What do people use for crosscutting theese days?

[heimlaga]

I am having a need for a saw to crosscut large slabs. Up to let's say 3x12 inches or so.

What do professionals use theese days?
Is an old pendulum type saw still adequate?

I have no intention to buy anything at the moment but I want to know what I should look out for on the secondhand market.

 

[Mike G]

Some 12" SCMSs will do that size, I think, otherwise you'll need to find a big old radial arm saw.

Me....I use a cross cut handsaw and a plane!

 

[Jonathan]

Sliding table saw with a sharp rip blade will give a perfect finish every time....

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[RogerS]

Sliding table saw with a sharp rip blade will give a perfect finish every time....

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But if it's 4.8m long ? :eusa-think:

A Festool Kapex 120 will do that with a bit of spare

 

[Trevanion]

Most people have sliding mitre saws now as they're pretty fool-proof but you can't really beat a well set-up radial arm saw for production work and cutting heavier sections. On larger sections like the 12x3 you state, the blade does have a tendency to bind up as it goes through so it's best to take small bites and move the workpiece 3mm left or right and start cutting again and once it starts binding again repeat the move until you've cut through it.

 

[Jonathan]

Rodger, for cross cutting long lengths on the slider in a one man shop a couple of these come in handy.....https://www.scosarg.com/itech-adjustabl ... able-26133

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[Woodbloke]

Most people have sliding mitre saws now...

That's a bit of a generalisation! I know several folk who got or had one and have never used it properly in a workshop as it's more suited to be used as a site tool, for which it's ideal. I don't use one and don't ever intend to get one

Me....I use a cross cut handsaw and a plane!

:text-+1: Wot Mike said - Rob

 

[Doug]

Circular saw on a track.
https://produkte.mafell.de/en/sawing/ci ... mks-130-ec

 

[Trevanion]

Most people have sliding mitre saws now...

That's a bit of a generalisation!

I said MOST, Rob :lol:

A good SCMS is a great bit of kit, particularly if it's got double bevel capability which is very good for doing 9-degree cill cuts on the jambs for door frames. I suppose it's all relative to what you're making!

 

[Woodbloke]

Most people have sliding mitre saws now...

That's a bit of a generalisation!

I said MOST, Rob :lol:

A good SCMS is a great bit of kit, particularly if it's got double bevel capability which is very good for doing 9-degree cill cuts on the jambs for door frames. I suppose it's all relative to what you're making!

Semantics I know, but here's the pronoun version of 'most' which is the greatest amount or quantity which I take to mean a large majority and I simply don't believe that 'a large majority' of hobbyist wood manglers in a workshop own a SCMS - Rob

 

[RogerS]

Rodger, for cross cutting long lengths on the slider in a one man shop a couple of these come in handy.....https://www.scosarg.com/itech-adjustabl ... able-26133

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I don't see how that will help if you're doing a cross-cut. The wood is trying (dragging) along the lengths of the rollers and not in the direction of rotation.

 

[heimlaga]

I have a decent sliding table on the table saw that is part of my combination machine. However I seem to end up with boards in excess of 6 metres long and than it doesn't work. Particularly not when the finished piece after crosscutting is in excess of 6 metres as also seems to happen.

I certainly don't fit into the "most" cathegory myself either. My woodwork is after several years pause again becoming more of a side income or even a part time business than a hobby. As large scale work for building restorations is much easier to find and better paid than furniture and trinkets that is what I end up doing.

However unlike "most" businesses doing this sort of work I am totally unwilling to loan money for investments. Because I have seen a few gone bankrupt and always noted the same reason. There are huge fluctuations in the market. Both in the number of orders and in how well they are paid. If you have a full time business which you are pretty much forced to have to get investment loans you are pretty much forced to be booked up full time which means that you end up doing half your work with a negative profit marigin. Selling half your products at at less than your actual cost with the other half of your products barely covering your losses and no money for yourself to live from.
I am debth free and have other part time jobs as well which means that I can turn down underpaid projects during lean times and still be in business when good times occur.

Hence I do not just run away to a machinery dealer with my specifications and get a machine delivered the next week the way other professionals do. My investment budget is usually more on a hobby scale so my machines tend to be old.

I already have a sliding mitre saw. It is just that I foresee the need for something significantly more solid. Most sliding mitre saws are just not solid enough to survive under the weight of multiple 80 kilo workpieces being moved back and forth.
Still open to ideas.

I already have a large handheld circular saw but find it hard to get repeatable accurate cuts.

In vocational school 20 years ago we used a radial arm saw. However it's frame was not stiff enough so it felt dangerous as it wanted to climb out of the cut.
Is a radial arm saw still the way to go?

 

[Doug]

If you already have a circular saw make a jig for it that clamps to the timber being cut & keeps it running square, you should be able to make the jig from off cuts at no expense.

The problem I found with radial arm saws of the less than industrial variety such as Wadkin is they lack depth of cut on the motor side of the saw, I had an old DeWalt years ago but sold it on & bought a SCMS as it had far better depth capacity.

 

[Vann]

...In vocational school 20 years ago we used a radial arm saw. However it's frame was not stiff enough so it felt dangerous as it wanted to climb out of the cut.
Is a radial arm saw still the way to go?

I don't have enough experience to know the best way, but if you think a radial arm saw might be the way to go - then a Wadkin CC or CD will do the job - and will be solid enough for the job. Hopefully a negative rake blade will overcome the tendency to want to climb out of the cut.

The downside of a big radial arm saw like the CC is the amount of space they require (the CD -a little less so).


Several other brands are available too (Robinson, etc.)

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Vann]

...The downside of a big radial arm saw like the CC is the amount of space they require...

A mate has two Wadkin CC saws (the most recent was a lucky buy at just $75.00 NZD). He's cut holes in the exterior wall of his shed and the arms poke through - to save space (he has enclosed the area where they protrude).

Cheers, vann.

 

[AndyP]

From someone that has never handled such a long and heavy piece of timber and is unlikely ever to do so I would prefer to take the tool to the wood rather than wood to tool. Manhandling 80kg (are you doing this on your own?) and positioning it accurately is a helluva ask.

 

[Cncpaul]

Most people have sliding mitre saws now...

That's a bit of a generalisation! I know several folk who got or had one and have never used it properly in a workshop as it's more suited to be used as a site tool, for which it's ideal. I don't use one and don't ever intend to get one

Rob

That’s a bit of a generalisation! please clarify why they are not used properly ? I know several workshops that use them daily

As a professional I do not have much call for cutting 3 x 12 slabs very often, when I do l use a chainsaw, either petrol or electric, anything smaller I use a Dewalt SMS, for finer work l use a Festool SMS. lf I was doing large joinery work l would consider a big pullover crosscut.

 

[RogerS]

Most people have sliding mitre saws now...

That's a bit of a generalisation! I know several folk who got or had one and have never used it properly in a workshop as it's more suited to be used as a site tool, for which it's ideal. I don't use one and don't ever intend to get one

Rob

That’s a bit of a generalisation! please clarify why they are not used properly ? I know several workshops that use them daily

As a professional I do not have much call for cutting 3 x 12 slabs very often, when I do l use a chainsaw, either petrol or electric, anything smaller I use a Dewalt SMS, for finer work l use a Festool SMS. lf I was doing large joinery work l would consider a big pullover crosscut.

Absolutely. It's horses for courses. My SCMS was one if the first power tools I bought, used it every day I was in the workshop. First one was a small DeWalt..not bad but couldn't do trenching cuts. Then a Makita...did trenching cuts but, my, those graunchy sliders. Then a Bosch...still going strong and destined for pastures further North, treated myself to a Festool Kapex 60 and then needed to get a secondhand Kapex 120 as I needed the extra cutting capacity.

 

[Raymedullary]

A Disston D8, 7tpi sharpened with a fleam. When its sharp its a weapon of a saw.

 

[MJ80]

I've got a Wadkin BRA, standard as it gets in many workshop. I do quite often use my big old Hitachi circular saw for cutting bigger boards down, both rip (I generally buy boules so have the bark to remove and 5 meter lengths are a bit of a handful) and crosscut so I can get get them on the machines.

 

[Woodbloke]

That’s a bit of a generalisation! please clarify why they are not used properly ? I know several workshops that use them daily

These things IMO are much better employed as site tools. I did mention that I was specifically talking about hobbyist wood manglers, who may well work out of a small shed at the bottom the garden or even a converted single garage that has to be shared with a freezer, several bikes and the odd pram :lol: where space then is at a premium. To use it properly, ideally you need to install a pair of long tables either side to support the timber and in many small amateur 'shops, there simply isn't the space to do it. My 'shop is about 20x12' and I haven't got room for one, even if I wanted one...which I don't. That said, even in professional workshops, I've never seen one in use and that includes Waters & Acland in the Lake District as well as the Barnsley outfit to name just two. Even as a pro maker (for a short time) both of the firms I worked for didn't use or own a SCMS. I have seen Kapex's in a couple of other 'shops where they've been mounted on a small stand and used simply as a 90deg 'cut-off' saw; if you're going to do that you may as well use a nice sharp Disston D8 (^^) and save 'loads a money'. Which I do - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

One of the reasons I bought my Bosch GCM 12 GDL axial glide mitre saw is I knew I would be making a large number of rafters in 4" (circa 10.2 cm) oak. I wanted a range of accurate and readily repeatable cross cuts, mitre cuts and compound mitre cuts. It is fitted to a Bosch wheeled stand, and I extend it to each side with roller stands.

Typically the largest wood I handle on it is 12" (300mm approx) wide by 2" and sometimes 3" thick oak planks. Longest pieces I tend to have are around 4.5 metres.

It gets a lot of use. Very accurate and robust.

Never used a radial arm saw.

 

[RogerM]

I use a Bosch SCMS and don't know how I could do without it, especially for repeatable cuts. After years of using a trestle either side to balance longer pieces of wood, I recently bought a cheap Evolution mitre saw stand from Screwfix, and my only regret is that I waited so long to buy one. Great piece of kit. It's really sturdy and the saw simply clamps to the 2 hefty bars and away you go. When not in use it folds up flat against the wall.

For really large pieces I have a sacrificial cutting table which I set up outside on the drive, and use a T55 plunge saw and rail.

As a combo, I find I have all the bases I need covered.

 

[kirkpoore1]

I use my 14" Delta radial arm saw to cut 2x16's (and sometimes larger stuff). The key to reduce or eliminate grabbiness is to have the right blade (minimal hook) and have it sharp.

Kirk

 

[heimlaga]

Thank you all.
When boiling down your thoughts and ideas to essentials my conclusion becomes that I should either look for an extra solid radial arm saw or a paralellogram saw. Then fit it with a blade with negative rake and maybe even some sort of counterweight system pulling the blade back to counteract self feed.

With those thoughts in mind I will keep looking until I find a suitable saw.
Cheers!