Whether you are making a table for study or garage, creating fences or frames, one thing remains constant- a square joint. And whenever it comes to make square joints, you will mostly need to get a 45-degree angle for such joints.
Thus, for most woodworks at home or workshops, you need to know how to cut 45 degree angle with circular saw. A circular saw is a staple for carpentry, and you can quickly achieve your desired finish with it.
Also, know that you can apply the methods of cutting a 45-degree angle to perform various miter cuts with circular saw.
How to Cut 45 Degree Angle with Circular Saw?
A circular saw is insanely famous when it comes to making mitered cuts. Mitered cuts are part and parcel of joining two neatly cut wood pieces at a 45° angle.
Fortunately, you won’t require excellent skills to perform such 45-degree cuts.
Take Preparation
Your success rate on making mitered cuts will depend largely on the preparation. It includes assembling the work drive circular saw (it makes the cutting easy), selecting the wood piece, and maintaining proper safety.
You should ardently wear protective gear such as gloves and work boots to avoid any accidents. Also, check the circular saw connection before you start working.
Next, prepare the wood piece that you are going to cut. The preparation requires measuring the size and pointing where you want to cut precisely. The marking ensures you get a flawless finish.
Setting the Depth
At first, you will require to adjust the cutting depth. For this unplug, the circular saw from the electrical source and retreat the saw blade.
Next, attach the saw with the wood board. The saw base plate needs to be adjusted until the point saw blade reaches about ¼” deeper than the wood board bottom. Once you reach the depth, securely tighten the circular saw depth adjusting lever.
The lever adjustment is pretty easy with a knob.
Setting Up the Saw Guide
The key to achieving a perfect 45° angle cut is to set the circular saw angle guide properly.
For this, firstly, line up the saw blade with the workpiece with perfect alignment. Now position the 45-degree angle guide accurately and firmly hold the saw guide. You must ensure that the saw angle guide doesn’t slip during the cutting procedure.
The best way to prevent guide slippage is to use a clamp. Once you have clamped the guide, turn on the curler saw and recheck if everything is aligned perfectly or not. Sometimes, you may need to reposition the wood board slightly.
Be Attentive
Many people make minor mistakes before starting the mitered cuts. You can quickly avoid them with proper attention to works. It includes rechecking the saw depth adjustment, circular saw angle guide set up and many more.
You must pay inclusive attention at the saw base plate so that it is strictly assigned with the edge of the cutting square. Commonly woodworkers twist or lift the circular saw abruptly that results in a rough cut an undesired finish.
Holding the Circular Saw
Now make sure you have marked the cutting line with perfection, and it’s visible. After that, carefully line up the saw blade (on the frontal side) with the wood piece cutting mark.
Then, pay attention to sliding up the speed square through the base plate. You need to securely hold the speed square with the base plate and make sure it doesn’t move during the cut.
Start the Cut
At this point, if everything is neat and in perfect condition, it’s time to make your first 45-degree angle cut. Turn on the circular saw blade and wait for a few moments so that the module comes at its full pace.
Also, if you are working on a darker condition, turn on the LED light (circular saws sometimes comes in with built-in LED).
Now snuggly hold the blade against the wood piece right on the cutting marks. Don’t push the saw blade too firmly. Let the circular saw blade weight do its job. If you are using a worm drive circular saw, the situation should be pretty more straightforward too.
While you cut at one end, ensure that the dust collection port is working fine. Otherwise, you will heavily end up receiving a lot of scattered dirt and may catch allergic symptoms.
Cut Steadily
Once you start cutting the wood board with the circular saw, you need to pay attention to the steadiness of the cutting procedure. In no position, the circular saw blade should lose its connection with the cutting board.
The firm connection between the saw module and base plate is essential for smooth and accurate finishes. Also, the square and the blade guide alignment needs to be accurate as well.
Hold the saw blade firmly with the wood board without putting too much pressure on it until it cuts the whole board at a 45-degree angle. Once you cut one end of the board, do the same for the other purpose as well. This way, you get two 45 degrees angled cut at two ends.
You can later use the ends to joint with other boards to make various types of furniture.
Problems with Miter Cuts
Making the miter cuts or the circular saw 45 degrees cut jig is pretty straightforward. Naturally, most beginners use it to joint angled wood pieces. Nonetheless, miter cuts have their problems that you must understand for the longevity of the furniture.
Miter cuts are not so sharp and hence, fragile. When you want to join two separate miter cuts, glues often don’t provide enough strength at the joining points.
Also, nails and screws fail to deliver long-lasting effectiveness when it comes to sink the end grain entirely.
Thus, you need to reinforce the 45-degree cut angled joints. You may use dowels for reinforcement purposes.
Sometimes professional woodworkers use splines, biscuits, and even key to strengthen the miter joints. All these things also serve as decorative patterns as well.
So, whenever you create angled joints, make sure to properly strengthen the area for the longevity of the furniture you make.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
It may happen for several technical reasons. However, the most common reason for circular saw stopping cuts is sideways pressure.
Sometimes, you may apply too much sideways pressure on the saw blade that causes saw binding. Thus, it will stop working.
A circular saw is a versatile and popular saw. You can use it for performing crosscuts, miter cuts, and mostly for repetitive rip cuts.
In the majority of cases, the saw will give you accuracy and premium smoothness at work.
Conclusion
A 45-degree angle cut is essential for joining edges when it comes to making furniture. While you may use a miter saw, jigsaw, or table saws for the purpose, a circular saw excels in the task. Once you know how to cut 45 degree angle with circular saw, your woodworking life will get more relaxed and comfortable.
Luckily, cutting the wood boards with a circular saw at 45, and 60-degree angle is no rocket science. So, we hope the tutorial comes in handy for you.
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