Popular Woodworking 2000-12 № 119, страница 49

Popular Woodworking 2000-12 № 119, страница 49

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Tricks to making compound miters right the second time.

I suspect most woodworkers would rather spend an entire day hand sanding than get involved with a project that requires cutting compound miters. And I think they have good reason. Not only are compound miters hard to get right (although I hope to change that for you with this article and the accompanying one by Nick Engler) but just about every book or magazine article has a different way of doing them. To complicate matters further, some sources even give you conflicting settings for the blade tilt and miter gauge.

Over the course of the last three years I have evolved a system that has two basic rules to follow to make cutting these pesky joints nearly bulletproof. First, make a mock-up — a miniature one — once you have made your blade and miter gauge settings. Chances are it won't be perfect the first time so you tweak your adjustments until the mock-up is right. Second, don't change the settings in order to cut the other side of the part once the first side is cut. Turn the piece over and move it to the other side of the blade instead. Why? Because it's next to impossible to find the perfect setting on the opposite side of the miter gauge. The same is true for the track arm of a radial arm saw or the miter setting of a compound miter saw.

Armed with these rules, your compound miters have

by Steve Shanesy

www.popwood.com 67