Best tool/technique to rip an 22.5 degree angle down a 4×4 post.
ejpierle
| Posted in General Discussion on
Hello all,
I’m fairly new to woodworking. I need to make a 22.5-degree bevel cut down the length of a 4×4 post. My table saw blade is not tall enough when it’s at 22.5 to make it in one cut. I do not have access to a bandsaw. Is my best option to make the angle cut as deep as I can and then finish it off with a hand saw? Is there a jig that I’m not thinking of to tilt the post and run it over a vertical blade? Am I overthinking this?
Appreciate the knowledge!
EP
Replies
You don't say how long the post is, so I'm assuming a good length.
You can do this in a number of ways and in fact the one you describe is probably the easiest.
Other options include simply hand-sawing, and you can as you suggest make a jig to hold the post at the desired angle, using wedges.
If you do go for the angled blade option, do make sure that your post is properly flat and has a nice face to run against the fence. If you need to keep it rough sawn, then I'd definitely go for the jig.
Illustration shows right tilt saw:
Make the first partial cut with fence to left of the blade.
Complete the cut with the fence to the right of the blade.
Same principle with left tilt.
A hand plane is quick and easy, depending on the depth or how much material you need to remove
A really big circular saw. I have a 15" and quite a bit of experience with that saw. I would use it to make that cut if that was the only tool available to me. I would also make sure I had a change of pants handy for after making that cut. There might be a beam saw available to rent at a local rental place.
A pretty rough and ready way to do this is to rough the bevel with a Sawzall type saw and then plane it to the size and finish you want. But if this is just a decorative bevel (actual dimension not all that important, you could use the Sawzall to cut the final dimension. Some jigsaws would work with this, too -- my Festool has the power for it and they have some long blades that can accommodate deep cuts at an angle.
I've done this in the distant past with a sharp hand saw of the rip tooth pattern. I cut rough 4x4's both at 22.5º and 45º for corner studs for a bay window. Mark it out and keep an eye on your cut versus the lines.
On the other hand, since you have a table saw, it will be faster to cut as much as you can on the TS, and then finish with a hand saw and plane. The hand saw will have a narrower kerf, so there should be a bit of extra to allow clean up. If you do it with a TS, understand two things:
1) you need two straight, smooth, 90º surfaces to ride on the table and the fence.
2) You want to make the TS cuts with about an inch of new depth each time, i.e., three cuts. Heavy cuts increase the chance of the saw blade getting hot, which can make them "snakey" and not cut straight.
It will be helpful/necessary to have infeed and outfeed support as the cut will be screwed up if the lumber comes up off the table. I would also have something like pressure fingers or rollers holding the lumber against the fence. It's hard to rely on hand control on a long 4x4.
Make an angled strip at the table saw that raises it to the desired angle and double-stick tape it to the lower side, then just run it through the planer until the top is brought down to the lower corner.
You could also tilt your jointer's fence and go at it the other way.
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