EMIR 28 Skirtingboard Mitre 150MM 6IN

This tool is cheap but extremely effective if you work within its obvious limitations; I am totally delighted with the results from using it on my new oak skirting. I am sure that EMIR could produce a fantastic cast steel version with readily replaceable hard nylon wear faces but that would probably cost £60 to 75; this design is reasonably usable and is a whole lot cheaper. What's great about it is that you can adjust the angles of the mitre slightly by using a little packing under or behind the piece of skirting. This suits the real world where builders and plasterers don't have any great affection for sticking to 90 degree corners. You don't get this freedom with a mitre box. I do have some tips. 1/ The instructions provided are actually useful and worth reading carefully. 2/ Clean up all sawdust after each cut really carefully because a little bit of debris throw out the angles. 3/ Put masking tape over the tuffnol wear strips and renew it before each cut, because that way your saw mostly hacks up the tape not the wear strip. Your aim should be to mark the tape and cut into it just a little. 4/ Use the thumbscrews to hold the work in place lightly while you clamp it properly with a decent g-cramp; that way they are really useful and don't chew up the particle board of the EMIR. 5/ Cut a bit of ply to fit between the thumbscrews and the work because otherwise the ends of the thumbscrews mark the work. It's too much to expect them to do all the clamping. 6/ Use a fine tooth saw with no spine like the Bahco 300-14 F15/16 14 inch toolbox handsaw; the fine teeth minimise damage to the EMIR and make it easier to align to the saw guides. 7/ Apply a gentle pressure to the far end of the saw to hold it gently against the EMIR. 8/ Support the EMIR every way you can when clamping it; I made sure it was right down in the Workmate vice and clamped a block behind it.

I bought this mitre because it was one of the few that would fit skirting board of 144cm. I wasn't sure how it would work since it looks different from the usual mitre box. The box has to be stood vertically and clamped. I didn't have a clamp so i placed a block of wood under the body and held it down. You have to saw through the whole width of the skirting board and it was hard to keep the cut straight and at the right angle all the way down. The job turned out ok and i'm pleased since it's the first time i've ever tried fitting skirting board. I would recommend a conventional mitre box if you can get one wide enough. Pros: wide enough to fit wider skirting boards Cons: Have to saw through the width of the board (144cm in my case). Hard to maintain the angle right to the end. Need a clamp

This very useful gadget enables consistently accurate cutting of mitres for internal and external corners on the skirtingboard for a very reasonable price.

I read the reviews for the Emir 6" mitre box and decided to try this rather than hire a mitre saw from the hire shop. I needed to fit some new skirting board in the lounge and opted for 119mm high primed MDF Torus. I bought a new Irwin saw for about £8 and with the Emir coming in at under £12, my total tool outlay was under £20. I secured the Emir into my workmate and held my breath as I started the first cut... BINGO! a 45 degree angle!. I was keen to do the opposite 45 degree cut to see how they matched and it was really pretty good. In all I had to make about 26 cuts, some were perfect, some were good, a couple were average, but, the average cuts are down to my lack of skill with a hand saw, not a fault of the product and there weren't any that were so bad I couldn't use them. As other reviews for this product have already said, the saw guides were a bit ravaged at the end of the job, the mitre box could still be used, but, in all honesty for under £12 I'd buy another mitre box if I was doing another room. Points to mention: I used 14.5mm thick skirting and was able to get this and an offcut of the skirting inside the mitre box and used the peg screws to secure - this worked well. It's a great product if, like me, your carpentry skills are not brilliant. It's a doddle working out which way you need to cut to get the right angle It's cost effective - hiring a mitre saw for a day is about £50. Very happy with the results and would recommend this product

This item is absolute rubbish. Where to start? Well it feels like a prototype of the germ of a good idea, not a finished article. The item is made of MDF and you are cutting wood...and saws are flexible and will bend during strokes, so you end up cutting INTO the item, as there are no saw guides. Your 'guides' are basically stripes of plastic running down the 45 degree edges - which are also easily cut into to. I wasted about 2 feet of skirting trying to get straight cuts, with no guides the saw wanders. There is a good idea lurking hear..but the product for sale feels like a prototype, and is not fit for purpose as sold currently. It needs to be made of a more solid material - certainly not MDF, with proper saw guides. This is a complete waste of money, as you will end up wasting far more skirting than the 'savings' you will make buying this. Cannot recommend in its current form.

Straight out of the box no fun to use at all, I embedded small magnets in the guide faces to keep the saw anchored to the jig, then it worked a treat but even then it was still saw sensitive, I thought a pull saw with no set on the teeth would have been perfect but would it hell as like cut straight with or without the magnets, I tried the trick with the tape before the magnets but that didn't work for me. It's an idea that could be vastly improved upon but unless you need it for a trade you'll only ever use it one in a blue moon, so who's going to bother, not me.

Works well but don't over tighten; had to put a couple of screws in it as it's only glued together.

I fitted 6" skirtings with this. Mitre boxes don't normally allow cuts to this sort of depth, and who wants to spend a couple of hundred pounds for an electric alternative - just for one job? I used a fine-toothed floorboard saw (one without a back/spine), so the cuts were accurate every time!