Replies

1. 
   Dann | Apr 20, 1999 09:32am | #5

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   Those guys back in 1981 were not only charging you for the molding, but also the tooling necessary to make it! Labor costs for such a piece of crown is around $240 to $360 if only one is needed. If the crown is cherry, and the radius is 4 feet, about $150 worth of material will be needed. And, if the crown is not a stock profile, knife charges of $150 will be added. High side price for 3 1/2" cherry crown, stack laminated, and shaped to match existing molding: around $660 F.O.B.

2. 
   Guest_ | Apr 20, 1999 09:32am | #6

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   While looking at a house today that is under construction I noticed that in a few places the crown molding was formed around a radius. I asked myself how could this be? It seems as though the crown would have to bend in more than one place and that the top and bottom of the crown would be at a different radius. So how did they do this? I will be building a house soon and would like to try something similar. Just guessing I figure the radius to be around 4'. Thanks for any input you may have on this.

   glenn

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 18, 1999 07:36pm | #1

   *That is a tight radius. Look closely to discover what they did. A chop job will be obvious, slight cracking, every 3 or so inches etc. Plaster is common, you can tell by the tone when tapped. This is done in place with a made blade and a scraper tray. The plaster is applied by hand and the profile added by drawing the profile blade along...the excess plaster falls onto the shelf. The last method would be a full size lamination. It is glued up full size and then passed through a shaper. Note, for the crown to match up you should also run the rest of the crown on the same shaper. Some brief methods,

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 18, 1999 07:53pm | #2

   *Glenn ,there are a couple of ways that I know of to do this . Was the crown painted or stained ? If it was painted, the radius could have been a flexible product that matches the profile of the straight runs. I have never used this stuff myself but have seen it in a trade mag I think, or it could have been built up by stacking and glueing mdf to the right thickness and width then ran thru a shaper using a cutter that matched the straight profile. It could have even been cast in place with plaster but I doubt it . If it was stained you have fewer options . You can laminate thin strips of the height you need plus a little extra for clean up around a curved form until you get the right thicknessand run it thru a shaper . Or stack solid boards which are wide enough to get your radius and bandsaw them to the radius then shape them .The last method wont match the straight runs as well as the strip laminated method because as you go around the radius you will go from end grain to edge grain in the middle and back to end grain and it wont take stain evenly .I'm sure there are other maybe better ways of doing this . Hope this helps Chuck

1. 
   don_hummer | Apr 18, 1999 09:50pm | #3

   *Glen;I have done this before.For every foot of crown you install you need two feet of stock. You make a guage up for your table saw that rips the crown paralell to the wall [usually a 38 degree guage]in one eigth inch strips,or the width of your blade. You rip one board with fence settings at 1/8 3/8 5/8 etc. You rip the next at 1/4 1/2 3/4etc. You keep the piles seperate and lambinate them onto the wall with glue and pin nails shot on to backing blocks that represent the cavity behind the angle. when finished you sand the crown and finish. It is time consuming but looks better thancutting small pieces of crown to go around a radius, it is also quicker. The last I checked in1981 a custom mill shop wanted 2800 dollars to make 4 pieces to go around two 4 foot radius walls[two inside radii and one two outsid

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   Guest_ | Apr 18, 1999 11:15pm | #4

   *Maybe I'm wrong at guessing the radius. A 4' radius is an 8' diameter correct? If so then I guessed pretty accurately( although it may be a 5' radius). Also it did appear to have ALOT of paint on it(very thick maybe to cover up any flaws). It also was not an elaborate crown, as its shape was similar to a plain ogee or maybe a roman ogee( I cant remember)and was only about 2 1/2" high. Thanks for the input so far. glenn