A miter saw is an essential tool if you are planning on cutting a miter edge on trim or baseboards. A basic miter saw will cut only or horizontal angles, but a compound miter saw will cut beveled edges. If you do a lot of this kind of work, you may want to invest in special features such as a slide that will allow the blade to move forward in order to cut a large piece.
A compound miter can cut straight or on a horizontal angle, but because of the tilting motor, it can also cut a bevel. A plain miter will not be able to do this. You use a miter saw by sitting it on a table and the spinning saw is pushed into the wood to make the cut. Miter saws are lightweight, durable and portable. They are easily carried from one job site to another.
Miter Saw Blade
There is an even more complex miter saw which is called a double bevel saw or a dual compound saw. They are even more versatile than the compound miter since they can tilt in either direction to make beveled edges.
A sliding compound miter saw works like a compound miter, but can also be pulled forward as the wood is cut, so that long pieces of wood can be mitered.
Put all of these features together, and you get the dual compound sliding saw. These saws can cut miters or bevels, since they tilt in either direction and they also have the slide feature so that large pieces of wood can be cut. Even though they have all of these features, they are portable and can go from job to job just like the others.
The most versatile saw of all if the radial arm saw. Most people consider them the most desired piece of equipment in a workshop. This saw allows you to do many different kinds of cuts such as dado work, ripping stock and crosscutting. But they alto tilt for cutting a miter edge or a beveled edge and they can be used for routing and drilling.
In deciding the blade size for a saw, you have to go by the maximum size of the wood you are working with. Make sure the saw has sufficient cross cutting ability for the size of the piece of wood. The best radial arm saw is the De Walt. It is easy to use, while still being reliable and durable. A De Walt radial saw will meet most woodworkers needs since it is adjustable to be able to work on many kinds of projects or sizes of wood.
A panel saw is used to cut large sheets of lumber, and so is usually found in lumber yards. Plywood, paneling or particleboard is usually cut by a panel saw into either 4X8 foot sheets or 4X12 foot sheets. A stationary model would be used in a lumber yard. Panel saws are also used by contractors for new homes or large home improvement projects, but they prefer a portable model that can be moved to different sites.