If youre interested in cutting molding to install in your home, you better do your homework first. If you have, you will know that youre in for a difficult task. Conventionally,
cutting molding to fit in inside corners requires a two-step procedure. First, the molding is cut angularly with a miter saw.
Plus, if ever the baseboards move (expand, contract, shift for some reason), these corners will hide gaps more effectively. The saw angle need to be set at one half the angle of the corner. An easy way to find the angle is to lay two pieces of equal width scrap wood against the walls that form the corner. After making the cut hold the crown up and slide into the corner and see if any fine-tuning is needed. Sometimes a file and sandpaper help.
One of the crown molding pieces is butted firmly up against the inside corner using a square cut. The other crown molding piece has one of its ends cut with a coped crown molding angle so that this angled cut sits over the square-cut end of the adjacent crown molding piece. Start by cutting a 45 degree inside corner on the right side of the trim. Butt one piece to the corner. Cut the other at 45*, which will give you a line along the face of the moulding.
This makes the proper 45-degree angles on the mating edges of the corner pieces. Place the first molding piece in the box so the lower edge faces up and it slopes down to the box base. WOOD Magazine Tools Editor Bob Hunter shows there's no mystery to cutting crown molding to fit perfect inside and outside corners. In fact, you can use this method even if you don't have a compound mitersaw! In this example we're going to cut a piece of talk crown molding to wraparound inside corner using the traditional method. With the -- position flat on the -- table to make the cut.
Try to angle the corners at exactly 45 degrees. It's a good idea to practice cutting the scrap molding first. But when it came time to fit the crown molding to the several obtuse angles created by the corner cabinets, the project stalled. He asked me to help out.
For people with vaulted or cathedral ceilings, you may want to consider using a crown molding software program like Perfectcuts.com which will give you specific compound miter angle cuts based on information you supply. If you want the professional look of crown molding without all the work, then take a look at Easycrownmolding.com . This saw tilts, angles and slides to make compound cuts. Crown mouldings are not all milled at the same angle, however, so it will take some "trial & error" before you get it right. Jig holds molding at correct angle to eliminate complex compound angles. All you need to do is make a 45 degree cut!
Traditionally, such angled trim pieces have been mounted in such a manner that they tilt outward from the mounting surface at predetermined angles, such as 38 degrees, 45 degrees or 52 degrees. Crown molding will typically be designed for use at a particular predetermined angle. Home Depot tells me that a 38 degree angle should work. We just don't see where this larger rounded edge is going to tie in smoothly to the straight edge. This project will include knowing how to cut crown molding angles so you can frame your new picture. If you do not know how to make these cuts you can get someone to help you or you can pick up a copy of a how to manual.
It is not important to have a smooth cut surface, only that it is cut at the correct angle. Upper and lower clamping bars are hinged to one another and are mounted at an angle to the base to clamp a profile/contour gauge to the base. The profile gauge is comprised of a casing containing a series of pins adjacent to one another which extend out either side of the casing and conform to the shape of a molding surface when pressed against the molding. Place your scrap lumber as shown in the picture above and set your saw angle. Cut the scrap lumber along the drawn line.
