Shoutout to the guy who pointed out my miter saw was off by 3 degrees

Ngl, I been cutting crown molding for like 5 years and always had to shim stuff or fill gaps with caulk. Last Tuesday I was on a job in Nashville and this older framer walks by, watches me make a cut, and says 'your saw is out of whack man.' Pulled out his digital angle finder and sure enough it was 3 degrees off. I felt like an idiot. How do you guys check your miter saw accuracy on site? I don't wanna carry a whole tool just for that.

3 comments

3 Comments

lopez.karen2mo ago

Does that older framer offer lessons on weekends or something cause I swear every time I watch a retiree work they pull out some trick I've never seen before. I just use a scrap piece and make a test cut on some cheap wood to check angles every time I set up on a new site.

nina_jenkins2mo ago

Watched my buddy Mike try to dial in a compound miter cut on site once. He did six test cuts on scrap pine before he got it right. Old timer walked over, marked the piece with a pencil, made one cut and it was dead on. Mike just stood there with his mouth open.

nathana4829d ago

That "pull out his digital angle finder" part really got me, because that's exactly the kind of thing I'd think was overkill until I needed it. You've been doing this five years, so you've probably got a system with test cuts and shims, but how often do you actually check the saw with a square on site? I usually just grab a drywall square and a piece of scrap, but I've had days where I'm rushing and didn't realize the saw was off until I was three pieces deep.