Shop Skills #7: Cutting Small Pieces on the Compound Miter Saw
A Challenging Situation Cutting small pieces of trim or moulding accurately on the compound miter saw can be challenging and a bit dangerous. The compound miter saw (known as the chopsaw in the trades and hereafter) has a large opening in the table for the blade and, most often, the plastic insert in the table drops down slightly from the level of the surrounding table. This is characteristic on my Hitachi, DeWalt, and Makita chopsaws. (I am a contractor so I sport 3 chopsaws.) This provides poor support when cutting small pieces of trim or moulding and this situation creates a safety issue. Poorly supported pieces may be sucked into the blade and drag fingers into it or at lea...
