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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
I have begun to replace rotten trim on the outside of my house and looking at getting a Mitre saw. I have been using my old stationary table saw in the basement, but I cannot chop long trim pieces easily and bevel chops are timely with multiple trips to the basement.
The prices seem to be around $200 for a simple Dewalt chop saw up to $600+ for a pull bevel cut. But the larger pull saw looks so big in the box that the portability looks like it could be an issue. My trim fascia boards are mostly 6" wide.
Any advice...?
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
For my purposes I wanted something light and portable that took up minimal space, had the laser, had decent user reviews and was low in cost.
So I bought the Hitachi for only $149. Have not tried it yet so the jury is out for now as to whether the good reviews were warranted.
Have not used it as it has turned very cold here, so the pvc azek trim I bought can actually crack when nailed below 30 degrees. So I may be waiting awhile, the warm weather we had been getting got me acting like it would never get cold, and started some repairs I should have let go until spring.
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
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...... Could you cut it to fit. Bring into heated area and when safe temp to nail take it out a piece or two at the time to install?
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Yes I was thinking along those lines but Azek is also, but these repairs are like a game of chess. The Azek contracts and expands with temp so it is ideal to do the work when things are around average temps like 70. Also I am splicing into the existing trim so I need to Bondo the joints at time of install, and the Bondo requires warmer temps as well.
We finally had snow and single digit temps here this weekend so it is going to have to wait....
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
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.... I would recomend this saw to anyone but not the single bevel....
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Why is the double bevel so critical to you? I have not opened the box yet on the inexpensive single bevel I bought, anf thought that just having a chop saw would make my occasional use better.
Thanks for you insight!
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
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Yup KT-----"Dennis, one simple tip I have for anyone cutting molding is take a pencil and draw a line the direction the cut is to be on the surface that will be cut on the angle. Helps me."I do that on the edge of flat stock also----to remind mewhich way the bevel is supposed to be---I get turned around quite easy  |
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Amen to that... have to do that as well or I get messed up. Also try to mark the cuts with the wood in place so I can be sure of the lengths and angles.
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
When I was a teenager I was cutting some wood to nail to the back of 4 shutters we were hanging with hinges on my parents house. I did a quick measure of about 11 inches. So I cut all the the eight pieces 10.5 inches. While it was only the back of the shutters, the gap was quite large. My Dad and Brother referred to me as "Ten and a Half" for many years after that and occasionally mention it to this day !
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
Because of the weather I have not used the 10 inch Hitachi miter saw I bought at Lowes. I stopped in to look at the dual bevel 12 inch Hitachi and they has it on sale for $249. So I bought it and returned the single bevel. It is quite a bit heavier, 43 pounds vs 26 pounds, but still manageable, and as Hardwood said heavy will make it stay put and the 12 inch blade will allow for the biggest cuts.
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
My wife and daughter finally shamed me into getting on with finishing the work on the bay window I had ripped apart in early January.
As I mentioned I now have the Hitachi 12 " dual miter saw with dual bevel and laser. This model is about 40 pounds so I set it up in the garage on the floor. I also have an old 10" table saw set up in the basement, which I used for ripping the boards to size.
I was replacing rotten pine 1 and 1/4 pine trim and molding, replacing with Azek pvc trim so I could forego doing this again in a couple of years.
I made scarf cuts in the existing trim to be removed with my Bosch Oscillating plunge saw blade. Since I wanted to cut the scarfs at 45 degrees, I cut a 45 degree cut on some scrap wood with the Hitachi and then nailed the scrap in place and used it as a guide, worked very nicely.
Oh and this was my first time with a laser saw, it is wonderful to have laser show you exactly where the blade will cut. Would never buy a saw without one. And so glad I returned the 10" as it would have been too small for the material I was cutting.
Because I was replacing corner trim I had to rip 30 degree angles on the Trim boards. Another wrinkle was that the Azek boards were smaller than the 5 quarter pine and measure about 4 quarter. So I had to rip some birch plywood to shim it up. I used galvanized round head nails on the Azek.
I was replacing only the bottom portion of the vertical sections so getting it to line up and stay in place was a little tricky. Since my kids are not that helpful and I needed three sets of hands I took a hydraulic jack and put a little pressure on the vertical trim boards to hold them into the scarf joint while I nailed them into place, very nice.
I also used Azek/PVC molding to trim the panel under the center window. While you can nail Azek trim boards just like wood. PVC moldings are another story. I foolishly forgot reading about the fact that they need to be drilled to nail them, the stuff is like a rock, without a drilled hole you can pound the crap out of it and only manages to bend the nails 
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
Send me the measurements and I'll UPS you the cut moldings
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Miter Saw Review - Which to buy Chop Pull Bevel
Here is a picture of the repaired bay window.
http://jplan.com/ctb/images/baywindow-azek-repair.jpg
All wood under the center bay was replaced with Azek, the center plywood panel is all that was kept. On the vertical trim boards I only replaced the bottom 3 feet with a scarf cut to splice it into the existing wood trim.
After using the Azek, I am not a fan yet, rather work with wood. Have to see how it holds up and how the heat of summer and cold of winter causes expansion or contraction.
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