Big box lends a hand

Every house seems to have a couple of pieces of trim that require planing on their narrow edge. My hand-held power planer does quick and neat work of these tasks, but holding the trim while it's being planed can be a problem. I can set up a workbench to do the job, but anyone who's done interior trim work for production builders knows that time is of the essence. Any tool setups that I can safely avoid are money in my pocket.

Because I'm the guy who follows the cabinetmaker, it turned out that the answer to my trim-holding problem was right in front of me. As shown in the drawing, an empty basecabinet box gets it done. First, I fold the top flaps of the box inward. Then I cut slits in opposite corners, two-thirds the depth of the workpiece. Friction holds the work in place, and the basecabinet box is wide enough to be stable and tall enough to be a comfortable work height.

A B. Zeller, II, Charlotte, NC