Circular Saw Basics: EASIEST CROSSCUTS!! (6 TIPS For Fastest, Easiest Circular Saw Crosscuts!)

so i haven't done a video on circular saw usage in a while not since my 11 mistakes video way back in november i was waiting for the shop to be done because i see these videos as highly important and i wanted to cover these topics right the circular saw is hands down the most useful and versatile saw for carpenters and as i mentioned in my other video it's also one of the most dangerous it's a freehand tool meaning it doesn't have a system of built-in fences and guides like the miter saw and the table saw so you can't trust those features to align your cuts it does have a little rip fence attachment which i'll discuss in another video but otherwise it goes where you tell it to this makes a lot of new diyers nervous because the 15 amp motor is powerful and even when you're using it safely it's still really easy to mess up your cuts you can waste a lot of valuable lumber with one bad pass of the saw when precision matters you need ways to keep the saw on track so this is the first part of a video series where i discuss how to do this using only simple tools and simple techniques for this first video we're focusing on the most common cut you'll face cross cuts i'm going to show you several tips and techniques for making the fastest easiest cross cuts possible with the circular saw and i'll even show you methods for making angled cuts as well and that's all coming up next on the honest carpenter show keep in mind that there are tools on the open market that are designed to do this i'll link some of these below and in the future i may even test some of them out on the channel but during numerous years in the field i never used any of those i relied instead on a handful of methods that i saw as being much faster and more readily available with stuff in my tool belt so we're starting with fast clean cross cuts a cross cut as it sounds is a cut that travels across the grain of the board miter saws are the best tool for making these cuts because of their precision and their fence but sometimes you need to make clean cross cuts with just a circular saw especially when you're tackling deck projects or perhaps framing where square cuts matter so the best and simplest guide for these cuts by far is the common speed square speed squares are layout tools that simplify a number of angle finding functions especially where roofing is concerned but their most common usage is for marking perfect right angles the square has a flat bar along the bottom leg by pressing this bar against the edge of a board the vertical leg gives you a perfect 90 degree line up on one side and a perfect 45 degree line up on the other side as i said we mostly use these to mark quickly for a cut it just takes a quick swipe of the pencil and pro carpenters will often then make cuts freehand afterwards but it's even more important to know that you can also use the speed square as an extremely accurate guide for the cut itself to do this just make your tick mark at your cut point you can trace a whole cut path along the square if you like or you can simply use the tick mark as your lineup spot either way but the edge of your sole plate up against the vertical leg of the speed square now slide the speed square left or right until you have the corner of the blade tooth set exactly at your mark remember you want the corner of the tooth at your mark not the center of the tooth if you don't know what kerf is please check out my video on the subject i think it's the most important concept in cutting when i set up like this i'll typically keep the bar on the near side of the board i'll hook my thumb through the triangular window in the square and grip the far edge of the board with my fingers and pull the tool forward tightly i don't want it to move at all some people who do this actually prefer to hang the bar at the far end and pull down towards themselves it doesn't really matter what you do it's just a matter of which feels more comfortable but with a tight grip on the square i'll then fire up the circular saw and let it spin up with the sole plate pressed flush up against the speed square i'll begin to drive the sole forward making sure the two edges stay in contact and that the blade is indeed tracking on my line you'll very quickly pass through a whole cross cut this way and have a clean 90 degree cut edge to show for it this is such a fast easy way of making cross cuts that i would use it pretty much daily in the field even for some finer trim cuts if i didn't feel like setting up my bigger saws and it really works for a diverse width of boards your average speed square is seven inches long but it'll actually let you make a wider cut than that because the sole plate can track out further than the leading edge of the square you can usually cut an additional three inches pretty safely and still remain stable but if that's not enough and i want more stability i may even use this the 12 inch speed square what we call a buzzard wing this larger model gets you even more reach across the board and works almost exactly the same way letting you cross cut up to 16 inches or so accurately which brings us to tip number two if you don't feel comfortable holding the square free hand you can also clamp it down for security i tend to use irwin quick clamps for this because i always have them on hand the key is just making sure the clamps don't interfere with the path of the saw body or motor sometimes if you have the saw set very deep the motor may bump against the square so this may be tricky with deeper cuts if you're cutting deeper than say two inches you may not be able to complete the pass but quick clamps will get your free hand out of the process so it'll actually let you hold the saw in a two-hand grip which is safer and more stable so feel free to use clamps for the speed square especially the 12 inch which has plenty of room to place them just make sure that the square isn't moving as you put pressure on your cut and tip number three you can do angle cuts the exact same way speed squares are already calibrated and marked to indicate various angles off a linear base you just press the bar against the edge of your board then rotate the speed square while maintaining contact at the pivot corner markings along the edge of the 45 degree leg indicate your angle as it relates to the edge of the board so if i want to cut a 25 degree angle i line that number up with the edge then the process for cutting is pretty much the same press the sole plate to the edge fire up the saw and make your cut pass but using the square this way makes the setup less stable so i'd always advise using a clamp again you don't want your square wandering also a lot of circular saw blade guards tend to get hung up on angle cuts so you may need your second hand to tweak the guard up until it's free you can get most of the angles you're looking for this way and the 45 degree leg doesn't require any pivoting it's already set up to clamp and cut all you have to focus on is lining up your blade with your exact cut line and the rest is pretty routine so here are some key safety points for using a speed square as a guide tip number four don't ever force the cut if it's fighting you something's probably going wrong you're possibly letting your square drift off track that can easily happen or you're pushing your saw at a weird angle and just don't realize it the moment you sense this tension you should stop and back off carefully maybe even let the saw wind down then you can start again with less tension and try to get things on track from the start much of what goes wrong with circular saw cuts happens in the beginning you want a smooth light feeling as you make your pass the saw should glide across the edge not grind against it so focus on making your initial start well aligned then when you have more played against the fence the tools really take over from there and you can drive forward with easy pressure tip number five strongly consider clamping down the board you're cutting a lot of problems with this method come from board movement this is dangerous it throws off your feeling of alignment distracts you and makes your cut more difficult clamp your board down it'll stabilize it and let you focus on cutting and avoid using this method on really short boards it causes too much leverage across a short board and can't really be done safely and finally tip number six always always handle your circular saw with care read the manual follow all the rules and use it under closed supervision at first if you're using it alone and feel really scared you should probably just stop calm down and decide whether you want to tackle this or not if you do get someone to guide you through the process until you feel more comfortable with it one project isn't worth a costly mistake ever but used correctly speed squares make cross cuts with a circular saw a breeze i'll easily reel off 100 of them in a day if it's necessary and never really make a bad cut i'll link the tools seen in this video below including circular saws clamps and speed squares feel free to shop those links and remember that when you do we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you also what did you think of this video was it helpful i intend to make a lot more videos like this focusing on really small procedures so please feel free to put your feedback down in the comments as always thanks for watching be sure to check back in for more videos coming up soon and please consider subscribing and hitting that little bell button to turn on notifications that way you'll know the moment we post something i'm ethan james with the honestcarpenter.com i'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: The Honest Carpenter

Views: 488,336

Keywords: circular saw guide, circular saw tricks, circular saw guide diy, circular saw tips, circular saw basics, circular saw hacks, speed square, speed square tricks, circular saw speed square guide, how to make straight cuts with a circular saw, how to use a circular saw, the honest carpenter, circular saw guide rail, circular saw tips and techniques, circular saw jig diy, circular saw jig guide, crosscuts, crosscut, circular saw crosscuts, cross cut circular saw

Id: sOVyKASzTpk

Length: 8min 53sec (533 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 09 2021