Miter Saw

A miter saw, also called a mitre saw in British English or a drop saw, is a saw used to make accurate crosscuts and miters in a workpiece by positioning the workpiece across the table of the saw and lowering a spinning blade onto it. In its earliest form a miter saw was simply a back saw guided by a miter box, but the modern power tool consists of a circular saw blade that can be angled and lowered onto a board held against a fence. Many powered miter saws also cut bevels by tilting the blade's vertical axis: a single compound miter saw tilts in one direction, a double bevel compound miter saw tilts both ways, and a sliding compound miter saw adds a rail or pivot arm so it can cut wider stock. Miter saws are used mainly for cutting wood trim and molding, though a blade suited to the material lets them cut metal, masonry or plastic as well, and they come in several blade sizes with both corded and cordless versions on the market. A miter saw is often confused with a chop saw, a related but distinct tool built specifically to cut metal with its blade fixed at ninety degrees, unable to make an angled miter cut on its own.