Mitre cutter won’t cut…

[Roger Pellett]

The whole idea behind these cutters that “mash” the wood doesn’t make much sense to me. A Zona Saw with a set of four blades costs about $15 US. While they also sell a miter box, I make my own tailored to fit the situation from scrap materials.

Roger

 

[Short John Bronze]

I find this cheap option works fairly well - e.g 2 x 5mm sapele no contest. It has a zero footprint and hangs under my bench when in active use.
Uses standard "Stanley knife" blades.

 

[Peter Schaap]

I thought the point was how he can solve his problem without having to buy a new tool right away.

 

[Ronald61]

I think he has a cutter who is somewhat inferior... maybe better to invest in a somewhat better one.

I myself would highly recommend the NWSl Cutter II

 

[Loracs]

I must say that I am with @Jimsky on The Ultimation. After using, sometime aggressively with thick hard wood, it never let me down. I'm still using the same blade for nearly 2 years. With another cheaper cutter, you will find yourself changing the blade repeatedly and changing device every build or so... This is my third cutter, but I believe that the Ultimation will last me for life. Expensive? yes, but it is hard steel, built to last. Nothing can really surpass it for precision, and repeated cuts regardless of the wood used.

 

[DAWarden-(Jaager)]

Nothing can really surpass it for precision, and repeated cuts regardless of the wood used.

The problem with a chopper is that it does not cut a kerf - it crushes its way thru. It is a knife. A microscopic view could show nothing else. If this was a tool that I had to use, I would have the face of the plank on the down side.

If the blade was stropped after every few cuts - scrap leather with green/gold/red compound rubbed on the leather - a quality steel blade may last about forever.

The "nothing" that can surpass is a backsaw cutting on the pull stroke
and a disc sander - or plane on a shooting board - or a sanding block at a stage with a miter gauge
to finish

I find much better than a Zona backsaw or similar even if they allow the blade to be flipped to cut on the pull is a Japanese Curved-edge Mini Saw - but this qualty is expensive. and may now be impossible to find.

A Dobson Miter-Rite looks like it should do everything that a Ultimation does but with a saw, but actual action does not work that way for me - the plastic screws that fix the blade at 90 degrees also cause significant resistance and friction.
Keeping the work being cut from moving also defeats me.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

way back i use to lay out patterns for die cutting or what we called steel rule cutting. It was used for cardboard boxes in the packaging industry. Steel rule cutting used extreme stamping pressure. The paper cutters used a shearing action to cut stacks of paper and cardboard. i remember Balsa model plane kits that used die stamping it rounded the edges from crushing the Balsa wood.
I do not think these hobby cutting tools are practical, i watched industrial die cutting and the machines do not apply a slow pressure they stamp hard and quick. So if you had one of these hobby cutters a smack with a hammer would make the cut rather than applying slow pressure.

in my opinion these hobby cutting tools have taken the industrial stamping and shear cutting ideas and tried to make a cutting tool that really does not work on a small scale like the industrial tools do.

in order for these cutters to work they have to have a guillotine shearing action and not just a downward crushing force.

a fine tooth razor saw works far better you can find them here

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