How to cut this ... safely?

[radhak]

A friend wants to put a crown molding on a 'tray ceiling' (ie, the molding does not touch the ceiling in that area), so he needs a 'backer' from a 2x4 to be screwed to the wall, and then he'd attach the moulding to it.

He needs me to cut the 2x4 at an angle of 38 degrees from the vertical, with the 2x4 on it's side :



My TS can handle upto 45deg from the vertical, so this is very possible. Problem is, I would need to raise the blade to a considerable height, and then run this 2x4 over it, and my hand is gonna be over the blade in close proximity. When I saw that I got a bit scared and came here for advise.

What is a safe way of cutting this? I have a couple of push sticks, but am unsure if they will have a good grip on this orientation. I also have the grripper, but am not sure if it will allow a 3 1/2" height.

Or am I being overly paranoid and should simply go thru the cut and be done with it?

(Of course, I'd need to add a sacrificial fence too to my rip-fence.)

[gary]

Your comments make it sound like you have a right tilt saw? Is that correct? Is so, you don't want a piece trapped between the blade and the fence. Your sacrificial fence comment got me worried that you'd have the blade buried in the fence. That would be very bad!

[LCHIEN]

the first question is, your saw probably has a 3+ inch cut at 90 degrees, will it have enough cut depth at the angle you are propsoing doing to even attempt this cut?

After that question is resolved, do you want to get two pieces per 2x4 (e.g. cutting multiples) or simply need one piece, less than 8' total?

If you don't need 8' at one what I'd crosscut the 2x4 to make 4' pieces which are much easier to handle, a long continuous piece is not needed if its a backer board.

I'll have to think about the next steps...

[radhak]

Gary, I have the BTS20R - a left tilt. The sacrificial fence is for the sake of allowing the cut to start at the very corner (right lower corner) of the 2x4. I want to keep the rip-fence on the right, add a wood-fence to it so it almost touches the blade, align the 2x4 to it and cut.

Loring, he does not want 8', and I have already cut it into half. He later said he could do with even smaller pieces - 2' long, as he would not need to put these all along the wall.

Also, the depth of the saw blade would dictate the depth of the cut. I would need to position the workpiece the get the max possible cut, whatever it comes to be. He just needs the angle to be right, and would be satisfied with even around 1.5" of support.

[LarryG]

Do you have a band saw? That is what I typically use to make beveled cuts like this (blocking, French cleats, etc).

[Uncle Cracker]

You could easily screw or glue hand-holds to the piece(s) before you make the cut, or even scab a scrap piece onto the work so that it rides the top of your fence.

[LCHIEN]

You could easily screw or glue hand-holds to the piece(s) before you make the cut, or even scab a scrap piece onto the work so that it rides the top of your fence.

That is a capital idea. combine that with cutting into 4-ft long managable pieces and it should be quite comfortable.

[cgallery]

I'd use finger boards to apply side and down pressure before the blade, then once the wood is past the back of the saw, I'd pull it the rest of the cut.

[crokett]

I like uncle cracker's idea of riding the top of the fence with the cut.

[cabinetman]

I just got through having to cut backer stock for crown. It works best to determine the actual triangle needed for the angle. The actual backer piece should be smaller so the crown doesn't fit tight. You need some slop for the differentials you may run into.

Anyway, a safe way to cut it is that unless you have a very tall crown, the backer won't be a 2x4 in height. In determining the height, from determining the triangle needed, rip the 2x4 to the height needed. Then add a piece of wood, like a 2x4 to the side of the stock to be cut to space it away from the fence. It can be screwed, pin nailed or hot glued. This cut can be done in one pass yielding two pieces. It is safely away from the fence, and is wide enough to hold and to position a push stick.

[mineengineer]

How I did something similar

Just another aproach:

How about miter cross-cutting lots of triangle blocks(at the correct angle) out of the 2x4 laying flat on the saw. Then fasten these triangles to the wall at each stud with a screw and then nail the crown to the blocks.

kinda like this:

----------------------------------------
! / ! / ! / ! / ! / !
----------------------------------------

Thats how I did mine, could use a miter saw or the SMT to do it. Faster if you have bothe because you have to flip flop between 90 and 52 after each cut. This is much safer than a beveled.rip cut

[klefkow]

Intstead of one continuous strip, why dont you cut small individual blocks on the chop saw?

[radhak]

Good advice, all, thanks.

I do not have a band saw - might have been a safer alternative.

My saws are TS, CS, jigsaw, mitersaw and a couple of handsaws.

Attaching another piece of wood is great idea - just have to figure out if a double-sided tape would be strong enough to hold during a TS rip-cut.

Uncle, what did you mean by 'scab a scrap piece onto the work so that it rides the top of your fence' ? Why/how top of the fence?

CM - good tip about the need slop. Shall ask him to get a sample of the molding. I was thinking of allowing for a small extra height above the triangle for securing to the wall, but I guess might as well use screws thru the triangular portion.

Smaller blocks might be ok on the MS, but wouldn't that too have safety issues - while trying to hold the block against the fence?

[Hoyden]

I may be looking at this from the wrong angle , but can't this be laid on its side and cut at the proper angle with more stock riding along the fence?

Just a thought.
Dennis

[jrnewhall]

I may be looking at this from the wrong angle , but can't this be laid on its side and cut at the proper angle with more stock riding along the fence?

Just a thought.
Dennis

That's just what I was thinking. Lay it down and spin it end for end. The angle should be the same. You should have fence on the side away from the tilt and larger surface area of the stock towards the fence. You could even cleat a larger piece of stock next to it like when you are ripping opposite and uneven edge.

~JRN