Cutting Deck Posts: Ensuring Structural Integrity and Aesthetic Appeal

Cut­ting and detail­ing a post is an impor­tant step in the over­all con­struc­tion of a deck. With prop­er cut­ting and detail­ing, you’ll be able to cre­ate a world-class deck that dis­plays your crafts­man­ship and leaves cus­tomers with ele­gant, pro­fes­sion­al-lev­el results. 

While you can mea­sure, mark, and cut every col­umn indi­vid­u­al­ly, one of the best strate­gies is to cre­ate a jig, which acts as a guide for all of your marks and can help com­plete the process faster and easier. 

It is one of the best ways to cut deck posts, and it’s sur­pris­ing­ly sim­ple and easy. 

All the Deck-Building Fasteners You Need

A 6” x 6” sup­port post, also known as a ​“col­umn,” comes to the job site uncut, with­out the appro­pri­ate notch­es and fin­ish­ing touch­es required for final instal­la­tion. Frankly, it’s not the great­est piece of mate­r­i­al. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, most builders sim­ply stick it in the ground and move to the next step.

There is a way to improve the post before plac­ing it in the ground. Nor­mal­ly, a builder would place the post on the sawhorse or work­sta­tion, mea­sure down about nine inch­es (more or less depend­ing on the spe­cif­ic instal­la­tion), make the appro­pri­ate marks, turn it, square it off, keep rolling, and con­tin­ue mark­ing all the appro­pri­ate cut points. This is an accept­able way to com­plete the task, but it can take up to five min­utes to mea­sure and mark the post before cutting. 

There is a way to make the mea­sur­ing and mark­ing process much faster, eas­i­er, and more consistent. 

By cre­at­ing a jig that fits to the end of the post, builders can sim­ply slide the tool into place until the cap of the jig sits flush with the top end of the post. With the jig, which is mea­sured to fit the required cuts, a builder can sim­ply make their marks, slide off the jig, and start the cut­ting process. This dra­mat­i­cal­ly reduces the required time to improve a col­umn for faster over­all installation. 

Now the post is ready for cut­ting. After it has been cut, a pro­fes­sion­al builder will router the edges and soft­en the final look, to cre­ate a supe­ri­or final prod­uct that looks fan­tas­tic and shows gen­uine pride in craftsmanship. 

This lit­tle trick for cut­ting deck posts is used by expe­ri­enced pro­fes­sion­als who need to work faster with­out sac­ri­fic­ing quality. 

Find All the Deck Materials You Need with FasterMaster

A qual­i­ty deck requires expert crafts­man­ship. It also requires advanced fas­ten­ers that look great and last for years. Fas­ten­Mas­ter has all the mate­ri­als you need to cre­ate stur­dy, reli­able con­nec­tions for deck boards, posts, and fascia. 

Take the Thru­LOK as an exam­ple. This inno­v­a­tive fas­ten­er has the strength of a through bolt while enhanc­ing the speed of instal­la­tion. Unlike a through bolt, there is no need for pre-drilling and the sys­tem can be fixed into place with few­er tools. It uses a screw and nut sys­tem to cre­ate a firm hold that meets build­ing codes all across the country.

For inno­v­a­tive deck-build­ing fas­ten­ers and screws like the Thru­LOK® sys­tem, Ledger­LOK screws, and Cor­tex Hid­den Fas­ten­ing Sys­tem, con­tact us today.