picture frame, mitre sled or mitre saw?

[Tom Jones III]

I'm going to be helping a (non-woodworking) friend make a picture frame tomorrow. I recently got a planer/molder and since my wife is an artist I expect to be making a lot of nice, large frames in the future.

Assume frames will be made out of hardwood 3" wide and 3' x 4' in size.

Should I:
#1 Spend some time setting up my Porter Cable compound miter saw to cut very exact 45* angles?
or
#2 Build a mitre sled for my Powermatic 66 tablesaw?
or
#3 something else?

[Dennis McDonaugh]

tom, I use nr 2. if he picture frame is fairly flat not really big. Cut one half of the corner on one side of the sled and the other half of the corner on the other side of the sled and you automatically compensate for any small misalignment.

[Warren White]

Tom,
I realize that it won't work for your immediate plans, but if as you say you plan on making a lot of frames, may I recommend the JointTech Smart Miter sled? I realize it may be overkill for straight 90 degree work, but it is a very accurate sled with - 50 to + 50 in 1/2 degree increments. It would give you the option of some multi-sides frames.

It has been one of my most useful tools.

Warren

[Doug Shepard]

I normally use #2. One of these day's I'll build a real miter sled. The one I've been using is just a piece of plywood with a runner and a 1x2 fence on the plywood. It only cuts 45 degs and works pretty good so making a good adjustable miter sled is always on the back burner.

[Tim Morton]

FWIW I cut frames on my table saw using an incra 1000se. makes perfect 45's.

[Tom McDermott]

Recent issue of FWW had a good article on this very subject. They used #2, with the proviso that the miter be cut starting from the outside edge of the miter, working to what will be the inside edge. This requires cutting the other end of the board from the opposite side of the blade.

Reason is so that any splintering (which happens as the blade exits the cut) will be on the inside part of the miter joint where it will be less noticable than defects on the outer (more visible) part of the miter.