So I decided to get a miter box. I wanted a Stanley 150 due to the small footprint and flexibility, but what I wound up finding is what I THINK is the Jacobs version before Stanley took it over. I cannot find a name anywhere on it, but it is identical to the 150, just without the word “Stanley” on the front of the arch. Anyway, I got it cheap and it was in really good shape. Minor rust and I needed to replace the donut and the deck/table.
1.jpg
I dialed in 90 degrees and it cuts dead accurate every time. Dialing vertical was a bit trickier. I found the Stanley 150 instructions, but it doesn’t describe how to manipulate the three screws in order to adjust vertical, it just says to turn ‘em. Gee thanks. What I thought was intuitive made things worse and I couldn’t figure it out. So I just started messing with them and eventually got it vertical using the “luck” method. If anybody knows exactly how to manipulate the three screws to adjust vertical in a predictable manner, I’m all ears.
2.jpg
3.jpg
I also found a cheap 16x4 12tpi back saw which is, ironically, Stanley. It’s not elegant, and at some point I will make a new handle – in the miter box the handle doesn’t really matter, but if I use it freehand it leaves a lot to be desired. It was filed rip so I refiled it x-cut. I have no fancy saw filing setup. I just put it in my twin-screw with some scraps of wood to act as a saw vice. I mark the fleam on a piece of paper behind the saw. For the rake I just use a piece of wood with a small hole drilled in it, the angle marked (one side is 15 and the other is 12), bubble level taped to the top, and jam the file in the hole – it works amazingly well and is crazy accurate. I didn’t have a handle for this file, but found in my scraps an old rejected drawer knob so I used that as refiling to crosscut was going to take more time than a simple sharpening and the idea of holding it without a handle for that long didn’t sound appealing.
5.jpg
Overall, I’m very happy with it.
4.jpg
Reply With Quote
