Thing is though, you can't really get right up to the edge of the blade. If you are using a tape measure with the hook over the end of the board the body of the tape measure is slightly rounded so the corner of the edge of the blade sneaks under it when the blade is tilted. If you use the hook of the tape against the blade there is a slight angle under the cutting edge of the blade so, as it enters the wood the edge you have measured against is nearly the thickness of the blade closer to the end of the board than you expect, this assuming you are measuring to the outside slope of the tilt. Obviously, if measuring to the inside slope of the blade you run into all sorts of trouble with the distance the tilted blade keeps you from the actual cutting edge.
If this description is inadequate I can try again to make it clearer. It is one of the reasons why those thin laser line light thingies are so popular with sighted folk, they too have some difficulties getting really accurate cuts particularly on the angle. ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Howell To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 8:41 AM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] mitering trim Ok, I did not answer your question as far as where I measure from. If I'm cutting a piece and I'm measuring from left of the blade, six inches, I'd measure to either the right-side or really the middle of the blade or as close as I can to the middle. I'm trying to account for the blade width since it eats material. If anything by measuring slightly more and going to the right of the blade, I might come out a little longer, but it's easier to cut off excess material than it is to add it on. Generally I will measure right up to the blade though and I mean right smack up against the left side of the blade. On Jul 6, 2008, at 7:44 PM, Dale Leavens wrote: > Where are you mitering to? > > The usual way to fit baseboards is to cope the inside corners and > only miter the outside corners. The next problem is setting the saw > correctly. Sighted people have to worry about parallax, that is, > looking straight on at a ruler or the line marked on stock to be > cut. We have another problem, the edge of a tape measure or even a > story stick has some thickness and the kerf of a saw blade has some > thickness more than the body of the blade. Then, are you measuring > to the same side of the blade? Not a silly question but an easy > enough error to make and modern carbide blades take out nearly an > eight of an inch of material when they cut. Finally, if you are > using a talking tape measure you are only accurate to within a 16th > of an inch. add to that you could be measuring on the shy side of > the 16th and transferring to the proud side of the 16th and you > could be off nearly an eighth. Add that to the mating piece and you > could be off nearly a quarter of an inch. > > Even professionals though do often sneak up on a cut with power > equipment. > > If measuring inside corner to inside corner then the narrowest > dimension over the width of the trim is the correct measure on the > long (back) side. If you are using the face then you must subtract > twice the thickness of the trim material. Measuring the face though > is very difficult to do accurately because you can't get your > measuring device snug into the angle where the tip of the teeth meet > the board. Sighted people look down to the point where the teeth > will be just clipping off the pencil line and they will use a very > sharp pencil to draw a very thin crisp line. > > At the other side, because the teeth attack on the outer angle your > measuring device will either be nearly the thickness of the blade > away from where the outer edge will shave off the wood or it will be > the thickness of the blade too short, a distance increased by the 45 > degree angle which is the root of the sum of the squares of which > the thickness of the blade forms the hypotenuse. > > Eventually though you do learn to fudge the measure a little to get > you very close. With a good miter saw or well tuned and highly > accurate table saw and the material well fixed down it is possible > to shave a whisker off of a cut which brings us back to that > recently and lengthy discussion of inexpensive table saws. It > doesn't take long to spend several hundred dollars on waste material. > > ----- Original Message ----- From: Scott Howell > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 2:35 PM > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] mitering trim > ,Folks, I'm in the process of cutting baseboard and the like to > install > in the living room after the flooring project. Now for some reason I > just can't seem to get this baseboard cut properly. I have lets say a > measurement of 6 3/4 and I place the baseboard on the miter saw and I > have tried both measuring with the blade at a 0 angle and then also at > the proper 45 degree angle. In both cases it seems that it's just not > coming out right, it comes out to short. So, can someone offer some > tips on mitering trim so when I cut the pieces, I get the 6 3/4 I need > and the ends will stick out enough to mate up with the other 45-degree > angles to cover the corner? If this didn't make sense, please let me > know. > I'd like to get this right and not waste a lot of material. > > tnx > > Scott Howell > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.4.5/1537 - Release Date: > 7/6/2008 5:26 AM > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > Scott Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.4.6/1538 - Release Date: 7/7/2008 7:40 AM [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
