Woodworking Projects: Tips For Installing Beautiful Crown Molding
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 07:29 | 
Author: Kevin McKay |
Every woodworking novice is very likely to find the installing of crown molding quite intimidating. Crown molding is a lot more complicated than simple joinery projects. Yes, joining crown molding takes some skill and some practice. The slightest mistake screams out for everyone to notice. However, it is not as difficult as you may believe. Good techniques and the right tools is all you need to achieve the perfect crown molding.
Every woodworking novice is very likely to find the installing of crown molding quite intimidating. Crown molding is a lot more complicated than simple joinery projects. Yes, joining crown molding takes some skill and some practice. The slightest mistake screams out for everyone to notice. However, it is not as difficult as you may believe. Good techniques and the right tools is all you need to achieve the perfect crown molding.
Cutting angles accuracy is the key.
Cutting the crown molding is the most important task. The angle and length of each cut must be precise. The significance of angle accuracy will become more visible as the width of the molding grows. If you are working with a wider molding, then even the smallest mistake in the angle cut will result in a noticeable gap when the two pieces are joined.
Just because you can easily cut a picture frame doesn't mean you can do the same where cutting crown molding is concerned. There are two techniques that will work in cutting your molding correctly. You can successfully use a compound cut, provided that you make no errors in the setting of both miter and saw blade. You need to set the saw fence to the right angle to make the miter cut and can obtain a beveled cut if you tilt the saw blade. Using this method for cutting means you can lay the molding flat while doing the cut.
How to calculate the perfect angle for your molding cuts:
Some basic math is required for you to make the right cuts with the compound cutting technique. But even if you're not good at math, you can always find a graph that corresponds to the crown molding you want. Some cuts are so commonly used, that you can even buy a saw with specific markings for the corner cut you need. The marks should be at 33.9 for the bevel setting and 31.6 for the miter setting.
The second mostly used technique for cutting the crown molding is the "Upside Down" technique. You'll find that many carpenters with a lot of trim-cutting experience prefer this particular technique and claim it is not only the most successful, but also the least difficult. To perform this type of cut the molding is held in the position that it will have when it is installed. The cutting is done while holding the molding upside down. In this position the edge of the molding will come into contact with the ceiling rests on the saw bed. And the fence of the saw that sustains the wall rests comes flat against the molding. Once you have this in position you can make a simple 45 degree cut with the blade and the saw bed perpendicular to each other. If you use this technique, you will find that setting the right angle is a lot less difficult than it normally is.
Every woodworking novice is very likely to find the installing of crown molding quite intimidating. Crown molding is a lot more complicated than simple joinery projects. Yes, joining crown molding takes some skill and some practice. The slightest mistake screams out for everyone to notice. However, it is not as difficult as you may believe. Good techniques and the right tools is all you need to achieve the perfect crown molding.
Cutting angles accuracy is the key.
Cutting the crown molding is the most important task. The angle and length of each cut must be precise. The significance of angle accuracy will become more visible as the width of the molding grows. If you are working with a wider molding, then even the smallest mistake in the angle cut will result in a noticeable gap when the two pieces are joined.
Just because you can easily cut a picture frame doesn't mean you can do the same where cutting crown molding is concerned. There are two techniques that will work in cutting your molding correctly. You can successfully use a compound cut, provided that you make no errors in the setting of both miter and saw blade. You need to set the saw fence to the right angle to make the miter cut and can obtain a beveled cut if you tilt the saw blade. Using this method for cutting means you can lay the molding flat while doing the cut.
How to calculate the perfect angle for your molding cuts:
Some basic math is required for you to make the right cuts with the compound cutting technique. But even if you're not good at math, you can always find a graph that corresponds to the crown molding you want. Some cuts are so commonly used, that you can even buy a saw with specific markings for the corner cut you need. The marks should be at 33.9 for the bevel setting and 31.6 for the miter setting.
The second mostly used technique for cutting the crown molding is the "Upside Down" technique. You'll find that many carpenters with a lot of trim-cutting experience prefer this particular technique and claim it is not only the most successful, but also the least difficult. To perform this type of cut the molding is held in the position that it will have when it is installed. The cutting is done while holding the molding upside down. In this position the edge of the molding will come into contact with the ceiling rests on the saw bed. And the fence of the saw that sustains the wall rests comes flat against the molding. Once you have this in position you can make a simple 45 degree cut with the blade and the saw bed perpendicular to each other. If you use this technique, you will find that setting the right angle is a lot less difficult than it normally is.