*
First off, let me say that I don’t have a power miter saw, and I’d rather not buy one right now if I don’t have to.
I’m going to attempt to build the bookcase from Norm’s first book, the one that was painted green and brown. It was also featured on his show and is still played as a rerun.
His method is to make a somewhat elaborate clamping setup on the bed of his miter saw. I don’t think this could be duplicated on your average hand miter box. I have seen one (I think by Jorgenson) that would probably do it, but if I’m going to spend that much, it’s going to have a motor in it.
I was thinking of maybe trying to duplicate the effect on a router table with various passes and bits on solid stock, but I’m not so sure how that will work out. Any ideas are appreciated.
Replies
*
Smaug,
Crown molding is not new and has been around far longer than electrical powered MS, CMS, SCMS. Fact is an electrical powered mitre saw is often referred to as a "mitre box".
Not knowing the angle of your crown moulding makes it difficult to post a primer. My suggestion would be, at the very least, get a quality mitre box and back saw. FWIW.
Dano
*you can cut them on your tablesaw, or if your cutting them by hand, clean the cuts up with a block plane and you should get good results
*Andrew,What if the crown is 4" in width with a 37° angle and the the face has to be towards the operator? This would require a compound cut and tear out would be significant, would you not agree? Most folks have a difficult time cutting a normal mitre on a mitre saw, less much execute one free hand on a crown moulding.Dano
*free hand, no way, i was talking about cutting them with a handsaw and guide, then touching things up with a block plane. I don't cut them by hand, at least i won't until i absolutely have to.
*You can make the exact same cut with a miter box as ole Norm did with his "chop saw" (how I dislike that usage), no compound cut required.I don't know how elaborate he made it. What I need to do this task is a bit of lumber to clamp to the bed of the miter box, that will act to keep the crown from sliding down out of position.I have a fancy DeWalt 12" compound miter saw, and it works a bit faster, but my old Craftsman miter box will do just as nice a job. Just for giggles, here is a picture of the other use I find for the Craftsman saw: http://users2.ev1.net/~arbuckle/bombe/Crosscut.jpg . :-)Dave
*It's a 45 degree miter, but it has to be cut with the molding supported at the correct angle. The way Norm did it was to clamp a front fence down to his miter saw, stuck a 38 degree angle guide behind the molding to hold from behind at the correct angle, and that was it. I will make an attempt at a side view illustration: |
*I think sometimes the old fashioned ways are best. Cut one length square to the wall, then cut the second length to the wall, with a 45 degree mitre cut - square, not compound. Then, backsaw the mitre with a coping saw at 90 degrees, i.e. 135 degrees from the face of the opposing length. Put them together, and voila! For the life of me, I have never understood why this works, but I do know it does. Give it a try. Cheers, Mike
*You can also cut crown flat with a compound cut, using your chop saw, table saw, whatever. Don't know the numbers offhand, but I'm sure someone over at breaktime would. I have used this method on my chop saw and it gives very repeatable results.
*Smaug, what Dave has suggested is the best way. You can make the cuts you need simply with a decent miter box. I could take up a lot of space explaining, but a quick search on the web (try http://www.google.com for good searches) got me these two sites for you.http://detnews.com/2001/homeimprovement/0104/09/hs~f24-206318.htmhttp://www.askbuild.com/cgi-bin/column?234Just remember, upside down and backwards. Comes naturally to some of us! :)Good luck.Scott
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled