8 Best Miter Saws

Buying a Miter Saw

If you frequently cut boards, a compound miter saw can be a great addition to your shop.

Sometimes called a chop saw, the compound miter saw offers a major advantage over a circular saw. Because the blade is always in the same position, you can accurately make repeated cuts. That’s harder to do with a circular saw, which requires manually placing the blade on the cut line.

A few important terms to know about a compound miter saw:

• Miter cut: This is the cut made when swiveling the blade in one direction or another to cut a board at something other than a 90-degree angle to the back fence of the saw.
• Compound miter cut: Here, the blade is tilted in relation to the base of the saw in addition to swiveling it. This sort of cut works for crown molding because the molding will sit at an angle to the wall. It will also need to be mitered in the corners.

Some features to look for when selecting a miter saw:

• Single or dual bevel: Single bevel allows the blade to tilt in one direction — typically to the left, when looking at the saw from the front. Dual bevel tilts left and right, giving more flexibility when setting up cuts.
• Blade size: Traditionally, miter saws have 10-inch- or 12-inch-diameter blades, with a larger blade accommodating wider pieces of wood. Some smaller saws use a 7-1/4-inch blade. It may not be as versatile, but it’s less expensive because it’s the most common size blade for a circular saw.
• Sliding functionality. A slide allows the blade to be pulled on rails or some other mechanism through a wider board. This increases a smaller, less expensive blade’s cutting capacity to that of a larger, more expensive blade. With some saws, however, the slide function can be bulky and sticks out behind the saw. This takes up precious space in a small shop.
• Cost: These can cost roughly $200 to more than $1,600. For most DIYers, a lower priced compound miter saw will suffice. However, as skills develop and you take on projects with more precise joinery, a more deluxe model might be worth the investment.