Just got Osborne's Big Black Book in the mail yesterday. (Nice book- I had a couple of empty spaces in my show, and its given me ideas for some illusions to fill in those holes.)

Now I've only worked with stacked bases, so I figured I'd start incorporating sloped bases into my illusions, and picked a simple illusion to start with. I'm being a good little builder, and making a cardboard mockup for "Bride of the Blades"- and suddenly realizing that according to my calculations, it's going to require some precisely angled compound miter cuts to properly make the sloped base; oh, say about 43.36 degrees on one angle of the cuts. I can fudge it with cardboard, but neither my table saw nor my circular saw go to two significant digits on the angle setting.

Now, short of buying a $7000+ computer-guided laser-precision radial arm saw, how do you guys deal with cuts like these? Do you estimate and overcut to 40-42 degrees, then fill in the gaps with wood putty and angle joints? Do you undercut to 45 degrees and finish the angles with a coping saw? Or is there a simple jig that I don't know about that lets you easily make cuts like this with a circular saw? Thanks in advance for the advice!

Sears compound miter with stand. $219.00

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605......raftsman

ChrisG

This might be more information than you were looking for, but here it is anyway:

Miter Cuts

Actually, amosmc, that's just what I needed. Well, that and a new miter saw. Thanks!

You could also look into getting the digital angle finder made by Skil, gives you tha angle and also the miter with a push of a button. Jeff

Cut your angles like crown molding. You can purchase a jig for cutting crown molding or you can make one.
Ray

Here's a bride of the blades I built a few years back. http://www.tabmantables.com/bladeTastic.jpg or another http://www.tabmantables.com/bladeTastic2.jpg
Ray

A compound miter saw and a cheap bevel gauge. Your compound cut should be around the 33 degree mark.F or a starting point cut some scrap and trial-fit it together. Owln_1

You can get a kreg precision miter gauge for your table saw for under $150. There is also a mitre trimmer that is a bit like a paper cutter to finish mitre cuts with, though they cost a bit more than the precision miter gauge.

Thanks for all the help. I've got the problem solved. It wasn't that I couldn't determine the angles needed- I just couldn't cut a 43.36 degree angle, and the 10" sliding miter saws at Sears didn't have a big enough depth of cut to safely slice through a 9" piece of plywood elevated 20 degrees. (The 12" sliding miter saws can do this, but they cost $500; maybe for my birthday...)

At any rate, I picked up a 24" hand saw and build a large, adjustable miter box (can go from 6" wide to as wide as needed) out of scrap wood. Total cost- around $25, for a savings of $475.

Sounds good to me, can we split the savings? Owln_1

A great example of the creativity that magicians showed in the "olden days"...

Wood workers have been building jigs for centuries, good to see the practice is being carried on.

Granted I'm a little late on the take here, but I have found so many good ideas for jigs and such in woodworking magazines, it's pitiful. A trip to the local B&N, Borders, Home Depot, Lowe's, or even a large supermarket, will provide lots of mags and ideas for solving those unusual problems. And they're fun to read, too.