Stair builders - what do you use to miter your skirts

[Glen Butler]

What I do to miter my skirts is use a left and right tilting circular saw, depending on which way the miters go. It would be nice to have left and right in the same brand and stile, cause I have to get use the the feel of a different saw.

Anyway right now I am searching for a new worm drive saw to miter my skirts. The skil saw I have has been banged around too much and is no longer good for accurate work. I have been looking at either the Bosch 1677MD or the Makita 5377MG. I like the square bases that are thicker and stiffer. I am leaning toward the Makita cause I every bosch I have looked at has a twisted plate. Suggestions?

[Tad Capar]

Can't help you with the mentioned saws, in the past I used the worm drive Skill saw and conventional circular saw depending on the tilt needed, lately I cut the stringers straight out and use the skirting bracket here's ahttp://www.stairsupplies.com/eng/products/moulding_skirtboards/7029_skirting_bracket (http://www.stairsupplies.com/eng/products/moulding_skirtboards/7029_skirting_bracket)I usually make my own.
When preparing risers I select board longer then necessary by a foot or two (one side open stair or two), use the same board for riser and skirting bracket (one end of the board) achieving continuous grain at the miter joint. At the same time avoiding to deal with more difficult miter cut cutting stringers (particularly the curved ones). Mitering risers and skirts by themselves is a lot easier, not to mention the improved look of the finished staircase.

[chuck morrison]

i use my scm i have done many of these i use my 10 inch hitchi slider to miter the skirt at 46deg and miter the riser at 46 makes easy work out of the job and they look great.:)

[Glen Butler]

i use my scm i have done many of these i use my 10 inch hitchi slider to miter the skirt at 46deg and miter the riser at 46 makes easy work out of the job and they look great.:)

This is what I have been contemplating doing, but I am trying to wrap my head around the compound angle and whether there will be meshing errors because of it. When framing rafters I know I always had to use the skilsaw because the angles wouldn't come out correctly if done on the CMS. But that is because I was making seat cuts. It may be different and work fine for plumb cut operations. It is hard for me to word the geometry going into affect, but it is because the tilt angle is cut through the board cut on the angle of the saw rather than parallel with the edge of the board. Your 46 degrees is to ensure the corner meets perfectly correct?

[Richard Wolf]

Glen, you are over thinking the compound angle thing. I always try to use my scms, like Chuck. Set the miter angle to match your plumb cut line, and lay the bevel angle over to 46 Degrees. Sometimes I will cut the stringers to 45 degrees and only cut the risers at 46.
If I have to use a hand saw, I use my Festool with a 2' piece of track. I will plunge cut from the wrong tilt if I have to. Of course finishing off with a jig saw is needed.

Richard

[Bob Lloyd]

I use the compound miter saw if possible otherwise I use my cordless saws; they tilt the other way to the corded ones.

[chuck morrison]

the way i do this, is first tack the skirtboard on the wall where is gong to be,usually this is 2 inches lower than where the riser and treads meet. then i mark the skirt on the wall so that after it is cut out it will go back on the wall in the same place. before you take the skirtboard off,i take a piece of riser and use this to scrib the back side of the skirtboard or the plumb cut,also mark the level cut from the back side of the stringer,then i take this off the wall and i move my plumb scribeline back the thickness of the skirtboard and these are ready to cut out from backside, iuse no other tools than my scms.

[Glen Butler]

Thanks all, I will use the SCMS. I was able to work through it in my head and the fact that three of you say it works confirms my thinking. Wow, this is going to make life easier.

[Brian Kropp]

I use my festool, same as Richard. Plunge works great, I've only had one problem with and that was when the skirtboard was badly warped. I use to use my jigsaw both ways, but I found that my festool is such a better tool for the job, plus it's quicker( two pencil marks and I'm ready to cut).