“Rediscovering” a tool or technique that you’ve not used for a long time is a cool thing.

Over the years I’ve owned three miter saws, plus have used them on job sites and in other shops. They’re great tools, but depending on shop space they may not be convenient tools. If you can leave one set up all the time and there’s ample room to accommodate long stock, they’re not only convenient but likely to be used daily for any simple cutoff chore.

But if you don’t have the counter space you may need to stash a miter saw away until needed, but then it tends to stay stashed except for tasks requiring lots of cuts – you’ll never use it for a quick, simple cutoff. At least, that’s the case with my shop.

I got rid of my previous miter saw a few years ago because I just didn’t use it enough to justify the stashing space it was taking up. When I got a new one last year I was determined to keep it out and found a countertop spot just for it. Trouble is, because of other tools sharing the same space I could only cut very short pieces of stock, or had to move it elsewhere to accommodate what I was cutting, and that was a lot like stashing it away between uses: I just wasn’t using it often.

But for my last project I needed to cut a bunch of stiles and rails, plus lots of other short pieces to length from longer stock. So I moved the other tools sharing the miter saw’s space out of the way and just left it set up for cutoff use for a two-week period. It was wonderful! I found myself using it constantly, including for things that had nothing to do with the project at hand.

As a result, I’ve resolved to keep my “new” miter saw set up and available at all times. That will require some shifting around of the other countertop tools, plus setting up a more permanent means of handling long stock that includes a stop system, but it’ll be well worth it.

A.J.