Cutting miters (baseboard) outside range (angle and depth) of saw?

[Monte Milanuk]

So... I've had a Makita 10" SCMS for a number of years, and generally speaking, it's done pretty well. Not the newest toy in town, but it gets the job done - usually. Til now.

Doing some home remodeling, and one of the things I'm getting to learn about is doing baseboard trim. For various reasons, we decided to go with 5-1/4" tall trim. Tall enough that the 10" SCMS can't cut all the way thru with the trim standing up. For the first couple rooms, not a problem. I laid the boards flat, and made my cuts - either flat for butting up against the wall, or 45 degree for coping.

Now... I may have run into a wall... or a corner... something I'm not real sure how to work around. The first rooms had all inside corners. This room (and most of the remaining rooms) have a number of outside corners. No problem, I thought. I'll just lay the board flat and tilt the blade over. Except... the corner(s) are not square (of course). The saw only tilts a maximum of 45 degrees, and I need something a few degrees more. With the head upright, the table will pivot far enough to cut the angle I need... but it can't cut all the way thru the board.

The first board I decided to cut it standing up, and then try cutting it the rest of the way with a hand saw (cheap Marples pull saw - very sharp). Didn't work quite as well as I hoped, and there was a good bit of touch-up with a rasp/file on the backside, but it *did* get the job done. Not looking forward to cutting very many more like that, though.

I thought about maybe using a stop of some sort so I could cut halfways thru one way, then flip the board over and cut the other half... not sure if that's a good idea or borrowing trouble. Likewise, I'm trying to picture if there is someway to work the complimentary angle to the one I need so I could cut the board laying down flat, but I'm not seeing it (then again, it is about bedtime...)

The easy answer would be get a fancy new 12" SCMS... but thats not really in the budget at the moment. I'm sure I can't be the first person to tackle this problem... there has to be some work-arounds or solutions out there, right?

[Martin Wasner]

Adjust the stop for the bevel cut. You should be able to go a few degrees past 45°

[Wayne Lomman]

If adjusting the angle stop isn't enough, put a packer under the end of the piece of skirting next to the saw blade to increase the angle. This way you can cut on the flat. Cut you piece of skirting to approximate length first so you only have a short off cut to drop out of the way. Cheers

[Rich Engelhardt]

The easy answer would be get a fancy new 12" SCMS
The easy answer would be to - make a manual miter box - out of scrap and use a handsaw to make the cuts.....
(fixed it for ya)
& yes,,,been there quite a few times myself.

[Robert Engel]

A block plane does the trick.

[Frank Drackman]

A block plane does the trick.

I have found that for trim work having a sharp block plane is usually the best/quickest answer. Trying to set a miter saw for every slight variance of the angles can be very frustrating.

[Jesse Busenitz]

If adjusting the angle stop isn't enough, put a packer under the end of the piece of skirting next to the saw blade to increase the angle. This way you can cut on the flat. Cut you piece of skirting to approximate length first so you only have a short off cut to drop out of the way. Cheers


This is what I do quite often for various reasons on my "fancy 12" SCMS"

[Monte Milanuk]

I have found that for trim work having a sharp block plane is usually the best/quickest answer. Trying to set a miter saw for every slight variance of the angles can be very frustrating.

How well does a block plane work on fiberboard?

[Monte Milanuk]

The easy answer would be to - make a manual miter box - out of scrap and use a handsaw to make the cuts.....
(fixed it for ya)
& yes,,,been there quite a few times myself.

Make a manual miter box for every *different* angle that I encounter... how exactly is that the 'easy' answer? FWIW at this point I don't necessarily trust my handsawing tools or techniques quite that far.

[Robert Engel]

Works well with a sharp blade. Always stroke from top to bottom. A little chamfer at bottom prevents tear out.

You can also use a file.

[Monte Milanuk]

If adjusting the angle stop isn't enough, put a packer under the end of the piece of skirting next to the saw blade to increase the angle. This way you can cut on the flat. Cut you piece of skirting to approximate length first so you only have a short off cut to drop out of the way. Cheers

That was actually my first inclination... I had discarded it because I wasn't sure how precise/controllable it would be. If I can sneak up on the cut, sure. There are a few places where I need an outside corner on each end of the board, probably different angles knowing my luck... didn't seem like there would be much room for trial & error in the form of sneaking up on the cut. I'll take a closer look, though.

[Martin Wasner]

You can also use a belt sander.

Fixed it for you.

[lowell holmes]

Hey guys,

The way my trim carpenter did it when I was building houses and the way I have done it since then is as follows.
Cut a 45 degree bevel on the base and then cope the end to the shape defined by the bevel with a coping saw. The coped shape fits against the flat base it joins and looks exactly like it was beveled. If there is a bit of variance a utility knife will easily correct it. Try it, you might like it.

This works with ceiling mold as well.

My bad! You ere talking about outside miters and my mind went to inside miters. Sorry

[Rich Engelhardt]

Make a manual miter box for every *different* angle that I encounter... how exactly is that the 'easy' answer?Exactly how many outside corners are you talking about? Have you put a protractor on all of them to see just how many cuts you're going to need to make?

[Monte Milanuk]

By my count, at least 18 outside corners. Some are very small - the end of a wall partition - but others are longer, where a cubby or nook is inset.

Haven't found a square corner yet.

[John TenEyck]

Another way is to cut them at 45° and then increase the angle on a 45° bevel shooting board. Same idea as Wayne's, put a shim under the outside end of the molding to get the angle you want, then a few strokes with the plane and you will have the exact angle you want and the cut will be as good or better than any other way of doing it. And since you are making a higher angle you can cut your initial 45's at final length, if desired.

John

[keith micinski]

Definitely doable by using a shim to increase you angle of attack and not hard at all to get good results. It would be hard to repeat a bunch but as you pointed out every wall is usually a little different. One thing to think about is that the most important part of an outside corner is the leading edge of both cuts. If for some reason I can't get an outside mitre to be exact, one of my favorites being that the wall corner is actually rounded from the drywall guy mudding the heck out of the corner bead so not only is it not square it's not even flat, I over cut the mitre a degree or two and the leading edges meet nice and tight and the only place there is a gap is in the top corner as you look down.

One thing I have learned in home repair is that there are going to be conditions that exist on every single project that, while they could be surmounted just aren't worth the time, effort and expense. I'm not saying to do poor quality work, I'm saying museum quality work isn't always attainable and sometimes you just have to figure out when good enough really is good enough.

I don't think you mentioned if this was stained trim or painted white trim. If it is painted white trim then you literally only have to be with in a degree or two on your joints. Caulking seems and joints will last as long as the trim does and as long as you aren't trying to fill the Grand Canyon it's perfectly acceptable. I have actually found the joints I get perfect tend to open up a hair line with movement and the ones I miss by a hair line and caulk actually stay looking great because the chalk has just enough flexibility to keep everything together.

[Monte Milanuk]

It is painted white fiberboard. I kind of made peace with using more caulk than I'd planned :/

The primary reservation I had about the whole shimming thing is that I'm not sure how well it'd work with my current setup. My Makita 10" SCMS is on a Ridgid MSUV portable stand, so there isn't much in the way of places to actually shim things. There is just the saw's table and... thats it. The stand has two extendable roller stands, but no 'deck' or 'wings' on either side. It'd probably work fine, but it does bother me a little.

[Rich Engelhardt]

By my count, at least 18 outside corners. Some are very small - the end of a wall partition - but others are longer, where a cubby or nook is inset.

Haven't found a square corner yet.Sometimes it's just easier to make the corners fit the trim.
I've done that also where I cut the pieces to size then glued the miters together & reworked the corner to make the corner fit the trim.

[Jim Dwight]

Also remember that the trim only is visible on the top. If you cut the joints so they fit together tightly on top and on the front edge, the fact that they are not touching the wall firmly at the bottom will not be visible. If necessary, you can put a little glue on the miters and pin the joint together while the glue sets. If you do not have a 23 gauge pinner, HF has them now very inexpensively. I use it for casing returns too.

I have two CMSs, neither sliding, but my favorite is a dual bevel 12 inch Hitachi. I think I paid $150 reconditioned. I have to trim tall base flat too (or touch up the cut where it doesn't show on bottom). But it bevels either direction well. I know a slider can do trim but I think a regular CMS is actually better. You shouldn't be able to push it out of alignment like you can with bad technique on most sliders (maybe all sliders).