The shooting board lesson from a framer in Phoenix

Last month I was on a trim job with a guy who's been framing for 30 years. I was cutting a bunch of cabinet face frames and my miters were off by a hair every time. He watched me for a minute and said 'you're pushing too hard, let the blade do it.' That hit me. I was gripping the board like it owed me money and that flex was throwing everything off. I switched to a lighter touch and suddenly my joints closed up clean. Then he pointed out my shooting board had a low spot in the middle, which I never checked. Sanded it down flat and now everything lines up. Has anyone else found that the real fix was something boring like a flat reference surface instead of buying a new saw? I wasted a whole week thinking it was my blade.

3 comments

3 Comments

lewis.finley26d ago

Funny thing is, I once spent two days swearing at my miter saw before realizing the cheap shelf I was using as a workbench had a dip in it the size of a dinner plate. Guess I was the low spot in that setup all along.

murray.jana29d ago

Flat surfaces are the whole game. Checked my table saw top with a straightedge and found it was cupped from how it sat in the truck. Leveled the stands and the weird wobble in my cuts disappeared. Boring fix, but saved me from buying a new blade that was fine.

paul_taylor2126d ago

You ever check the floor where you're standing instead of just the board? I had a garage slab with a slope that threw every bench top off, leveled the whole thing with shims and my miters stopped lying to me.