Tune up your miter saws for perfect joints

When you buy a chisel or hand plane, it’s not razor sharp out of the box — you have to sharpen it before you use it. The same is true for miter saws.

They don’t come from the factory in perfect tune.

Then, too, after you’ve dragged your saw in and out of the truck a few dozen times, jammed heavy stock against the fence, or maybe even had it flip off the back of a saw stand – or a tailgate – all those precise adjustments can get seriously out of whack.

If you’ve noticed joints not quite closing up for you lately, it’s time to tune up your saw. Here are some tricks from This Is Carpentry to get that big investment dialed in just right.