hand mitre saws

[red]

Ive been looking at getting a hand mitre saw system, a lot ot systems ,even nobex
have plastic parts,these surely arent durable? ive been looking at japanese pull saws
also, a mitre box to suit the thickness of the blade would have to be made too.
anyone any thoughts or advice?

[vintage frames]

As long as you know that this will only work with bare-wood mouldings which you then paint yourself, then a Nobex saw or others like it will do the job.
What you then need to finish the mitres is a 'mitre shooting board' where you use a block plane to shave off the saw marks and finish to a more accurate 45deg.
Google will direct you to some YouTube videos on how to make your own.

After that, all you need is a cheap band-clamp and a pot of wood glue.

[JFeig]

Just a basic word of advise regarding a hand tools vs a power tools. It is all about the efficiency of handling the task at hand. It is also all about the time it takes to perform that task if you are a hobbyist or a person who is making a living on the task. In general, items made with most hand tools are are just not viable at a price point that is palatable in todays marketplace.

With regard to cutting miters on a raw timber frame. A single miter cut with a proper power saw is a matter of 2-3 seconds and no post processing is needed. The same process can be done with a hand guided miter fixture and a hand operated hand saw that might take 20-60 seconds, depending on the thickness of the timber plus the time to clean up the surface for a razor smooth finish. A frame requires 8 manual cuts or 4 power cuts with a double miter saw. I will let you do the math times the cost of your or someone else's time.

If you are a even a part time "leisure picture" framer who is selling to friends, neighbors, and family you might want to consider a more efficient way of cutting picture frame moulding. Starter power miter saws, new or used are not that expensive.

[Not your average framer]

My assumption is that we are taking about normal trade type woodworking mitre saw which can be bought from most tools shops and suppliers. Before anyone goes rushing out to buy an electric mitre saw, there are a few things to consider:

1. Small hobby grade electric mitre saws are mde for DIY woodworking tasks and are usually competing to be cheaply price, which generally means that accuracy, repeatability and durability might not be top of the manufacturers list.

2. With electric mitre saw size counts. Generally large sized saws have bigger and better bearings and that means less bearing runout, so the blades run truer, not only that larger bearings last longer, therefore run truer for longer. Unfortunately, how long the saw will maintain it's accuracy, if it is used a lot is a bit of a debateable question. You hope that buying something which looks well made will hopefully means that it lasts a reasonable amount of time.

3. Guide fences on electric mitre saws a bit of a lottery, also the repeatability of the angle settling stops is hard to know. Straight out of the box, the saw will need to be set up and twicked for accuracy. This is something of an art and some of us wll find this easier than others. This just how this isI

4. Larger diameter blades with more tooth around the outside of the blade make for cleaner cuts. Also certain blade sizes often permit you more choice of available blade types, number of teeth, blade kerf dimensions, etc.

I have a 10 inch diametre sliding mitre saw, with a capability to cut cut lengths of up to 14 inches. If you think that a 10 inch diameter blade is going to enable you to cut super deep mouldings, well no significantly less than that. I always thought that I would use my silding mitre saw quite a lot and would save me time and that I make more money. Unfortunately, this is a bit of wishful thinking. It is significantly slower that cutting most frames using a Morso. Yes it's nice to have one, it's useful for cutting tapper strutback legs and stuff like that and it can be reasonably portable, but that about it. If i know what I know now when I bought it, I could have saved a few hundred pounds. It get used about four times a year and that's if I'm really busy!

My advice if you are really busy - Buy a proper framing double bladed mitre saw, otherwise buy a Morso!

[JKX]

Not electric Mark - the guy’s looking at one of these.

[fitz]

I started out with one of these Nobex typesaws following a weekend framing course after which I spent around £800 on stuff I never use now. It was ok for a while along with the small scale v nail driver that took one v nail at a time but as things developed it all became quite useless and not at all satisfactory in terms of quality etc. Then it was a question of go for it or not? I spent a few thousand pounds I didn’t have on a Morso, a Keencut Ultimat Futura, a Cassese underpinner and a roller type laminator along with other bits and bobs that I learned about on here. Now I can’t really cope with the amount of work I have and the machinery has been paid for many times over. I would say it all depends on your vision and where you want to go on your Picture Framing journey. It’s a fantastic business to be in, nerve wracking at times, but always rewarding and well worth risking it on getting the right gear.

[red]

many thanks, i should have added that ive retired from framing ,yet looking at
cutting mitres by hand as i do the odd frame, ive got the morso etc in the garage,
must sell them in the new year ,but ive been saying that for a while......

[prospero]

I agree with all the previous advice.

I started with a Nobex saw. It was sort-of OK for small mouldings.

An artist friend of mine (who was as clueless as I was) pitched up with a heap of moulding he'd bought in a sale.
It was big chunky stuff. Can I cut and join 10 12"x10" frames? Sure. I've got the equipment.
I soon found out that doing 80 cuts on a big moulding is is an arm-achey job. Joining them was more of a faff as
the angles were way out. I learned a lot about filling gaps during that exercise.

The cost of the moulding you are likely to ruin would pay for for some decent pro-level kit.

[Not your average framer]

I've also got a nobex hand operated mitre saw and also the measuring extension, which I bought from Lion. I can't tell which make the extension was, but if you are getting one of these saws, I can definitely recommend the measuring extension, as the make live so much easier. It's just too easy to make mistakes cutting moulding to length if you don't have one!

[Rainbow]

I use a Nobex Proman mitre saw in conjunction with an Axminster mitre trimmer. I’ve run a part-time business with this equipment for over 8 years. Here’s my experience. I’ve done work for several hundred customers, many of them multiple times so presumably they think my work is of professional quality, as I do. I’ve not found any problem cutting moulding of all types, with the exception of foil-wrapped which I stopped using as it chipped. The widest moulding I’ve done was 7cm - the finished job was lovely but it wasn’t an experience I’d like to repeat! Mitre sawing and trimming is a slower process than using a Morso so it’s not suitable if your career is full-time framing or you want to frame volume, and it’s obviously easier with the softer woods. But it’s suited me perfectly, it’s a case of horses for courses.

[prospero]

I cobbled together this setup for £<500. The only disadvantage is that it needs to be a permanent setup.
It's also very dusty but a good dust extraction system would cure that. I've been using it for ten years and
it speeds up cutting big awkward mouldings considerably. Having two saws avoids the need to swing the head.
And the angles can be fine-tuned like the left fence on a Morso. I replaced the stock blades with 80-tooth ones.
The measuring system is quite cunning and I can set it from 0 to about 7ft.

[red]

thanks everybody for replies,definitely given me food for thought.I have to
agree that the morso really does the job, but then so does a saw and a trimmer,
it's a matter of speed and volume,considering i don't do the volume, then it looks
like downsizing, wish me luck!