# Cutting small stock safely.



## Bluefilosoff (Mar 25, 2013)

I keep having pieces explode on me when I try to cut small stock on the mitre saw or table saw. Might anyone have any tips on how to keep the cut ends from flying all over the place? It's getting a bit crazy in the shop! Thank-you.


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## Fins59 (Oct 16, 2011)

Same here. I now use a band saw on the small stuff. 
(I love band saws....I got 3 of em so far:thumbsup:}


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Make a wooden fence and screw it to the miter saw fence. Then make the miter cut. Now you have a wooden fence backing up your small pcs and they shouldn't fly that often. If you are cutting moldings then I suggest cutting all of your left (or right) miters first, then redo the fence so you only have the saw kerf and then you can cut all of your opposite miters. This way you have full backup. And you also have a nice line to line up with your pencil tick. Makes it real easy to get that perfect cut the first time, every time.


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## 4DThinker (Mar 13, 2013)

Make the cut. Get off the power and wait for the blade to stop before pulling it up. It is often that spinning blade that catches the small cutoff and throws it when coming up out of the table.


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

A table saw sled and/or zero clearance insert can help. For really small stuff it's probably easier to use a hand saw.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Bluefilosoff said:


> I keep having pieces explode on me when I try to cut small stock on the mitre saw or table saw. Might anyone have any tips on how to keep the cut ends from flying all over the place? It's getting a bit crazy in the shop! Thank-you.


How small? What size?

G


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## Pirate (Jul 23, 2009)

On a table saw, a sled is the way to go. I made a small one, which is just a bit wider than the miter slots are apart. Makes cutting small parts easy. And safer.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Leo G said:


> Make a wooden fence and screw it to the miter saw fence. Then make the miter cut. Now you have a wooden fence backing up your small pcs and they shouldn't fly that often. If you are cutting moldings then I suggest cutting all of your left (or right) miters first, then redo the fence so you only have the saw kerf and then you can cut all of your opposite miters. This way you have full backup. And you also have a nice line to line up with your pencil tick. Makes it real easy to get that perfect cut the first time, every time.


+1

That is what I do on the miter saw when cutting small pieces for segmented turning.

When it comes to the table saw, I don't cut small pieces period. It is too dangerous to get hands that close to the blade and rather than waste time on jigs, or sleds, I just go to the bandsaw.


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## Bluefilosoff (Mar 25, 2013)

GeorgeC said:


> How small? What size?
> 
> G


These would be dowel ends, half inch and down and inch or two long, pieces of moulding, etc. I have good saw blades made for cross cutting and they are nice and sharp. I will make a sacrificial fence and see how that works. Thanks for your help!


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

You could use a brace on the piece cut that you want to save. It could be something as simple as a poke prod type stick or a featherboard of some sort.









 







.


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## Cliff (Feb 5, 2012)

What material, How small, what dimensions, What tooth pitch on the blade? What tooth grind, What blade speed? 

Where is the blade? Is it sticking all the way out of the saw or just clearing the work? Try a different blade height.




> dowel ends, half inch and down and inch or two long, pieces of moulding, et


I cut dowels on the TS frequently no problem. 



> blades made for cross cutting


That doesn't convey much information. One company's hot shot blade might be a really awful blade in comparison to another.
In my experience anything from the BORG is inadequate by default. 

I like Felder Silent Power, Ghudo, Tenru, Ridge Carbide. And of course different tooth grinds for different applications.


A 20 TPI hand saw should do the trick nicely, so too a BS with a fine pitch blade.

To prevent the dowels from blowing out try drilling a hole in some stock to trap the whole diameter of the dowel and use that against your fence with the blade cutting the same path in the drilled piece. Alternate: run a ball cutter in your router table across a length of wood, use that to trap the work and raise the TS blade so it's cutting downward into the support.


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## <*(((>< (Feb 24, 2010)

How about using a hand miter box with a good back saw. You said you were only having problems with miters on small stock. Cutting small stock is the perfect application for using a miter box and back saw. You really aren't saving any time using a powered miter saw, if you are talking about the same "small stock" that I am. A few push pulls on a back saw will get you through.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

I have found when I need to cut small stock, I use zero clearance plates, and backer boards. If you are using your miter saw, you could take off the bottom plate, put it on wax paper, and fill the slot with epoxy, or bondo. Once it dries, then you can cut a new slot, and have a reference to line up your pieces to. I was fortunate enough to find a ZC insert for my mitersaw at a local toolstore. Here is a pic of my miter saw set up. The backer boards are just 1/4" plywood, stuck to the fence with a good double stick tape. If I end up cutting a miter, then I unstick the 1/4" backer board, move it in, and re cut.









I had another instance where I had to cut some small dowels to a specific length. I tried the miter saw, but didn't like the fact that the dowels would jump around after being cut, so I made a sled for my TS. This also protected the dowels from tearout as well. Worked like a charm.









As someone also mentioned, when using the miter saw, don't lift the blade back up, after you finish your cut, until the blade comes to a halt. The blade can make quite a "vacuum" when it is spinning, and suck in any little pieces that you just chopped off.


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