Making Crown Molding

[djkert]

A friend of mine wants to make his own crown molding from dimensioned lumber and a crown molding router bit. My question is, how hard is this? I imagine you route the face of the board and then cut 45 degree angles to attach to the ceiling and wall. Do these cuts have to be precise?

Also, will a 2 1/4 HP router be powerful enough to route. I suppose if I make two passes it will.

thanks,
-Dennis

[JimD]

I have done this but I would not consider it easy or something a beginner would want to tackle. You can get router bits to make the cuts but it is a very big bit. You need a speed control, a big router (11 amp minimum or go real slow) with a 1/2 inch chuck, and a sturdy router table. You can make the angle cuts on the back either on the table saw or the router. Most commercial crown moulding is not at 45 degrees, however. That suggests the table saw.

My other caution is that shelving boards are framing lumber is not very dry - not sure what you mean by dimensional lumber - wetness makes it more difficult to cut and means it will warp as it dries.

For about a buck a foot, I think crown moulding is a pretty good buy. The last couple times I needed some I bought it. I would only make it again if I needed a piece for furniture or cabinets out of a hardwood I could not easily buy crown moulding in.

Jim

[Pappy]

I have a set of profile bits to make molding for picture frames. It is a multiple pass process and I wouldn't want to make large amounts at a time like you would need for crown molding.

[wdreamsmaycome]

For about a buck a foot, I think crown moulding is a pretty good buy.

although if they want a real wood molding to stain/varnish I bet they'd paying more like $5+ a foot (at least those are the prices I've seen at HD around here if I remember correctly). The absolute cheapest molding I could find was about $1.20/foot+tax, and that was a super-basic mdf-like molding, I have been tempted to make my own molding as well, given that I have about 300-400 ft of it to do.

[djkert]

That's the problem. Good molding is expensive. Although, from the sounds of it, I don't think I will get into trying to make it myself. I will just use the cheap MDF stuff and paint it.

thanks for the replies.

[lrr]

A friend of mine wants to make his own crown molding from dimensioned lumber and a crown molding router bit. My question is, how hard is this? I imagine you route the face of the board and then cut 45 degree angles to attach to the ceiling and wall. Do these cuts have to be precise?


thanks,
-Dennis

Unless it was small crown molding, I'd not want to try to make my own on a router table. Maybe I'd invest in a combo molder/planer, if I were going to make a lot. I made a king sized oak headboard, and used large (4") oak crown molding. It cost about $8 a foot. Not fun to make the first cut in a $64 piece of crown, either! (I'd never worked with crown molding when I made the headboard.)

I can highly recommend the Rockler crown molding jig for miter saws. I had an entry level Delta MS at the time, but with the jig the cuts came out dead on.

[Cheeky]

If you do end-up buying crown, and you live in a humid climate, I would stay clear of the finger-jointed product.

[JimD]

For paint grade moulding, I think MDF is actually preferable to finger jointed pine. The pine should be sealed with Kilz or shellac. The mdf comes primes so you can go straight to paint. The mdf will not change length nearly as much. I am sitting in my family room right now and the wall opposite my recliner has a piece of pine crown moulding about 20 feet long that grows about 1/8 inch in length in the summer. If you caulk the joint in the winter you get a bulge in the summer. MDF would not do this.

I made moulding that I painted out of cheap pine shelving boards for a couple rooms in our last house. It worked but was a lot of work. To do stain grade work would be even more work because you would have to sand the moulding, the finish straight off the router is not ready for stain. Stain grade moulding is also a lot harder to install so it looks good. When the walls are not straight, with paint grade crown, you can cauld the gap. With stain grade, you should shave the moulding to make it fit. An easier way to do it is to put base moulding on the wall and ceiling and put the crown on that. Helps to even out any irregularity in the surfaces. If you do it right, it looks like larger more elaborate moulding.

I am not trying to discourage anybody who wants to make their own moulding, I just want you to have an idea what you are getting into.

Jim

[jussi]

n, either! (I'd never worked with crown molding when I made the headboard.)

I can highly recommend the Rockler crown molding jig for miter saws. I had an entry level Delta MS at the time, but with the jig the cuts came out dead on.

How does it work?

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Find a couple of folks in need of hardwood/custom molding and you have a strong arguement for the Shop Fox moulder. Mmmmmm.

[tekton]

Another option is to make crown on the table saw.