BuckeyeDennis wrote
If the saw blade is not parallel to the miter track, it will cut an ever-so-slight cove profile onto the end of the workpiece. But it will still be square to the workpiece reference edge (which is placed against the face of the miter gauge). That's assuming that the misalignment is not so bad that the workpiece hits the plate of the saw blade, of course.
I know that's counter-intuitive, but the fact is that all the cutting happens at the leading edge of the saw blade. And if you measure the distance from leading edge of the saw blade to the miter slot, it will be constant, regardless of their relative angle.
From my experience the saw blade will cut anywhere the teeth make contact with the wood. Now I exclusively use carbide tipped blades, but this is still true. The teeth will still cut on the back side of the cut, so once you pass the wood through the blade all the way you can get a cut that is off angle, if your miter slots are misaligned from the blade.
I do agree that it would be a slightly coved cut, but depending upon the grain of wood used it may be difficult to determine that. It also would be hard to tell if you're also talking about the movement of the table separate from the blade, as a little pressure on the table of a SS will make the table lean enough to change your cut.
When measuring the distance from the miter slot to the blade, it is important to measure the distance to one particular tooth on the blade, both at the point where that tooth would meet the table at the front and rear of the saw. This way you can tell if the blade is parallel with the slot.
