- There you go, wasn't too hard. G'day folks, Uncle Knackers here. Now look, the mitre saw, or if you're in America
also known as the chop saw, as a beginner woodworker
would have to be one of the most important tools you
can have in your workshop. And to prove that point, I've had this old steed
for about 12 years, maybe even longer and I use it basically on every single job that I do. Now currently it's looking
a little worse for wear, but this saw has done
literally thousands of cuts and still going strong. And with that in today's video, I wanna share with you my top
seven basic mitre saw tips that'll help you get
started on the right foot. Alrighty, let's fire this beast up. Now tip number one is
pretty self explanatory and you've probably
heard it a million times, maybe even two million times, and that is no ifs, no buts, always use hearing and eye protection. Now these machines can be pretty
noisy, hence the ear muffs, and they can also randomly
throw out pieces of wood at a great rate of knots
which can easily damage that soft tissue of the
eye, hence the eye wear, so you've just gotta be
careful, use your common sense, and wear their protective gear. And speaking about common
sense, tip number two, most normal people when
using a mitre soar will hold the wood or the timber here, and the saw blade is
over there or vice versa, they hold the timber or wood here, and the blade comes down there. And for the record, the
saw's not plugged in, so we've got no dramas. Now the mortal sin with using a mitre saw, and I see a lot of people do it, I don't know why is they'll
bring their hand across the saw blade to hold the
timber to complete the cut. Now, trust me, it's only
a matter of time before that technique ends up in tears. Now tip number three,
relates to this mark here which you see on a lot of mitre saw bases and that's the recommended
hand positioning or the safe zone for your
hands away from that blade. And it's a really good
reminder 'cause we all get a bit blase at times using these machines and to make that stand out even more, you can paint some of this
red nail polish inside that groove, which will
be even a bigger reminder. Now, I know a lot of you guys
have this in your toolboxes, blokes like Sumo, Ben Hollist,
and I think Mark Dainer has some as well. Those blokes are always
redoing their nails. Now for this next tip,
do yourself a favour and if you find yourself
having to cut multiple pieces of wood or timber to the same size, just simply attach a
block with a square end and this is known as a
stop block to the fence of the mitre saw to your desired length and then attach that with a clamp, and you're good to go. Too easy. (upbeat music) And then you have it, quick,
easy and all cut to exactly the same size. Perfect. Now just a quick cautionary
tip when using a stock block, and by the way, we're not plugged in, and that is if you can resist
the urge to lift your blade until you've finished your cut and the blade has stopped spinning. Now, the reason for that is
that currently this piece here is tight between the
stop block and the blade. Now, if that blade is spinning
in an upwards direction, as you lift it can catch
the piece just like that, which can send it hurdling back to you at a thousand miles per
hour, which never ends well. Now my bonus tip for when
you're using a stock block is that you'll notice on
mine down the bottom here I have a small 45 degree angled cut. And the reason for that is
that if your stop block only has a square flat face and it doesn't have a 45 degree angle down here, you can get a build up of sawdust on your mitre saw base plate and over time that saw dust can get
jammed between the piece and the stop block, therefore altering the length of your cut. Now, the great thing about
having that 45 degree angle down the bottom there is that it
helps you eliminate the issue of the sawdust buildup between the piece that we're trying to
cut and the stop block, 'cause as you can see, the
sawdust just gets channelled into that little cavity down the bottom, therefore not messing up
the length of your cut. Beautiful. Now the next question
you may wanna ask is, but what if I need to cut
multiple pieces of wood to the same size, but I can't clamp the stop
block to the mitre saw because the pieces are too long? Simple, just add an extension
fence to your mitre saw then to simply clamp
the stop block to that. I'll show you how to do it. Just go out and find a long piece of wood, and then just simply place
it hard up against the fence of the mitre saw, then all
you need to do is to attach this long piece of wood
to the fence through the back via two holes on
either side of the blade. Now some saws come with those
holes already pre-drilled, mine didn't, so I had
to drill those myself. (upbeat music) And then all you need to do
is to get your tape measure and hook it over the end
of that fresh new cut, come back your desired distance, say it's 400 millimetres and place a mark on your spanking new extension fence. Go grab yourself a square
and square that line down. And then all we need to do
is to get our stop block and attach it to our
extension fence with a clamp, lining that edge up with
our mark, just like that. And we're good to go. There you go, works like a charm. Now this next tip is an
absolute little ripper and we'll be making a zero clearance plate for the mitre saw base. Now I know it sounds
complicated, but it's not. So if you follow me, I'll show you what it
does and how to make one. And just very quickly, if
you wanna see more videos, just like this one, make
sure you hit that subscribe and notification button down below. Good stuff. Now, if you take a look at
the base of your mitre saw, you'll notice that the insert plate, this yellow thing here
has quite a large throat, that's that gap. Now it's made that way to
give the saw blade room when doing a bevelled cut. Now for most carpentry jobs, having that large gap
there is perfectly fine, but if you lay your board
on the base, nice and flat, you'll notice that where
that gap is right there, the board isn't fully supported. So what happens is when
your blade comes down to make the cut, you'll finish
up with a nice clean cut on the top, nice clean cut on the face, but the bottom and the
back will have tear-out, which is what you can
see here where the top and the front is nice and clean, but the back edge and
the bottom has tear-out. Now, the other issue with
having that large gap there is that if you're cutting a
sliver off your piece of wood, it can actually fall down inside that gap, making it an absolute pain
in the backside to get out. So to rectify those problems, we're going to make a
zero clearance plate. So just find yourself a thin sheet of ply, about the length of your
saw and a piece of wood to go on top. (upbeat music) Now that cut's been
made, this is essentially a zero clearance plate, which means that when you
lay your board on top, it's fully supported without
that big gap down here, which should help minimise
tear-out on the bottom and on the back. And if you find yourself
having to cut a small sliver, it's a hard word to say, because this is a zero clearance plate, that small sliver wont fall down the gap. Now, if we just check out this cut, you'll see there's a little
bit of tear-out on the bottom, it's not too bad, and the back, well that's virtually nonexistent. Good stuff. Now this next tip I
think is absolute genius. And it has to do with a safe
cutting of small pieces of wood with your mitre saw. Now I actually stole this
idea from the guys over at Tool Metrix, so I've got to give credit where credit's due. And here it is, what
I cracking little jig. Now I have plans to make
one of these down below in the description box. So if you want to have a crack at it, go down there and check it out. Now the issue we have with
cutting small pieces of wood is that because your fingers
are so close to that blade, it makes it incredibly dangerous. So with my jig I've glued
our rubber pad to the ply, and then I've glued to the
sandpaper to that rubber pad. And that allows me to apply pressure to the top of that piece of wood, holding it safely in
place, at the same time, keeping my fingers and
hand a safe distance away from that blade making for a safe cut. Love it. Now I should also say
that to safely use one of these jigs, it's important to have that zero clearance plate in place. Now this next tip relates
to the cutting of dowel, especially small sections of
dowel with your mitre saw. I've got to give these dowels up. They're killing me. Now cutting dowel, especially
small sections of dowel, can be a little tricky
as it's hard to hold, and it can also unexpectedly
spin in your fingers as the blade hits it. So to alleviate those issues, I've gone out and I've made
this snazzy little jig, with a V in it, that's
just two 45 degree angles, and all you need to do is to
drop the dowel into that V, hold a it hard up against the fence and then tightly with your
fingers, and you're good to go. Two easy. Now, if you want some ideas as to what beginner type projects to make with your mitre saw, make sure you click on one of my videos, they'll be popping up
over there very shortly. Great tip knackers. Well, I hope you enjoyed
and found that video useful. And if you did, a big thumbs up would be greatly appreciated. Alrighty, after all that, I
think I need a cup of tea, so till next time, be good, be safe, and I'm out of here, cheers.
