Thanks for taking your time to read our reviews of the best sliding mitre saws that are currently available on the UK market.
The sliding mitre saw is the King of power mitre saws, and are the ones chosen by professionals, contractors and people who do a lot of woodworking or a lot of DIY, or Home Improvement projects. They are the most expensive but they are the ultimate choice in the range of mitre saws that are available today.
Almost anyone who does any amount of woodworking will almost certainly have one of these in their workshop. These will include professional frame makers, cabinet makers and just about anyone who works with wood will have a variety of power saws, planers, routers etc, and among those will be the sliding compound mitre saw
Compound Mitre Saw vs Sliding Compound Mitre Saw
There are 2 types of mitre saw which are
- Standard compound mitre saw - suitable for working on smaller projects such as picture framing
- Sliding compound mitre saw - suitable for all projects and includes working with wider and larger pieces of wood and boards
Sliding mitre saws have all the features of the standard compound mitre saw. The real difference is that the saw can slide or glide, and that means you can work with much larger pieces of wood. That is in essence the main difference, but for serious users, it is a huge difference and of great benefit.
Top 10 Sliding Compound Mitre Saws
Evolution Power Tools R185SMS Compound Sliding Mitre Saw
96% buyer satisfaction based on 200+ online buyer reviews
This sliding saw uses a 1200 watt optimised gearbox and blade system, that greatly increases motor and blade life to cut through a variety of materials with ease
It comes with a TCT blade (20 teeth) that can cut through steel, aluminium, wood with embedded nails, plastic and more
It also has a laser which many buyers liked
It has a useful trench cut facility
Can handle 0 - 45 Degree bevel and 50 - 50 Degree mitre settings
Sliding Mitre Saw Buyers Guide (UK Version)
Cutting Longer and Wider Wood and Boards
We think that you will agree that the sliding mitre saw is an impressive tool. It is very useful to do just about anything you will ever need to do in terms of making straight, mitre, bevels or compound joints. They are great on all types of wood and for us, the fact that we can cut up to about 14" in length just makes a huge difference for us
The Sliding or Gliding Element
Some buyers actually complain about the slide which we find strange. The reason for that is that the huge majority of the cuts you will make do not require the slide. As such, the slide can be more of a hindrance than a help. Many of the newer models, have a locking position on the slide and that does make a huge difference.
Make sure if you are going to buy a sliding version, that it has this feature, as it just makes doing all of your tasks and projects a great deal easier.
If you don't need to cut longer or wider pieces of wood, then there is simply no need to go with one that slides and a standard compound saw will do your job perfectly well.
Bevel Adjustments
Again if you believe that you will be making a lot of bevel style cuts, then this saw will certainly help you out. For a long time professionals were used to a single bevel on a power saw. In today's market though, almost all of the bigger brands have gone for the dual option. That just makes a great deal of sense as it saves you having to turn long lengths of wood around in confined spaces.
So if you agree that a dual is the way to go, and we would recommend strongly that you go down that route, then how the bevel adjusts is an important consideration to make. On many of the saws that we looked at and reviewed, the releasing mechanisms, and the adjustment methods were rather poorly designed.
The reality is that it doesn't have to be like that at all. You want your standard position to be set at zero, and then be able to easily adjust a variety of angles to the left and right.
Blade Changing
If you will be using the saw frequently, you will need to change the blades on a fairly regular basis. That process should be simple. Normally it means loosening off the guard, and then removing the nut that holds the blade in place.
The entire process should take about 5-8 minutes. Just watch out for saws where you have to take off several parts to do this, as those can be a real time waster, especially when you are busy.
What will you be using the Mitre Saw for?
If you are considering getting a mitre saw, then the only big decision you need to make is really what lengths or depths of cuts you will want to be able to make. For many users this will be typically 2 x 2, or small floorboards or frames for windows, doors and pictures.
A standard version will do the job really well. However, if you want to work on 4 x 4 or on shelf type sizes of wood, then you will need a sliding compound to get those types of tasks completed.
