To make life easy, set up a stop one inch away from the blade of the saw. This will allow you to cut the pieces quickly. You can clamp down a piece of wood. If it isn't possible it isn't a big deal. Cut the 2x4 every inch until you get a desired number of pieces. You will have little 1x4 blocks. You then take these blocks and chop them in half, thirds, leave whole or diagonally.
