The Bright Side of Bevel Cutting

How many times have you needed to cut a long bevel on your table saw and dreaded the set up and especially the burning that is inevitable? Now I know that I will probably get emails stating that I could almost eliminate this with some finer tuning, but honestly my saw is set up to be safe and it cuts accurately for 90 degree cuts which is 99% of the work I do.

My dislike of cutting bevels like this has not deterred me from designing projects that need this step, but I find myself putting off the action until I absolutely can go no further in my project. Take the above shot as an example. I am building a mitered frame lid for a box out of Mahogany. This 37″ board is the result of putting a 20 degree bevel on the long edge. What a mess right?!! Sanding this flat and getting rid of the burn marks will take forever. This is true, but why bother with the mess and the muss?

Here is the bright side of bevel cutting and it is called a hand plane. I took this same board and took a few swipes with my jack plane across it to remove the mill marks and most of the burning, then followed up with my Veritas bevel up smoother and voila, we have Mahogany magic!

Who says hand tool work is slower! I would still be sanding and making a big mess 20 minutes later. Best of all this board is ready for finish now!