Mitre Saw Jigs

  At least ten years ago I bought a Bosch 10 inch sliding mitre saw and have been happy with it ever since. I don't know if Bosch even makes a 10 inch saw any longer, I suspect the linked Makita saw is every bit as good.  Over time I found that I could really improve the performance of the saw with a quality blade, that was kept sharp. 

 And another thing I did was develop or copy jigs for use with my saw.

 All my home made jigs are painted bright colours, generally red so that I can find them easily. The first jig I'll show you is a recent modification on an earlier effort.

  I've had this red stop block for a while. Today I made two small and useful changes to it. First I got very serious about squaring up one side and one end. Now when I seat a piece of wood against this block it is immediately obvious if I am cutting against the squared end. And I used my router table to cut two pencil slots into the top side. Now there will be a pencil readily available at the mitre saw work station.

  The slots are deep enough for the pencils to be out of the way of the clamp holding the block in place.

  The second jig's paint is still drying. It is an idea I copied from an Izzy Swan video.

  He had a cool commercially produced unit similar to this. This is a two fingered hand that will hold small pieces of wood near the blade of the mitre saw and not flinch, the way I do. Like a push stick for a table saw, this is a hold stick for my mitre saw.

  I made the stick by cutting a 33 degree angle on the faces and drilling two holes for the 3/4 inch dowel.

 I clamped the piece of wood to a larger piece of wood which gave  a wider stable base and then clamped the larger piece to the drill press table. To get holes bored straight I had put the same angle on the other end of the section and so was able to place it firmly against the table of the drill press.

 Before I glued the 3/4 dowels in place I shaped the handle, first on the band saw and then with files and rasps. Then I painted it red and added two 3/4 cane tips to increase it grip. This way I can hold smaller or awkward bits of wood near the blade and not worry about my fingers.

 Once the paint is dry I show it in action.

cheers, ianw