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The weather is nice. It is a great time to get started on your outdoor projects and even indoor projects and invariably, what I find almost every project involves cutting a piece of wood. Many people struggle with this because they cannot cut a straight line. It requires some hand-eye coordination. But I have got a quick tip that will help you cut a straight line every time.

Take a look at your circular saw. What you are going to find is the fence edge happens to be parallel with the blade, and we can use that part of the saw to our advantage. The two tools you need to cut the straight line are simple, framing square and a clamp.

Here is how you use them. Go ahead and take the framing square and simply put it on the piece of lumber and clamp it in position. Take a pencil and draw a line where the framing square contacts the wood. This is an important reference mark. Go ahead and take your saw now. Take the fence and put it against the edge of the framing square and begin your cut.

You do not have to cut the entire length. We just want to find out what is the distance between the edge of the blade and the fence, and our saw-cutting pencil line tells us that and in our case, it happens to be 1-inch. Put the framing square on. I make my line. I measure 1-inch. Clamp it down. Squeeze it into a position so that the square is nice and firm. Take your saw and make sure that the edge of the fence rides along the edge of the square to make your cut and that will be perfect.

Oh yes, that is a nice cut. Victory! The other advantage of using the square is simple. It holds the blade completely square and perpendicular to the edge of the piece of lumber you are trying to cut so that you get a square cut each and every time.

I am Tim Carter of AskTheBuilder. If you want to discover more home-improvement tips, go to AskTheBuilder.com.

The weather is nice. It is a great time to get started on your outdoor projects and even indoor projects and invariably, what I find almost every project involves cutting a piece of wood. Many people struggle with this because they cannot cut a straight line. It requires some hand-eye... click to read more