The old door shop on 118 Ave made me rethink my mitre saw setup

Back around 2015 I was doing a kitchen reno off Whyte Ave and kept fighting gaps on the casing mitres. Every corner I cut looked fine on the saw but closed up crooked on the wall. One morning I stopped at that old door and millwork place on 118 Ave to grab some jamb stock, and the guy behind the counter watched me complain about my saw. He had me bring my DeWalt in and showed me the fence was bowed maybe 3/16 over its length, which I never would have caught with a square. We spent an hour shimming it with a beer can cut in half, and my next seven mitres fit tight enough that the homeowner asked if I replaced the trim. Now I check fence flatness every spring with a straightedge, costs me nothing but time. Has anyone else had a shop vet or old timer catch a tool flaw you'd been blaming on your skill?

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evan_wilson182mo ago

Funny you mention that beer can trick, but it was probably the old-school shim method, not the fence itself that saved you. In my experience, most mitre saw fences flex under pressure when you're actually cutting, so a static straightedge check won't always show it. That shop guy likely knew the real fix was checking the blade's parallel to the fence slot too, which is a whole other rabbit hole. Just saying, don't skip the blade alignment test, it's caught more of my sloppy corners than the fence ever did.

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