# Trim saws



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Just finished a another major remodeling project. Started out with that sleep number bed. The wife and I were standing looking into the bedroom and she mentioned since we had to pull the mattress and box-spring for the new bed it would be nice to go ahead and pull all the furniture and have new carpeting installed before the new bed showed up. I mentioned as well since your gonna pull all the furniture anyways and replace the carpet no better time to yank the paneling, yank the lathe and plaster behind it, replace with drywall and get rid of that nasty drop ceiling and get the nine foot ceiling back. I can be a real dumbass sometimes.

Wasn't too bad as the entire house has the exterior walls lined with 1x8, 10's or 12's nailed on the inside so all the blow in insulation will stay in the wall instead of all over the floor. Peeled the plaster off the ceiling and left the lathe as it was holding up blown in insulation in the attic. Had the same guy help with the bedroom as did with the kitchen. Went from two outlets in the room to seven. Ran wires so the ceiling fan can be controlled from her side of the bed or the door. We finished up mudding saturday afternoon then after he left I installed all the outlets.

I knew I had one spongy spot in the floor to look into but didn't wan't to do it while my helper was around as I only had him for a limited time, I also knew it was where the sink used to be until about sixty years ago when grandma and grandpa moved the kitchen to where it is now as they got tired of the pipes freezing. Sink used to be on the west wall with no insulation in it and the pipes were in a crawl space. Also didn't have the windbreak back then so that wall caught the full brunt of the winter wind.

Cut a hole in the floor with the sawzall to see what was up. Walked out of the bedroom and told the wife to get cleaned up as we were going to a benefit after all that night and she would be driving home as I planned to drink an obscene amount as the next step was gonna suck. Ended up yanking the entire sub floor out as well as the floor joists as most were bad or had some damage. Only reason the floor didn't feel worse as the original builders used native joists that actually measured 2x8 and had a rock under each one in the middle to support em. The one corner the joists were practically in the dirt. Got the hired man to send his kids out sunday to help rip it all out then had em shoveling dirt for the rest of the day to get it down to a respectable level. placed a vapor barrier down then replaced it all with treated joists and subfloor. Used our laser to mark the wall so when I was done a game of pool could be shot on this floor. Each joist had to be individually notched and cut to length, then placed cleats where I could under each end and if I couldn't do that we screwed 1" treated plywood strips to each side to keep em from ever splitting at the notches.

Finished the floor Monday night, Mike came out and we textured the ceiling Tuesday, painted Wednesday, new carpet Thursday morning, sleep number at six. Also found time to strip what I take used to be a pantry built in a corner of the room, took off at least three different layers of paint and countless layers of varnish. Burned up two gallons of stripper and a gallon of methyl ethyl ketone to get the slime off the varnish left behind.

Anyways to the point of the post, my cousins husband is a whiz with trim work. I even have a uncle that's flipped houses in his spare time over the last forty years and even he won't do trim if Brandon is available as Uncle Steve says Brandon is much faster, does a better job and hardly ever makes a mistake so you practically have no waste.

I was going to pick up a trim saw to keep around, pretty sure I want one that you can use like a radial arm saw or just pull the head down like a chop saw, was planning on getting a twelve inch so I would have the capacity to use it for other things but in a conversation in the Legion the other night somebody claimed the smaller the diameter of the blade is the more accurate as the smaller blade doesn't flex/deflect as much. I would think most likely a 12" blade would be thicker and long as it's sharp shouldn't deflect anyways. I know we have members who have worked in construction before and was wondering if anybody had an opinion on blades sizes, etc.

Likely candidates are:
http://www.lowes.com...ct_avg_rating|1
http://www.lowes.com...ollow&cId=PDIO1
http://www.lowes.com...ct_avg_rating|1

I already have the rest of the stuff for general remodeling, porter cable 6 gallon compressor, finish nailer, framing nailer, belt sander, table saw, orbit sander, etc. just don't have a miter saw atm.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Sounds like an interesting project.....always like getting knee deep in foundation work. I own the Dewalt 10" sliding miter and I love it, I also have the Dewalt portable miter table, another good quality piece, I wish I had the 12" sometimes so if I had it to do all over with, I'd go with the 12". Hitachi makes some decent tools as well but I've never had any experience with them....Makita for cordless, Milwaukee for sawzalls, skil and Makita for skil saws, and senco for pneumatic, and I love my Dewalt and craftsman (old) table top power tools.... Hope it helps


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

I have a DeWalt 12" slider. Wouldn't trade it for anything else. Simple, easy to use and versatile. I will put a fine blade in mine and use it to cut aluminum stock for welding. Best deal is to buy one when DeWalt is offering a free saw stand with it. The stand is useful and a good value.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Gearclash said:


> I have a DeWalt 12" slider. Wouldn't trade it for anything else. Simple, easy to use and versatile. I will put a fine blade in mine and use it to cut aluminum stock for welding. Best deal is to buy one when DeWalt is offering a free saw stand with it. The stand is useful and a good value.


I have a old Craftsman table saw, cast iron base, takes a forklift or two healthy guys that had their Wheaties in the morning to move it. Bought a Dewalt table top model with included stand to keep in the basement, seems like a good saw so far.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Gearclash said:


> I have a DeWalt 12" slider. Wouldn't trade it for anything else. Simple, easy to use and versatile. I will put a fine blade in mine and use it to cut aluminum stock for welding. Best deal is to buy one when DeWalt is offering a free saw stand with it. The stand is useful and a good value.


I've been building additions, garages, finishing basements, kitchens, etc since the early 80s.
I have the DeWalt sliding compound chop saw with the stand and I dont like the stand.
The stand supports at the end of the stand dont hold tight and frequently just fall off. Maybe they've been redesigned-I dont know. Bought mine 8 years ago. Also, the rubber cup pads fall off the ends of the aluminum legs. Seems like a picky complaint until you unfold the saw on a finish floor only to see rubber cups missing and cant set saw up inside on a finish floor. The saw itself is pretty good, but real heavy to move around at the end of a long day. I have to load/unload it frequently, so may not be a big deal for those who leave it in a shop most of its' life.

IMO, Milwuakee makes good tools. I'd check out their compound slider and stand. I think it has a laser guide, too. I cant say if its any lighter than DeWalt. Side by side on jobsite, Milwaukee tools outlast the others. Hitachi and Makita are good tools, too.
Disappointed to see almost all of it is now made offshore.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've had good luck with most of my Dewalt stuff so far. I like my Milwaukee right angle grinder as it has a paddle switch. Don't like the Makita right angle grinder as it has that stupid thumb/slider switch on the side and the cords always crack in the cold. Have several different Dewalt Sawzall's on the farm, two corded, two 18v and all have held up good so far. Also have alot of other Dewalt 18v stuff and have been happy with most so far. Handiest on this last project was my 18v drywall gun, I will admit I wouldn't want to do ceilings all day with it as it does get heavy but that's a trade off if you don't want to trip over cords all day.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

> Also, the rubber cup pads fall off the ends of the aluminum legs. Seems like a picky complaint until you unfold the saw on a finish floor only to see rubber cups missing and cant set saw up inside on a finish floor.


I had this problem also for a while. Cemented the rubber caps on the legs and problem solved.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Mine are lost forever. Need to buy new ones. The adjustable suports are my real gripe. Mine are a defective design. maybe they improved them. I have other dewalt tools I like, just not this particular one.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

If you're moving it around a lot I don't like the 12" sliders, big and akward. More of a stationary shop tool. Often the 12" fixed can cut trim in position that the slider can't but that isn't a rule.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Yep, adding the slide feature adds a lot of weight


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## Fowllife (Sep 10, 2010)

The only real thing that the blade diameter affected is your cutting capacity. A 12" will cut deeper & wider boards then a 10". All the saws you are looking at should work well for you.

In terms of accuracy, the actual blade is the most important thing. IMO the blades that come with them are only good for rough work, or smaller trim. The blades wonder too much on hardwood, especially larger compound cuts. A higher quality blade cam make a huge difference.I do quite a bit of trim work & build custom furniture & cabinets, my go to blades for my 12" slider are usually Freud 72-96 tooth. The tooth style will vary depending what I am cutting. I have found the Freud blades to be pretty good for the price. If you are cutting trim under 4" or so though you shouldn't get much blade wander regardless of the blade used. Most blade wander is caused by heat causing the blade to warp slightly & not spin true.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Freud makes excellent blades. I agree the blade can make a cheap saw cut better than the best saw with a junk blade. If you watch the edge when you fire up the saw and see a sideways blurring, the blade isn't true. The blade should look like a straight line when you cut.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Picked up the Dewalt 12" slider as the stand came free, time will tell as they might have changed something but the supports seem pretty solid to me. Wasn't going to spend that much till I seen the stand alone was $200. Brandon's drooling over getting to play with it as he said it's much nicer than anything works ever supplied for him.

Absolutely love the Sleep Number bed. Was salty but my personal opinion says the memory foam with the cool gel is worth the extra $$$. I'm at 60 and the wife is at 45. Doesn't sound like a lot of difference but she says 60 is too hard and 45 is soft enough it kills my back. Kind of dreading going on vacation again and having to sleep on a different bed.

Some pics of the project. The corner pantry/closet/whatever was built in place and screwed to the old floor, wall and ceiling, we left it and worked around it. Was afraid if we moved it the doors would never fit right again. Blocked up under it, cut the joists off, sprayed the old ones with Timbor several times then sistered the new treated joists up to the old.

Fixed the foundation on the south and west wall last year. Hired man cut a tile 30 years ago installing a water line and didn't fix it. Said tile drained the foundation for the south side of the house, no drainage, everything settled. Was nothing but a loose field stone foundation anyways. Dug all that out, replaced with concrete and all treated, installed a new tile as well. Most likely all that water backing up is what led to the demise of the floor joists.

https://plus.google....=CNitlNS1jM7BUA


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