After-market miter gauge recommendations
I’ve got a Powermatic PM1000 tablesaw that came with a fairly serviceable miter gauge, but not one that I’m completely satisfied with, though I’ve managed with it for a while now. I’ve finally decided I will get a better miter gauge, but am unsure of best choice. I’m sure most everyone here knows that the miter gauge market is a broad one, with seemingly innumerable choices. Searching the FWW archives and this forum didn’t (at least readily) yield any current reviews/recommendations, and internet searches of course suffer from the usual signal-to-noise ratio problems.
All this said, there are several that seem to fairly consistently float to near the top. Incra, of course, is one brand famous for their miter gauges, and offers many different models with varying degrees of complexity, cost, etc. (Pun intended!) Kreg produces at least one model (KMS7102) that is frequently near the top of lists. JessEm makes what looks to be a good choice. For the truly discerning woodworker, Harvey produces the Compass MG-36 gauge that for the price should make dinner for you as well. There’s a Fulton model that gets good mention now and again. And…well, one gets the idea.
So…thoughts, recommendations? I should mention that this will be used for small-to-mid-sized furniture making, the occasional picture frame, and the like. At present I’m leaning toward the Kreg as a good compromise of cost and capability, but am open to suggestions.
Thanks in advance.
Replies
INCRA
https://incra.com/
Can’t go wrong with Incra
Forego the miter gauge entirely. No miter gauge will provide the accuracy of a well made sled. Your standard miter gauge will suffice for quick cut-offs and non-critical angle cuts. Anything requiring true precision should be done in a sled anyway.
By the way I do own the JessEm and it is a beautiful piece of engineering and machining but it is seldom used. I will add that due to weight I had to construct a extension to add to the front of my Unisaw to keep the JessEm gauge from twisting in the slot enough to catch on the saw table when cutting wider pieces.
Thanks for chiming in, Esch. I value your thoughts. One of the reasons—probably the primary one—is that I’m soon to start work on a piece where some of the angled cuts will be, at least for me, out of the ordinary. I’ve got a couple good crosscut sleds now. Are you suggesting that I produce a jig for one or both sleds for these “custom” cuts?
I should add that I’ve already got a 45º jig for the sled, so that angle is covered, so to speak. It’s the 17º angles and the like that are gonna be challenging.
The problem with relying on miter gauges to make precise cuts is there are a number of forces working against you. The friction of the workpiece against the saw table and the force of the saw blade entering the wood are two of the biggest issues you deal with. These things tend to lead to work piece creep that can alter your angle ever so slightly. Even the slightest deviation, when multiplied over several joints, becomes noticeable pretty quickly. Using a sled eliminates the table friction and clamping your workpiece with some style of hold down will eliminate the blade creep making your angle much more accurate. If I truly need a perfect angle then I rely on a shooting board and a sharp plane to dial in the angle with absolute precision.
If it was me I would forego the miter gauge and invest my money into the Veritas shooting board and plane or at least their adjustable fence and construct a shooting board to use with one of your own planes.
Ah-ha! I was not aware of their adjustable fence--I like this idea. It also lends support to idea of purchase of a real shooting plane not too far down the road. At present I'm using my L-N Low-Angle Jack for shooting, and it's doing a darn good job so far, but I've not pushed the envelope much.
Esch--When you're going for a precise angle and using a shooting board & plane to get there, do you use your own shooting board, or the Veritas model? If your own, are there any key differences or modifications in yours that you'd recommend? It seems to me rather straightforward to construct a shooting board using their fence with expectation of good results.
Currently I use a shop made shooting board based on the plans on Lie-Nielsen's website. It has replaceable inserts you can make for different angles, but I confess I only have needed 45°and 22½°. I am thinking about trying the Veritas fence and maybe the entire board but it locks me into the Veritas Shooting Plane, which isn't much of a hardship but I keep hoping Lie-Nielsen will produce their shooting plane again but I've been waiting a long time and the price on the Veritas system is hard to argue with. So for now I too use my venerable 62½ as well. It's a great and versatile plane and a bargain for Lie-Nielsen quality.
My mitre guage will stay on the wall for months at a time, maybe years? I had a project some time back that I built this adjustable sled (image) for. I still use it from time to time. It can't handle really acute angles but wasn't meant to.
Esch--You prompted me to take a look at the LN shooting board plans; I'm now considering options. Will have to do some creative thinking about this, it seems. But I certainly do like the idea of multiple inserts for angles needed with any frequency. The challenge remains one of dealing with the "unusual" angles of some pieces--some chairs, for instance. Making an accurate insert to be used only once or twice seems like a pain. Which makes me think about making the Veritas fence an "insert"....
BTW, if the LN shooting plane is as good as I think it might be, it could be one of those "heaven on earth" experiences. Of course, with that price tag, it should be!
Agree 100%. I use the Kreg for non-critical stuff, but after assembling some panels with hand cut dovetails in 7/8" stock and finding 2 that were a little out-of-square, no more. A couple og good sleds stand against the wall next to the saw.
If you already are using sleds for 90 and 45 degree cuts, you could make an adjustable sled for odd angles too. There are many YouTube videos with different techniques. Here's one. https://ibuildit.ca/projects/how-to-make-a-precision-miter-sled/
Ya know, I just wasn't thinking--I've seen some of those, but, well, there ya have it. Thanks for the tip!
How about a sled WITH a miter gauge?
Oh I forgot, Incra already makes a couple of those.
Use what works best for you
+1 on the INCRA Miter Express Sled with Miter Gauge - especially for a variety of non standard angled crosscuts.
A good table saw sled(s) and shooting board completes the toolkit.
My experience parallels esch^.
I have an older model Jessem, and find it’s not 100% reliable. I use it almost entirely for cutting tenons with a dado.
I tried the Incra, personal choice, I did not like the indexing flip stop. Plus, there is no right to left tape for the extension when used in the left slot, but there is for the right (?) I talked to Incra about this and apparently it’s true.
That said, I never use the ruler scale on anything, I’ve learned cutting to a mark is much less error.
I think the Osborne would be one I’d look at.
Home > Miter Gauge Accessories
https://www.incrementaltools.com/category_s/170.htm
Left to right or right to left, your choice
I myself have been looking into an after market miter gauge for my new saw. This video link below is a very good comparison between the Incra, Jessem, and Harvey. Hopefully this helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReBIy-u8wTo&list=WL&index=3
That was a splendid review! Thanks.
I'm satisfied with my Kreg, but have never used any other to compare. I will say that checking that blade-to-slot alignment is a good idea. Every little bit off square adds up - drove me crazy until I checked that.
I have owned a variety of mid-market gauges, including the Kreg, Osborne, and Incra V27. The Kreg is my favorite by far. The Osborne had sloppy finish (including some play in the detents) and the Incra kinda feels like a precisely indexable toy. Also note that one of the bar adjusters can only be accessed by removing the head. No fun.
Quibbles with Kreg—fence could be stiffer, but as others have noted, a sled is better for big workpieces. Also the index pin is brass and sometimes will fall out and roll away when I grab the tool from the wall. I epoxied a magnet to it so it will stay connected to one of the very few bits of steel on the tool.
And yes, I have spent more on miter gauges over the years than it would have cost to buy top-of-line from the outset. Oh, well. . .
I've had an Incra 1000SE for years and years. It's still going strong! These days I use it almost every day.
I do have sleds for larger pieces, I have one for perfect 45's, I have one for cabinet sides, etc. But, the Incra is great if I need 45.5, or 53.2.... And I need it repeatable. Positive detents and looking handles... It just works.
Also, with it's adjustable length and the included adjustable stop, I can get repeatable lengths all day long.
I don't have experience with any of the other big brands. I just know that most factory supplied miter gauges end up sitting in drawers, untouched for years. I should just take the big pile of them I have to the recycle center... see if I can get a couple of bucks?
I use this one:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/POWERTEC-Universal-Table-Saw-Miter-Gauge-Assembly-Miter-Gauge-with-27-Angle-Stops-71142/312361334
I added an adjustable fence with a 150 grit sandpaper face. It is very similar to an Incra, but is a bit cheaper. It works as well as a sled for my purposes. Taking ques from the above video, I have not seen any problems with accuracy, durability, or adjustability. And, it is easily to calibrated. Of course, I had to make my own sacrificial adjustable fence, but those don't come with the ones tested anyway; except one. Need an adjustable stop? Just clamp on a block. No vernier, but it does have 27 angle stops with no wiggle. Yes. It is missing an index mark for intermediate angles. Check out the price difference.
Timely for this thread: This YouTube The Ultimate Miter Gauge Review was just posted by Marc Spagnuolo, The Wood Whisperer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQtzhCiMhY
He shows assembly, calibration, use and limited abuse for 10 different miter gauges and then summarizes with overall recommendations and a do not buy recommendation.
The value to me is where he highlights the pros and cons of each miter guage with the same methodolgy against others in the review. The test was limited but provides much more helpful information to make a decision than reading company marketing materials or viewing a video.
00:00 - Introduction
01:13 - Review Methodology
02:09 - Wood River
05:37 - Incra 1000
09:36 - Osborne EB-3
16:32 - Kreg Miter Gauge
23:44 - Incra 1000SE
26:58 - Rockler Miter Gauge
31:08 - Incra 1000HD
32:13 - Incra 3000SE
33:55 - JessEm Mite-R-Excel II
39:27 - Harvey Compass
50:24 - Closing Thoughts
51:02 - Sub-$200 Winner
52:01 - Over $200 Winner
52:52 - Do Not Buy Recommendations
54:09 - Closing
Sub $200 Winner is Incra 1000SE
Over $200 Winner is Jess-Em Mite-R-Excel II
I was just going to suggest the same thing. I have always loved Mark's reviews and this is one of his better ones.
Yes, it is rare to see any reviewer in print or video go out on a limb to really critque a product. And with limited choices at retail outlets these days and even far fewer who have products available for a hands on demo reviews like Marc's are a benefit to everyone in the craft.
This is freakin’ awesome, bro!
(Sorry, I just kinda got carried away there. Really, though, thanks a bunch—it really is pretty dang good.)
Yes, it was awfully nice of Marc to answer your personal request by doing that 10 Miter Gauge comparison ;-)
Make sure you give him a Like, Subscribe and leave a comment to appease the YouTube algorithm gods.
Cheers!
I did! I’m finding that he pretty consistently produces good videos for whatever topic he’s covering at the moment. Smart, reasonable (the two don’t always come in the same package), capable, and experienced. 👍
Thanks for the tip on this. I’m not even in the market for a miter gauge but I watched the whole thing and found it very informative. I love the head-to-head comparisons and reviews. Matt Estlea does a lot of those with LN and Veritas head-to-head, those are really valuable when you don’t have a store where you can pick up both and look at them side by side.
Chris Gochnour also did a review of the JessEm Miter gauge in issue No. 292, Nov/Dec 2021 of FW and called it the best he's ever seen.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2021/09/29/tool-review-jessem-mite-r-excel-ii-miter-gauge
I saw that, and his review catapulted the JessEm to at least near the top. Given Spagnuolo’s review, I think I’ve decided to make that my choice.
PS—I didn’t see Gochnour’s review come up near the top of the site search when I searched for miter gauge reviews initially—I only saw it on a later search, and quite a ways down the list, for whatever reason. Even today, a search for “Gochnour miter gauge” gave me a list of things where the JessEm review was still probably about tenth or so from the top, in spite of being most recent, and obviously being an applicable response to the query. 🤷
I have a Fulton, which is a little better than the one that Grizzly included with the TS, but not by much. I use it as a backup for 90 degree cuts only. I dial it in before each use, unless I want a bad result.
I make a lot of picture frames, and for daily use, I rely on an Incra (HD 1000, I think?), for both 90 and 45 cuts. Once it's properly dialed in, setting angles on it is a breeze, and I have confidence they'll always be dead on.
I'd like to try the Jess-Em, mostly based on Gochnour's comment, but I haven't justified the expense yet, as my Incra works perfectly.
Marc Spagnuolo’s review video (see above) where he looked at and ranked 10 miter gauges resulted in a “best value under $200” for the Incra 1000HD (though I saw it listed just today for $209.99). The JessEm was the “best >$200” choice. Neither was “wrong”, that’s for sure. And it’s worthwhile noting that he’s been using the Incra for about ten years and is pleased with it.
Slight correction: I think you meant to say Incra 1000 SE.
The HD has something like 180+ stops, and he felt it wasn't all necessary. And it's not been under $200... ever? I think I paid $240 a few years ago.
Take a look at In-Line Industries “Dubby Sled” introduced in the 80’s. You’re starting to see some manufacturers imitate the product. Incra with their precision “Miter Express Sled” system. I’ve had the Dubby sled for years and it never fails to produce excellent results. On the surface it seems too minimalist and the 1st impression is “I don’t think so”. It’s simple to set up and easy to use. Never fails me. It comes in left and right sleds. Get both and you’ll never look back. https://www.in-lineindustries.com/products/dubby-the-original-table-saw-sled/ It’s also available from Peachtree USA woodworking supply. I have the Incra 1000SE and a couple of other miter gauges. When I need to make an angled cut it’s the Dubby Sled that gets the job done. Especially sloped picture frames. If you’re into segmented turning or complex molding this product has a couple of DVD’s showing how to do the job simple and easy. The inventor has worked out all the complex math for multi angle cuts so you don’t have to. Give it a look before you commit your spend. The inventor has quite a few How-To video’s on You-Tube. Good luck.
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