I work. I now own pretty much every tool Festool makes.

For several years I’ve been using a Festool TS 55 and guide rail to break down sheet goods. After attending the Festool class, I started using the Parallel Guide System too, which makes it a lot easier to cut sheet material on jobsites where space is always tight!

A lot to learn

I went to this class with an open mind. Instead of “What can they show me that I don’t already know?” I wondered, “What can I learn today?” And boy was I surprised. I learned a lot! For this article, I’ll narrow my experience down to just two tools—the ones that have made the biggest difference in what I do and how I build cabinets: the MFK 700 Router and the new Parallel Guide System.

MFK 700

We used the MFK 700 for routing a 1/4-inch groove down the rear of the side panels of a cabinet to accept the back panel. This tool worked fantastically for this function. The MFK 700 accepts 1/4-inch collets and 8mm collets. The router is very well balanced, and when attached to the dust collection system it collects virtually all of the resulting dust and chips.

Before I used this router/method for grooving a cabinet for the back, I always installed the backs with pin-nails, wide-crown staples, or small hand-driven nails (remember those!). That old technique worked fine most of the time, at least until my painter pushed a little too hard on the back while painting and popped the back right off. Routing a groove for the back ensures that it will never get pushed out.

Perfect for Bead Board!

The MFK 700 sets up very quickly. You just run your groove down the back side approx. 3/8” to 1/2″ from the edge. The router has an edge guide attachment that just slips on—set the depth and away you go!
However, if you want to add nailers for the top and bottom, move the groove in 3/4” from the edge and attach the nailer behind the back. When you assemble the cabinets, leave the top a bit short of the groove—that way you can slide the back right in. This makes for a stronger built cabinet, which means no chance of pushing out the back.

I use bead board 90% of the time for the backs of built-ins. In fact, I use so much bead board that I have become known as the “Bead board King” on several online forums I participate in. I like using sheets that are 1/4” or 3/16” thick. Using this new method with bead board, I am able to speed up assembly.

Edge Banding

The MFK 700 makes edge banding shelves, or the sides of panels, faster, easier and smarter. In a flash you can set up this router for edge trimming with a special bit that Festool makes specifically for this task. The MFK 700 comes with a special base which makes it very easy to run the router down to a 3/4” thick edge. After applying the edge banding, you can easily trip off the excess banding material. A little light sanding, and it’s a done deal.

Since the class, I’ve used this method for shelf edges as well as counter tops (using the laminate trimming blade).

I’ve also used the small router for tricky beading edges. My old router would tip a lot on a skinny 3/4 in. edge. Not so with the MFK 700, because the extended base provides additional footing, something you really need when cutting a delicate quirk-and-bead edge.

Parallel Guides

Festool also makes a Parallel Guide System for the TS 55 and TS 75 saws, which helps to speed up repeat cuts on sheet goods. In the class, we were shown how to set up these accessories and use them correctly. First, you attach the guide rail system to the outside edges of your sheet good. Once you’re set up, you can make your cut, pick the guides up, and set them on the next piece for an exact repeat of the last cut.

	Steve and Brian taught us all how to set up the Parallel Guide System, which seemed pretty touchy at first, but it wasn’t long before all of us were making repetitive cuts on full-length sheets with ease.

This accessory has cut in half the amount of time I used to spend measuring both ends of the sheet, marking the piece, resetting the guide rail, double checking the marks, and then cutting.

I now use the Parallel Guide System at home frequently. Though the scale is metric, I usually start by laying out the guides with a tape measure, then use the metric scale to make sure they’re dialed in precisely!

Saving the dessert for last

Finally, the icing on the cake: even though I had dinner with Festool’s president, Christian Oltzscher, which was fantastic, and I had met the whole Festool staff, along with a gang of fellow carpenters…going into the FESTOOL WAREHOUSE and seeing all those tools, just sitting on the shelves, thousands of them, just waiting for a home—well, I nearly passed out. It was better than being a little boy in a candy store. Thank you, Festool.

What I took home

I recently built a 4-section bookcase project with repeat cuts for eight sides, bottoms, tops and shelves. Thanks to these new tools, and all I learned at the Festool class, I zipped through this job with ease. Again: Faster, easier, and smarter—that is the Festool way.

In closing, I highly recommend this class to everyone. You will learn new tricks; you will pick up better ways to use Festools; and you will improve your onsite cabinet-making skills. And to top it all off, you will meet new friends and have a great time.