Miter Saws Reviews

I have been renovating my house, and put this saw to a great deal of use. The angle selector handle feels beefy, but if you turn the saw over, the handle connects to a thin piece of cast metal.

This is appearently not strong enough. Mine broke the other day, after about 12 months of periodic use.

Overall the saw was accurate, comfortable and fast to use. Initially the unit appears to be fairly well put together. Once it broke, I took a moment to examine the undercarraige where the failure occured. Yep. Black and Decker alright.

Having owned a few other B & D products over the years I didn't expect too much. I was hoping this product would surpass those expectations. It didn't.

If you are looking for a basic miter table system, then this is your saw. The powerful 3 hp, 15 amp motor will get you thru almost any type of wood. The tall fence will hold pieces up to 4 1/2 inches securely. The pre-indexing of the common angle cuts is nice. Overall, a nice basic saw.

Now what it is missing. A short table base requires to add or build table extentions or don't try to cut anything over 3 feet long by yourself. No intergrated stop block system. Compound cuts have to be done with two different setups, this is NOT a compound cut saw, or a sliding saw. The side handle is nice, though.

If you plan on doing any above basic cuts or any length over 3 feet, then you might want to look at the Black and Decker BT1500 with compound capablity and table extentions included.

I bought this saw for one job only but now I use it almost every day. Cuts straight out of the box...no adjustments needed. Sure, I'd like to have one of the sliding/bevel saws, but for 1/4 the price I can buy a lot of other tools with the money I am saving (including a nice circular saw that will do the bevel cuts). The Bosch 10" slider has been sitting in my Amazon shopping cart for a while now, but I just can't bring myself to take the plunge because the Black and Decker does the job. (I must confess that I don't do a lot of moldings).

Four stars only because I wish it had a few more features, but I would give it a full five stars for value.

The dewalt saw is a capable compound miter. The problem is the 8 !/2 inch blade, which is a odd size and does'nt have any fine tooth available at all. The only blade that I could locate is a fast woodcutting, which is unnacceptable in some instances. There are many different blades available in 8 1/4, why they made this saw 8 1/2 is beyond me. Why make a saw with no blades available.

I got the dw712, and it was 350 dollars, not the 500+ shown here, and its the same saw, my box is the same model, and clearly marked as haevy duty. I also found blades, not as readily availible as other sizes, but they are out there, so no complaints there, this is a nice saw, and covers everything that a non-sliding 12 does, except 4x4s, and I dont do many of those anyway, very compact and easy to move from job to job, love it, for the money, cant beat this saw!!!
As for complaints about it throwing dust, its a miter saw, what do you expect???

Contrary to the other review, blades ARE available, but not so readily as say a 7-1/2 or 10 inch. Try Home Depot or Lowes for sure, or probably any other large building materials supplier. Unlikely at a local "mom and pop" hardware. They were listed on Amazon too, but there was some glitch in their supply resulting in an extremely long delay in delivery, so I cancelled. I have three 60 tooth blades and they work great with the saw.

I ordered one of these saws last week based on mostly positive reviews. I was really looking forward to this addition to my shop and happy about what seemed like good value. I have to say that I was horrified when it actually arrived. The cabinet components are made of plastic. Mine arrived with all of the cabinet pieces broken or cracked. There were even shards of broken cabinet lying in the bottom of the shipping box. The plastic is obviously extremely brittle.

My main complaint is the upper blade guide. Mine came snapped in half in the box. Made of cast aluminum, it's a little larger in diameter than a pencil. The 90 degree angle where the guide post becomes the blade guide is all one casting, very thin material and sure to break. Also, the clamp that holds the guide post to the body of the saw is very flexy. This means that the that the upper guide twists easily with relatively little force.

All in all, I would say that this saw is a toy, not designed to last at all. I sent mine back and replaced it with a Harbor Freight saw for $20 more, on sale. The bigger saw has no plastic parts. It has a solid steel guide post. It has twice the horse power. It also has virtually the same footprint, so it doesn't take up any more space than the Delta 10".

Check around for discount prices. It's not worth the $199 most places have it listed for. I only paid $76 for it (new in the box). That said, you are not buying a high-end professional band saw; if you need it, spend the extra $$$ for a "high class" saw.

A good starter band saw for small projects. It gives you the little extra strength over the Delta 9" and includes a stand. When all put together it's rock solid! Mine came with the bottom door hindge bent a little, but that didn't effect operation and something you can't blame Delta for (rough shipping was obvious). Setup is pretty straight forward, all the tools except for a 1/2" wrench was included. The manual is rather sparse on assembly (A. Assemble base to match the finished picture.....) A little common sense and it's pretty hard to do it wrong; I had my 3-year old put the nuts and bolts together. Moving the bandsaw after assembly is VERY difficult, which is good because it's so sturdy. I'm going to purchase the Delta univeral base (50-345) to make it easy to move around. It took about 15 minutes after assembly to make all the adjustments. The included 1/4" blade works wonderfully. The saw is quieter then I would have thought and does a great job on 1 1/2" hardwood. The fine tuning adjustments make all the difference in performance, so take the time to get it set right.

Like I said in the beginning, if you can find this locally for $100 or less, buy it! If you have a Lowes store nearby, they normally have one set up so you can "kick the tires" and see what you are getting.

I am a luthier and just odered a bigger Delta model but this bandsaw is a great little one. No vibration and yes powerful enough to resaw 7" at the condition that you buy a decent blade and take the time to set it up well like any other bandsaw. This is really the best deal for an advanced hobbyist. Really recommended.

Don't waste your money. The laser stays on about 30% of the time and I have to spin the blade by hand to turn it off. The laser line is about an eight of an inch. off so I have to line up the cut just like before. The only thing I can guess is that the quality control is not the best since the laser is mounted right next to the blade. If it were aligned properly in the manufacturing process then if would be a nice add on to my saw. The way it is it is just a nice red light. It is far enough away from the mark that I can't even use it to illuminate my cutting line.

I found this product to be just as advertised. If your saw is properly aligned in the first place it works just fine. I only experienced an error of 1/32nd from my pencil line. I have no problem compensating for that. Turns on and off with the saw blade everytime.

Just installed it on my 10" chopsaw - works absolutely great!!! Bright, hair-thin laser line snaps on with saw, & aligns straight and square to the left edge of my 60-tooth carbide blade. Only minor mods I had to make during installation was to use a thin brass washer to shim between the unit body and saw arbor, and later to add two thicker zinc washers to the mounting bracket of the blade guard so its swing would clear the outer edge of the laser guide body - no big deal in either case. I might suggest that anyone who has had difficulty with a "fat" line or line projection that is not close to the blade may benefit from adding a shim between the laser unit and the arbor face - if there is any void here, you may be "squashing" the unit ring when tightening the arbor bolt, and thus distorting the unit's intended alignment with the plane of the blade; or, warping the unit case such that the laser becomes set in a "wobbled" position and produces a wider line since the emitter is not spinning uniformly. Like any "fits-all" accessory, there needs to be consideration for adjustment & modification to get proper results on any given brand of saw - but I think this is a great product and would certainly recommend it...! I'm very pleased with mine.

The stop functions as expected.
However, the main bracket is sanded on six sides and the sharp edges and corners were not are not deburred afterwards. After cutting my hand on one of the burrs, I filed the edges and corners and my gripe is that I have removed the rust protective plating in those areas allowing a path for rust.
This would be a much better product if in DeWalt's manufacturing process, they would deburr the edges and corners.

Definitely a major time-saver - without this (and it's requisite partner, the DW7050), the process of duplicating cuts would be much more time-consuming. Not the best design (it's a lot of guesstimations if you're cutting a longer piece than the base of the saw - causing you to have to measure with one hand, support the stop with one hand, and tighten it up with your other hand). If this had some sort of fine-adjustment mechanism to get past the need for three hands in such cases it would be perfect (and then actually worth the cost of having to buy both the DW7050 and the DW7051)

Definitely a major time-saver - without this (and it's requisite partner, the DW7050), the process of duplicating cuts would be much more time-consuming. Not the best design (it's a lot of guesstimations if you're cutting a longer piece than the base of the saw - causing you to have to measure with one hand, support the stop with one hand, and tighten it up with your other hand). If this had some sort of fine-adjustment mechanism to get past the need for three hands in such cases it would be perfect (and then actually worth the cost of having to buy both the DW7050 and the DW7051)

It looks impressive, but it simply is not possible to cut 90 degrees accurately. Actually, I found a way: use a framing square to square the fence to the blade; clamp the fence to the sliding table (if you spent the $400 for that option), then cut. Clearly, DeWalt rushed this product to market even though it was faulty. DeWalt can no longer be trusted I guess. They should have a recall on this. If I could give it a minus rating I would.

Wasn't impressed at all with Dewalt's answer to the Osbourne EB-3.
The fit and finish was not up to Dewalt's usual standards. Think they rushed this into production. I couldn't get the rocking of the fence adjusted out..Dewalt says its normal. If you are cutting precise miters, ya sure don't want the fence rocking around while going thru the saw. Also the presets won't stay preset. They will vary as much as 1-2 degrees each time you move the slide. I have the Dewalt 746 table saw and wanted to stay with Dewalt equipment if I could, but after a couple days of messin with this miter gauge I took it back and ordered an Osborne EB-3(seperate review).

I am a dewalt fan, I like most of their tools and this one did not let me down.

It looks nice cuts ugly. The 1st thing I noticed with the blade installed on my DeWalt DW708 was, the saw seemed to push hard. 2nd it left burn marks and 3rd. the cut wasn't smooth (little ridges). Tried every thing I could think to do, nothing seemed to change the final result, a lousey cut from a lousey blade. Put the blade that came with the saw back in, just to see if it was the saw's fault, everything was fine. The Freud goes back.

I purchased this blade in June of 2001. I gave it two stars simply because it is chromed. I installed this blade in my DeWalt sliding chop saw and was not impressed from the begining. I have since kept it in a saw box with other old blades and don't like using it. It burns,tears out wood labors through compound cuts and generally is not a good performer. I have had it sharpened a couple of times by a great sharpening shop and they can't get it to perform any better. Its back into it's storage box it goes.
Do not buy one of these.
Peter L

This blade makes cuts as smooth as glass, in casings and moldings. Blades like this are what allow the pros to make perfect cuts.

First of all the fence works fine once you tune it up, the table of the saw is predrilled to accept the rails and their assembly is pretty straight forward. The fence itself is not assembled and there are no instructions provided, but its fairly obvious when you look at the CAD drawing on the parts list what goes where.

TIP: if you don't already have one buy a feeler gauge or better yet a set of setup blocks. This makes setting the fence height from the table a lot easier.

My only gripe is the sick-on ruler that came pre-attached to the rail is not square to table and is full 3/4" off the mark. Easily replaced with another stick on ruler but its a bit annoying that its that far off. Having to pay over 50$ for such a critical piece of equipment that is standard on most other band saws the least they can do is get the tape on straight and true.

Since there are no other fence systems out there for the Jet your stuck with this one. But it does work fine just plan on spending additional money on a new adhesive measuring tape and a good set of setup blocks.

The fence for the 12" band saw doesn't meet Jet's normal high standard. I had trouble with the rear hook assembly. Some detailed instructions would be helpful (none exist with the manual). The parts come in a bag, and you're on your own. The front clamp doesn't work smoothly. This, combined with the poor rear hook assembly, make the fence less than I'd expect from Jet. I'll use it until I can find a well-made substitute, then in the can it goes...

Needed a good whack with a hammer on the tab that friction locks the near side of the fence. It is just like the Jet contractors saw fence: square adjust with four screws, friction lock on one side only. You can adjust the front rail to line up the measuring tape. Pointer is weak but considering the error in measurement added by the rough cut of the blade itself it is plenty accurate.

(...)

Before you buy any miter saw stand do your self a favor and go to home de pot. I am a carpenter and I purchased 2 different stands and used many others before I had the opportunity to use a M.S.U.V. (miter saw utility vehicle) made by ridgid. You can buy one for $100-$150 and nothing else comes close to the durability, reliability, and ease of use.

Most miter-saw stands with the features I wanted cost around two hundred dollars and are ideally suited for the professional, which I'm not. I spotted this stand in my local HD (at about half the cost listed here); researched its features and users' reviews of it on the web; bought it. Assembly was straight-forward with clear instructions. In use, the mounting is secure, and the stand stays put with rock-solid sturdiness and effortlessly extends to balance and precisely position very long pieces of lumber. Once the saw is dismounted the stand folds flat.

Wolfcraft delivers on every feature of this stand. Great for around the house or workshop; even with the saw mounted, the stand can be wheeled easily across floors. I only wish it had larger (and locking) wheels to give more mobility outside on uneven terrain. But I'm not complaining. I get more than my money's worth every time I use it. There are better stands out there, but not at the much lower price I paid for this one.

I got one of these at the QVC outlet store (does that tell you anything?) with multiple discounts and coupons that left me paying $6 for it. After gloating all the way home and through set up, I began to realize that I would have done better making my own jig. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is made of plastic which will deflect without too much difficulty. Just the weight of my circular saw made the tracks bow, and it takes frequent tightening just to keep everything aligned. Make your own jig from your scraps and put the money you saved into your miter saw fund.

I was pretty excited when I ordered this item but after using it for a few months I'm pretty disappointed. The problems I encountered are:
- time consuming and difficult to adjust the board
- difficult to line up cuts
- final result is inaccurate cuts
I can't believe I wasted forty bucks on this when that could have gone towards a basic compound miter saw. Save your money and skip this one

I suppose it is all in your perspective. I bought this tool with these criteria in mind: it should let me make compound angle cuts in wood up to an inch thick. It should be easily adjustable and accurate. It should let me get a lot more use out of my circular saw. It should be safe. And my personal favorite: it should be "fun to play with" because I like to experiment and try all sorts of different ideas.

I have found the MAC cutting board fills all those criteria and then some. I make all sorts of things and I use it constantly. Some of the things I've made recently: mailbox shaped like an A-frame ski chalet, laminated wood kaleidoscope with over 50 pieces of wood, 10 identical picture frames made from pine molding, a jewelry box made from crown molding. Every one of them was easier to make, for me, because of the MAC board. I don't own a table saw. And I don't generally make large items that would require one. For the smaller things that I make, the MAC board serves me well for both the angle cuts and for the straight cutting operations. I use it for both cross-cutting and ripping and it has been a lot of fun figuring out just what it is capable of. I am now starting a series of trays which will feature a zig-zag lamination and everything will be cut on the MAC board with my circ saw. And I'm positive it will be accurate, or as accurate as I am, of course.

The one thing that keeps the MAC board from getting 5 stars from me is the fact that it's made of plastic, rather than cast aluminum. I have never had a problem with it, strengthwise. It is certainly more than strong enough to support my saw, and of course, that's all it really has to do. I'd like to see it made from metal, but now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't add anything to the tool's strength, but I know it would add a lot to the tool's price. So maybe plastic is ok, after all.

Anyway,if you are interested in a tool that can help you install crown molding in a house, or make picture frames, or cut a bunch of wood all at the same angle; then the MAC board is a good choice, unless you -want- to spend megabucks for a sliding compound miter saw. If you do, have at it! I can't say anything bad about those saws. On the other hand, if you're like me and you don't have a whole bunch of money to spend on a compound miter saw, this little "toy" is pretty slick. My 2 cents.