By Mark Clement
If I showed up on your trim site and set up my Stanley 20-800, some smart aleck would walk by the bench and say, "Hey buddy, you have a phone call. It's the 1970's. They're looking for their saw back."
Of course, this is the same guy who thinks that if a tool doesn't have a cord or hose attached, it's worthless, and when something doesn't fit just right, he also feels it's appropriate to perforate the work piece with several thousand nails.
But using a hand-powered miter saw (some carpenters call them "back saws")—in addition to a power miter saw—enhances the quality of my work, actually increases speed, and goes a long way to helping me maintain my sanity. Here's why:
Not every piece of wood on a trim site likes to be cut at by a 12-inch diameter blade spinning at 3800 rpm, especially returns and short pieces in small stock like shoe mold, 1/4 round, picture rail and other small moldings. On returns, the incredible speed of the blade creates a suction effect that pulls small returns into the blade teeth, whereupon they shoot out the front of the saw at something like Mach II. My heart at that point stamps my rib cage at about the same speed. Losing the piece, having to cut another one, and scaring myself half to death is not helping me install the molding.
For cutting small pieces, such as when working around a corner, I just don't like to have my fingers that close to anything moving at 3800 rpm. I needed a better solution.
Setup
Stanley's 20-800 weighs just a couple of pounds. I can set it up on an auxiliary workbench near the miter saw on a trim site in about five seconds by simply screwing it to a stable surface. As I do with my miter saw, I use a straight piece of 1-by to make a zero-clearance fence that supports small pieces during cutting. I wish the aluminum fence was tapped for the screw holes for setting up a fence, but it's easy enough to drill them out with self-tapping screws. No big whoop.
The tool comes with a stop gauge and small "cam-locks" to hold work pieces in place. I don't really need a stop on this kind of saw. The cam locks worked well enough, but they're small and I lost them almost instantaneously. If I need a fence on the saw deck (which I've only needed once) or zero clearance where the blade passes through the saw deck, I'll fabricate one on site to correspond with the trim I'm cutting.
You can install the blade to cut on the push stroke or pull stroke. I can control the blade and start cuts more gently by pulling the blade through the material rather than pushing, and the saw teeth leave sharp clean cuts. Replacement blades (Model # 20-809) are also available, which I like. It's worth having one behind the seat of the truck.
Accuracy and Adjustment
Cutting returns and short molding runs with the Stanley saw is more accurate than using a power miter saw. I get clean accurate cuts and can split a pencil line in half easily because the cut line is so easy to see and align with the set of the blade teeth. This set-up is just ideal for cutting returns. I'll even cut tricky returns in larger molding (like crown) using this saw because I can get them dead-on-money-exact, which is more difficult on the larger miter saws.
Switching the miter setting is a snap too. Unlike most miter saws, however, you free up the swing mechanism by pushing a button rather than squeezing a lever. It takes a few minutes to get used it to, but who cares? My returns aren't being launched out of the back of the saw.
Speed
Using a miter saw for returns in shoe mold, I can lose 6 out of 10 pieces to the suction effect and maybe one or two more due to mistakes. Using the 20-800, I can cut returns and small moldings all day long and not lose a single one. A miter saw can't touch that kind of error-free—and safe—work. And, considering the 20-800 is quiet, easy to work with and accurate, I can focus my attention on production rather than frustration at wasted work.
Stanley 20-800 Adjustable Angle Clamping Miter Box, www.StanleyTools.com, $40
Mark Clement is a remodeler and author of The Carpenter's Notebook and Kid's Carpenter's Workbook, Fun Family Projects! Learn more at www.TheCarpentersNotebook.com.
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