Cutting joins Kitchens, doors, rails, stud, tables, chairs, stair cases, garden furniture etc... Find answers and ask questions here!

[the2ems]

I have to make several seat boxes, the type you see in caravans, which will mean cutting lots of halving/lap joins. Is it possible to cut these with one of those compound mitre saws?

[john9159]

If you are thinking of using an electric one then be aware these are dangerous tools in the hands of an amateur.
There are the manual types which rely on you operating a saw by hand but they only give a certain depth of cut - a bit tricky if you have a plank thats 3ft wide.
I do my lap joints entirely by hand - marking out and then cutting half depth with a razor saw or sharp tenon saw then finishing off with a sharp chisel.
I like to do it right if it's for me and invariably this takes much longer.

[the2ems]

Thanks for that.
You are correct, the old way is usually the best, but when you are out of practice and have 30 to 40 joints to cut, it looks quite daunting. :cry:

[john9159]

Seems I canot send you a PM; how about just dowel joints and glue if it's so repetitive, if you are using decent timber (other than MDF or chipboard) you should get accurate results.

[the2ems]

[quote="john9159"]Seems I canot send you a PM; how about just dowel joints and glue if it's so repetitive, if you are using decent timber (other than MDF or chipboard) you should get accurate results.[/quote]

Now that makes sense. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, I may just do that.

Not sure why you can't send me a PM though. Don't think I have anything turned off. :?

Why can't I turn on smilies

[chris_on_tour2002]

you certainly could use an electric compount mitre saw to make a half lap joint, in fact it's the way that i would do it.

your saw will need to be the sliding type and fitted with a depth stop of course. and you will need to put a batten against the fence of your saw so that you get the full depth of the blade all the way through the cut otherwise the back edge of your cut will be rounded as per the profile of the saw blade.

but as john says, not a job for someone who is not familiar with this type of machine - else you could end up with a half arm in your lap...

[rosebery]

[quote="the2ems"]Not sure why you can't send me a PM though. Don't think I have anything turned off. :?

Why can't I turn on smilies[/quote]

It's not you - it's the way the board is set up by Admin and these are global settings. PMs, HTML and Smilies are globally set to off. Note that the quote function (apart from others) doesn't work either as BBCode is off as well.

Cheers