Recently, I was asked to install a small crown-molding assembly consisting of standard 1-3/4-in. bed molding with 1/4-in. by 1-1/2-in. flat-lattice top and bottom. Normally, I would install these parts individually, but my client had decided on this installation after he had moved all his expensive furniture into the house. I didn’t want to make three trips around each room and compound the chances of damaging anything. But if I could assemble the moldings beforehand, I could trim the room in one trip.
So I built a right-angle form out of 1x pine and ripped a piece of the lattice to act as a spacer, as shown in the drawing. The thickness and width of the spacer control the size of the reveals along the edges of the bed molding.
I placed the two pieces of lattice into the form, put the bed molding on top of them and nailed them together with the brad gun. It was a touchy operation, and another hand would’ve been helpful. The gun-tip placement and angle were critical to avoid nailing the assembly to the form, but after a while, I got into a groove. The final results were good enough for paint-grade work, and the time that I saved made building the form worthwhile.
The installation had several returns and very short sections. The prospect of handling all those tiny brad-nailed pieces was not that appealing. My partner, Marshall Schwartz, suggested gluing them together before cutting, so I took several scrap pieces home and marked clear sections between nails. Then I poured epoxy (West Systems 105/205) thickened with West’s 410 Microlight filler into the gap between the lattice pieces (www.westsystem.com). The results were very good, with the three pieces for all intents and purposes becoming one. After being cut, the small pieces could be safely carved, rasped and sanded for a good fit.
John Michael Davis, New Orleans, LA