Finally figured out why my miter joints kept gaping

Took me 6 months to realize I was relying too much on the saw's built-in stop for repeat cuts. I started marking each piece individually with a knife after watching a guy from Ohio do it at a job site, and my joints closed up tight. Anyone else ditch the fence lock for scribing?

2 comments

2 Comments

theabarnes27d ago

Thirty years of trim work here and I gotta call this one a little overblown. A well tuned saw with a decent fence lock gives me tight joints nine times out of ten without all the extra scribing. Not saying there's no value in marking individually, it's a good trick for sure, especially if your saw is a little loose or the material isn't straight. But acting like the fence lock is the root of all gaping joints feels more like a technique problem than a tool problem. I've watched guys crank out perfect crown molding all day using nothing but the stop, no knife in sight. Different strokes, I guess, but I'd rather spend my time fine tuning the saw than marking every single stick.

schmidt.grace27d ago

Been there too... I spent almost a year chasing square cuts before I realized the same thing. Switched to knife scribing and marking each piece separate and it's like night and day, my joints actually close up now.