[farmall]

A friend has contacted me and wants me to help him convert a church pew into a corner bench for his breakfast nook. What would a guy need to do the cut a 45 degree miter on a pew to make a 90 degree corner? any ideas??

 

[woodnthings]

I've restored some church pews

Mine have a separate seat and back so a circular saw can be used to make the 45 degree cuts with a straight edge guide. You can either cut them assembled as a pew or take the back and seat apart and make separate cuts. Since I was refinishing them, I took mine all apart.

 

[cabinetman]

I would take the pew apart. Trying to get a good clean fitting with it assembled would be very difficult. It likely could be done that way with a shop made angle jig, and a reciprocating saw, jig saw, or a hand saw. Manipulating a handheld circular saw would be difficult. Then it could be better defined after the cut (which could be left a bit long) by using a hand plane, or if you are experienced with a handheld belt sander.

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[Alchymist]

Just a quick note: If the back is not at a 90° angle to the seat, and the pew is disassembled, the 45° cut on the back will be a compound angle cut.

 

[woodnthings]

good point and...

Just a quick note: If the back is not at a 90° angle to the seat, and the pew is disassembled, the 45° cut on the back will be a compound angle cut.

To join the 2 pieces at a 45 degree angle will require a 45 degree bevel on both pieces to form a 90 degree corner. That means there will need to be 2 opposing cuts, 45 degrees to the left and 45 degrees to the right and then since the back is NOT 90 degrees it will get CONFUSING!
Probably a better and far easier solution is to cut them at 90 degrees and make a corner filler section with a rabbett or dado to accept both sections. That's what I would do. :yes:

 

[cabinetman]

Just a quick note: If the back is not at a 90° angle to the seat, and the pew is disassembled, the 45° cut on the back will be a compound angle cut.

It can be looked at as a larger picture. Lets suppose that you have a left and right pew, but they are each assembled. If you had a humongus miter saw, as the way the pew sits on the floor, if you put it into that big azz saw, and set the miter to 45°, made a pass down, and then did the other side, they would fit just like doing crown moulding that way.

Actually, if you could strike the 45° line down the back and across the seat it could be just a straight cut.

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[cabinetman]

Another Thought

This will test your skills. Instead of trying to make two beveled edges meet, straight cut just one, and cope fit the other one, just like an inside corner of a moulding.

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[FrankC]

I would cut the pew in half or to whatever dimension fits, miter the seats and make a straight one piece filler that fills in the missing corner of the backs, basically a triangle or trapezoid with the edges and bottom mitred to fit.

This would depend on how the pew is made to begin with, so it is all just speculation.

 

[farmall]

Oh I could do it...:no: I just need a bigger coping saw!

This will test your skills. Instead of trying to make two beveled edges meet, straight cut just one, and cope fit the other one, just like an inside corner of a moulding.

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