One of the reasons I purchased a motorized miter box saw was so I could cut 45¡ miters for picture frames. Lacking an extension table or fence to which I could clamp a stop block, I was marking the piece and then cutting it to length by nipping at it with miter cuts. This trial-and-error method was very tedious and unreliable. Then, I discovered that if I first cut the pieces to length with square cuts, I could clamp a stop block on the waste side of the blade to perfectly position the stock for the miter cut.

The stop block is clamped so the left side of the blade’s kerf bisects the square corner of the molding. It usually takes a few trial cuts to locate the stop block, but if you don’t go all the way through with these cuts, you can manage the setup with a single test piece. Then, after cutting all your workpieces to length, you simply bump their square ends against the block, hold tight and cut.

Allan Walton, Seattle, Wash.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, February 1990 No. 80

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