Hi,
I am trying to install some crown moulding for the first time. It’s going OK (thanks to my book from Taunton Press) but I have a quick question regarding imperfect walls. Most of my corners are really close to 90 degrees which is the easy pat. I have one outside corner that is 89 however. My book says to set the miter saw a 45.5 degrees for a 89 corner and that has worked ok resulting in small gaps at the corner. Being a perfectionist however, how do I know I can’t get is better? How small ofa gap is good enough. I am using a plastic guage to measure the angle and the degree increments are so small that 89 could really be 88.75 or 89.25. Is there an old school technique for better results. I’m sure I can use some wood putty and nobady would know the difference, but I would. That’s why I subscribe to FINE Homebuilding!.
Thanks in advance.
Tom
Replies
drop the gauge and use two pieces of scrap to sneak up on the miter angle. After a while you'll be able to dial it in in 2 cuts usually. Be sure to use scarps long enough to overcome any wall imperfections that may factor inot how your final piece will sit. Once you got your scraps figured your ready for cutting the ones you'll install.
As john said. Glue them and I always use collins spring clamps on them to make sure they stay in tight while the glue sets up.
Is this an inside corner or an outside corner? If it's inside, your best bet would be to cope it rather than miter it. But all the other advise is correct. The test pieces are the best bet for getting the miter correct. Always glue it and if you have the spring clamps available, they are great.
Thanks guys.
I will stop on the way home to pick up a clamp (and some more crown moulding!).
I actually tried the coping but the crown I have is MDF and it sort of falls apart/crumbles as I cut it. I guessing wood might cope better?
Yeah, but mdf should cope fairly easily as well. A good sharp blade and either a round file or a dremel will make things so much easier.
as well as a new blade I prefer a the most teeth/inch that I can find.
or you could just grind/sand down to the profile like a lot of people (not me) do using a grinder
You want a sharp outside corner with no gaps showing. What ever the miter measures cut the angles a bit more.Examples, 90° each miter 45-1/2° If the angle measures 89° cut the miters 45°.You can miter and cope mdf, it does have a tendency to crumble. When I cope any crown I use a sabersaw with a fine tooth blade,metal blades 1/4" wide with lots of little teeth work well for wood or mdf.
The trick to coping is to backcut the miter and sand or file to a nice sharp profile.Lightly clamp the crown in the miter box at the same angle you cut,let it extend past the miterbox a couple of inches.Place a sabre saw flat on the mitered cut,do not adjust the baseplate,leave it square to the blade.The sabre saw will be on an angle and the resulting cuts will back cut a perfect 45°. Make relief cuts so you can easily steer the saw. Where the crown has the small flats ,at the top and bottom of the concave part of the ogee you must carefully cut this until it is very thin. If you leave too thick you can't push up the coped joint for a perfect fit.I use files and sanding sticks to perfect the cut. Nothing fancy, paint stick with psa sandpaper for some areas,broom handle or dowel with psa wrapped around it.I found that 80 grit sandpaper works best ,better than files or rasps.
mike
Guys,
Thanks for all of your tips. I am done with the crown and it looks great. Now that I have had a little practice, I can see why the coping method would work better, although I didn't use it. I tried and tried but I just could not cope the MDF cleanly. I threw away my compass and used the "sneak up on the angle method" and got great results, not perfect, but great for a first time crown moulding installer. The powder room I am renovating is roughly 5'x8' so it was a great size to experiment. The room has 5 inside corners and 1 outside corner. I had to use a little wood filler on 3 of the inside corners but the last 3 I cut are perfect. I think some of the difficulty I had was caused by a ceiling that is slightly bowed. I got great tips about how to cut the length, how to cut the mitre and bevel, but I never asked about adjusting for a wavy ceiling.
Now it's on to the wainscot, then the tile!
Thanks again,
Tom
Thought you might like to see pictures now that it is painted. First try at uploading pictures, hope it works.
Looks great - Shiny!
Forrest
Thanks,
Semi gloss Spall white (named for the builder) to match the rest of the trim.
Here's a link I found useful a couple months back from Dewalt for crown angles.
Top of page looks like a sales page ofcourse but scroll to the bottom and there is a complete angles chart for crown.
http://www.dewalt.com/us/articles/article.asp?Site=woodworking&ID=2
The other guys still have it right though, to scrap and scribe but I didn't have the scrap to waste using a fancy cut 6 5/8" crown.