Cutting sleepers fo...
 

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[Closed] Cutting sleepers for raised beds

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I've got some railway sleepers to make raised beds from, but need to be able to cut them square so that they sit right when butted at the corners.

I've got a chainsaw, but I'm not sure how easy it'll be to actually follow a line accurately enough to get a square cut?

Other tools available are first fix hand saw, circular saw (won't cut deep enough), sliding chop saw (again, not enough capacity) or jigsaw (!)

Any tips?


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 10:21 am
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Not a jig saw.
I'd personally use a circular then flip timber.


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 10:24 am
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A decent hand saw?

They are not the evil proper railway sleepers are they that will fill your veggies full of toxic chemicals ?


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 10:26 am
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I guess if there are a few I'd use handsaw, if there are lots I'd set it all up so I could cut half way through a batch of them with circular saw, flip them over and then cut the remaining half.


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 10:29 am
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circular saw, then flip them. its what I did and they look good enough for a veg bed.


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 10:29 am
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Are they 'proper' sleepers, as in full of tar?
Wouldn't want to put any nice tools near that but as above, use a circ saw with maybe a cheap blade fitted.
Make yourself a fence to run the saw along to get the cuts meeting.
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Posted : 29/09/2016 10:31 am
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They're not used sleepers, they are new ones but tanalised.

Not softwood. I'll give it a go with circular saw and hope for the best.


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 10:53 am
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Circular saw and either make a right angle guide like above or get a nice big chunk roofing square like [url= http://www.uktoolcentre.co.uk/Shop/p~67018~Dual-Colour-Quick-Square-12in.html?refid=GoogleShopping&utm_campaign=googleshopping&utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=Product+Search&gclid=CLWf8bq2tM8CFcUp0wodMzoBAQ ]this[/url] and clamp it on as a cutting guide.

Cut both sides then finish he bit in between with a handsaw if you need to


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 11:03 am
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They're not used sleepers, they are new ones but tanalised.
fair enough, if you're sure
We had several old ones in our garden when we moved in - wept tarry shite whenever the temperature got above about 20 degrees


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 11:18 am
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I did as per Kayak23's post. Nice and square. I also used new sleepers and the although the blade was not too bad - I replaced it after.


 
Posted : 29/09/2016 11:38 am

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