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Miter Spring Clamp Set


12 oz. Trim Hammer


Porter Cable 2-1/2" Finish Nailer and 2 HP Compressor Kit


Porter Cable 2" Air Nailer


Porter Cable 2HP Air Compressor


Porter Cable Cordless Nailer



Jeff Greef Woodworking

To see more Home Improvement Plans on this site, go to:
Printed Outdoor Projects or Downloadable Home Imprv. Plans or Home Imprv. Project Books


Page 2, Moldings
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Photo 6- Install spring clamps with a special tool. Leave the clamps on the glued joints for at least an hour.
For spring clamps click here.

Consider painting your moldings before installing them because it is easier to do so on sawhorses than on the wall. After installation, fill nail holes with spackling compound, sand lightly and touch up the paint with a small brush. Varnished wood is harder to touch up and is best varnished after installation. Paint or varnish the back, unexposed side of all moldings before installing them. This sealing step reduces warping that occurs with humidity changes.

Photo 7- Chris Valley uses a spring clamp to hold glued miter joints together while he drives finish nails through the outer edge of each piece into the end grain of its mate.

INSTALLATION TRICKS

Chris Valley and Robert Morris install finish trim professionally in the San Jose, Calif. area. They showed me the tricks they use in one such house. Their first step is always to build a mockup of proposed designs (photo 1) for the client's approval.

Step two is installing trim on doors and windows. Other trim such as baseboard and chair rail butts against these trim and must be fitted after. Trace onto the edges of door and window jambs where you want the moldings to lie for a uniform reveal on all jamb edges. Join plinth blocks and molding, as well as mitered moldings, with biscuit joints (photos 2 and 3). Cut the miter joints with a power miter saw and carbide cross-cut blade, or hand miter box, then cut biscuit joints. Valley and Morris always make a custom jig on each job to hold the biscuit joiner and molding together for an accurate cut (photos 4 and 5). Glue the joints together with yellow woodworkers glue, and clamp miters together with spring miter clamps (photo 6,7 and 8) for one hour. When a miter joint does not fit tightly, try adjusting the angle of cut on your miter saw to compensate. Or, when the gap is due to an out of flat wall, try undercutting the miter edge by sanding with a grinder fitted with 60 grit sandpaper (photo 9). Alternatively use a rubber sanding wheel mounted in a hand drill.

Photo 8- Close up of previous. Look back to photo 6 to see the tool used to apply the spring clamp.

Valley and Morris frequently make crown molding by stacking two or more molding profiles together (photo 10). Apply the moldings to the wall in sequence; first all of one profile, then all of the other. To guarantee that the second profile will align correctly with the first, Chris Valley makes a mockup jig of the two profiles and uses it to scribe onto the wall where the edges must lie.

Makita 4 1/2" Angle Grinder


Rubber Sanding Disc For Makita Grinders



Photo 9- Undercut ill-fitting miter joints with a grinder fitted with coarse sandpaper, or with a sanding wheel in a hand drill.

For angle grinders click here.

Use the clamp on your miter saw as an adjustable guide to hold angled crown molding at the correct angle in the saw for an accurate cut (photo 11). To tighten gaps at inside crown mold joints, undercut by sanding as explained above, then use small wedges to force the joint together as the glue dries (photo 12). Cut the wedges off after the glue dries with a sharp chisel.

Robert Morris recommends a cope joint rather than a miter for inside baseboard joints, because you cannot wedge the bottom of an inside baseboard miter together if it gaps. To cut a cope joint, first cut a 90o joint on one piece of baseboard, and butt it into the corner. Cut a miter onto the other piece as though you were making a miter joint. Use a coping saw to cut along the edge of the profile at a 10o undercut (photo 13). Point the blade teeth downward so they won't tear the edge of the cut on the up stroke. Make straight cuts with a larger hand saw. The cope cut fits neatly over the face of the first piece (photo 14). Use a round file to make any adjustments necessary.

If you need a round file, click here.
Photo 10- Mock up pieces of crown mold in a mitered corner configuration to use as a scribing jig. This will ensure that you apply successive layers of molding to the wall and ceiling in correct alignment.

Many factory produced arched windows come with curved interior trim. When buying such a window, be sure you can obtain straight molding of the same pattern to fit below the curve. Chris Valley aligns his cuts on the ends of the curved molding by first scribing a horizontal line across the wall on the line of the joint on both sides of the window with a long straight edge (photo 15). Then he holds the curved molding in place with a single nail, and marks on the molding where it intersects the horizontal line. He uses these marks to align the molding on the miter saw. Putty and sanding cause the intersection to appear smooth.

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