Mitre Saw /Nail Gun

Beav · Post by **Beav** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 10:41 am

Hi,

Looking to purchase a Mitre saw for mainly cutting skirting/base boards and other potential DIY work. I do have a dewalt circular saw but being a DIY'er I've heard it's best to get a proper mitre saw for skirting boards.

Most of my tools use the dewalt 18v batteries but I really don't feel I need to spend £250/£300+ just to use the battery in this case and wouldn't mind just plugging a mitre saw in for the price difference.

Been looking at the "Mac Allister 1500W 220-240V 210mm Corded" which is coming out at £65 then I would need a nail gun as well, usually around £30?

fin · Post by **fin** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 12:42 pm

depending on what skirts you are fitting youll likely need a slideing mitre saw.

this is the sort of work i do for a living so my gear is the top end stuff. ive not seen or used a cheap nail gun at £30 and cant see one of those being any use at all. i paid around about £500 for my nail gun and £1500 for my mitre saw but like i said they pay for themselves in no time really.

since youve got dewalt batteries they do a nail gun which you could probably get for maybe £300 ish...

you may well need to either up your budget or look at second hand but then you run the risk of buying stuff thats either knackered or been hoisted.

Beav · Post by **Beav** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 12:50 pm

fin wrote: ↑Mon Feb 24, 2025 12:42 pm depending on what skirts you are fitting youll likely need a slideing mitre saw.

this is the sort of work i do for a living so my gear is the top end stuff. ive not seen or used a cheap nail gun at £30 and cant see one of those being any use at all. i paid around about £500 for my nail gun and £1500 for my mitre saw but like i said they pay for themselves in no time really.

since youve got dewalt batteries they do a nail gun which you could probably get for maybe £300 ish...

you may well need to either up your budget or look at second hand but then you run the risk of buying stuff thats either knackered or been hoisted.

At that price I may as well pay someone to come and do the work or just sand and gloss the current skirting boards possibly

Titan seem to have a good name and do a sliding mitre saw for £99.99, great reviews also.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 2:20 pm

I always think for a DIY job you can take the time to scribe the internal joints instead of mitres. With a coping saw you cut the profile of the skirting to mate perfectly as a joint. You do not have to worry so much about angles as this method gives you a degree of movement. That Titan saw will work for you, just practice any external mitres to get the angle right on some waste skirting so you set up right. This video will show you what I mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJLzHCezzU As for fixing Fripfil does most of the work but you can hammer in masonry nails where necessary, you do not need a nail gun. One final thing is to paint the boards with primer and undercoat before fixing you can do any filling before top coats.

DWD

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 2:53 pm

That was Gripfil by the way, damn sausage fingers.

DWD

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 6:31 pm

I've got the 216mm sliding mitre saw from Metabo , it does the job although to be honest I think it suffers like all of the smaller saws from having a fairly shallow bed..By that I mean that while it will cut 300mmI don't feel that width is fully supported. A larger saw is much better to use I find but like most things it's a compromise with cost although if you're not fitting really deep skirting the smaller saw should suffice.My saw only rarely goes on a site and tends to live in the workshop as much as anything else. If you do buy a saw also look at a finer toothed blade as the "standard " that is normally supplied tends to be a coarser and is thus more prone to tearing the grain..I've done a.whole house.before now with just hand tools.and that can be easier I find in the older less square , less plumb houses where I tend to find myself working in. If you're having to.keep adjusting the saw for practically every cut it becomes a pain in the rear end. I.also.don't own a nail gun.( well there is one buried in the workshop but it doesn't get used) and find hand nailing suffices.
Just a though if you're only going to.be doing your.own house and not making a career of it then maybe hiring the tools.in might be an idea...
Just to add when I was on sites regularly we'd do as dwd says and paint the skirtings and archs first..Our decorator was happy enough to gloss the up too.

fin · Post by **fin** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 7:46 pm

these are a cracking bit of kit for skirting boards.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gohelper-Protr ... C90&sr=8-7

ive had one for ages. surprising how rarely you find a right angle corner where 2 45 degree cuts form the correct angled mitre.

more often than not theyre between 43 and 47 degrees

also as mentioned earlier by dwd. always obviously mitre external joints but also always always scribe internals. never ever mitre them.

there is one profile of skirting that howdens sell where a lot of people just butt it in corners.. personally i think its a little rough but its possible to get away with it.

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 7:59 pm

There seems to be a fashion now for unmoulded skirtings I've found , just simple 5 or 6 inch deep square edged boards. On the posher jobs I have cut a little mitred lap on internal corners but when I'm working for a landlord just butted is fine.
I seem to recall that we as joiners had a play at mitreing internals as much as anything to show apprentices. They produced some awful joints but as these weren't going to stay there it wasn't an issue but it did teach that it's actually easier as well as being better to scribe them although to be fair some of the first attempts at scribing were pretty crap too...

fin · Post by **fin** » Mon Feb 24, 2025 8:18 pm

once youve cracked scribing its a piece of p*ss like to be fair. but it is a skill that takes a bit of mastering.

Beav · Post by **Beav** » Tue Feb 25, 2025 8:25 am

I'm starting to think do I just sand and gloss the boards already installed to tidy them up. There's enough work to do there without a noob spending hours faffing with skirting boards, lol

The house previously had a smoker living there so everything that should be white is actually yellow, the boards are also smaller 3-4" skirting boards, chunkier definitely look better imo

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Tue Feb 25, 2025 8:52 am

You may want to clean down paintwork with sugar soap as this will remove all grease, silicones, and nicotine stains. I would then use wet and dry paper to rub down with soapy water as this prepares the surface without scratching it up badly. I use Johnstones Aqua paint and the undercoat really works well over the old gloss prepared as above. The Aqua Gloss is half gloss, giving a good hard surface once it has cured.

DWD

wine~o · Post by **wine~o** » Thu Feb 27, 2025 5:19 pm

Beav, Lidl have a compound mitre saw coming on offer next week https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/parkside-compo ... /p10024947 You need the compound saw not just a straightforward mitre saw.

Beav · Post by **Beav** » Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:14 am

wine~o wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 5:19 pm Beav, Lidl have a compound mitre saw coming on offer next week <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/parkside-compo ... 4947</span> You need the compound saw not just a straightforward mitre saw.

Cheers for the heads up :)

Any thoughts on this Titan one if I miss the deal? (I do have a titan vac for the car which is very good).

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb795 ... lsrc=aw.ds

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:22 am

I bought a cheap chop saw from BnQ 25 years ago, it is still going. I bought a cheap sliding mitre saw but it is bloody heavy and I tend not to use it that much. Carefully evaluate your needs now and for the future use it may have and buy accordingly. The guys who use tools day in day out have to go for better quality but I have found Titan tools to be good quality and value.

DWD

Beav · Post by **Beav** » Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:44 am

dewaltdisney wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:22 am I bought a cheap chop saw from BnQ 25 years ago, it is still going. I bought a cheap sliding mitre saw but it is bloody heavy and I tend not to use it that much. Carefully evaluate your needs now and for the future use it may have and buy accordingly. The guys who use tools day in day out have to go for better quality but I have found Titan tools to be good quality and value.

DWD

Thank you.

I did invest a good Dewalt drill a few years back as I felt I would use that for a lot of different DIY jobs (I have already).

With a Mitre saw i'm only thinking skirting boards. I do have a dewalt circular saw as well which uses the 18v batteries.