I don’t know about you, but I don’t have an oversized miter saw with which to cut my 4x4 posts. Like most DIYers, I’m limited to a circular saw for larger scale cuts, but such a saw can only hit around 2 3/4” depth. Thus, the general approach I’ve used in the past is to mark my cut on both sides of the 4x4, then cut one side, flip, and cut the other. However, this can often produce ridges because the second cut isn’t perfectly aligned with the first. Fortunately, during my work on our deck railing, I came up with a procedure that produces virtually flawless 4x4 cuts with only a circular saw and a hand saw. The steps are as follows:

1. Mark your cut and then use the circular saw to cut the one side to the saw’s maximum depth.
2. Rotate the piece toward you one quarter turn.
3. Insert the saw blade into the half-cut line and complete the cut.
4. Using the hand saw, cut out the remaining material.

Voila! Faster and more accurate than hand cutting the whole thing, but without the nasty flaws of the standard cut-flip-cut procedure.

Yeah, I know, this is probably obvious stuff, but for me, this is brilliant! :)

Anyway, back to work…