Need advice on making crown molding

[atgcpaul]

So the last thing I need to do to call this office remodel done is to make the
crown and base moldings in the room--about 45 linear feet each. I've got
all the tools and router bits to do it but I'm having trouble pulling the trigger.
Here's why.

The molding will be solid cherry and will be clear coated when finished. 2 of
the walls are nearly 10' long, and I didn't want to see a seam in the middle
of the wall. I bought 2 cherry boards that are 12' long and wide enough
to get me all the molding I need for those 2 walls. As you can imagine
they weren't cheap. I still need to run them through my planer, rip a straight
line, etc even before I can step up to my router table. Once I'm there, I
don't know if I'll be able to shape a clean profile on boards this long.

So should I just bite the bullet, stay the course and have at it, and make
long moldings to avoid having to make a scarf joint OR should I just cut the
boards in half to a more manageable size, keeping the boards grouped together
so that when I do cut the scarf joint, it's not as noticeable? I think I'm
getting some weird OCD as I get older so my eye will go straight to that
scarf joint every time I enter the room.

Thanks, Paul

[Workman]

Not an answer, but a suggestion. Check out public buildings (i.e. courtrooms with a lot of natural wood work), mansion houses, etc. I think that you'll find that the scarf joint is (was) the usual answer, even when installations were truly professional. However, what is good enough for some may not be for others. The alternative is to take time on your set-up so that the cuts you need are easier. Infeed and outfeed tables, hold-downs, sharp bits, proper speed, etc. are among the many things you have to really be precise with to do your project. Cherry isn't the easiest wood to work. I hope that it goes well for you.

[iceman61]

Your probably not suffering from OCD but more like the rest of us, your just suffering from what we all suffer from, being your own worst critic & being a perfectionist all rolled into one. If you have to put a scarf joint in, no matter how good you do it, you will notice it because you will know exactly where it is. Likewise on every place you put a nail & putty over. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just take your time, do your best & I'm sure it will be fine. Be sure to use featherboards & have a good long flat surface adjacent to your router table when shaping your stock.

Your perfectionist side will really flair up when you check the angles on those wall corners & find out that none of them are 90 degrees. LOL
Here are a few of sites that will help you when you get ready to cut & hang that molding. IMHO it's better to cope inside corners.

http://www.dewalt.com/us/articles/article.asp?ID=2
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-...214981,00.html
http://www.extremehowto.com/xh/artic...ticle_id=60354

[Rslaugh]

What about getting a similar piece of cheap(er) (relative term) wood like pine to try out the setup on the longer pieces? I know it will cut completely differently but you can see if it's manageable on your infeed/outfeed setup. Better to waste a piece of pine then the cherry.

[LarryG]

Rick said exactly what I was thinking: do a trial run with some inexpensive material and use the results to fine-tune your material support and featherboard setups.

One of the biggest challenges with routing cherry is avoiding burning. But you're going to have that problem regardless of workpiece length (although a longer length will definitely complicate matters, by making it harder yet to maintain a smooth and consistent feed rate).

Cut the longest pieces first. If things go wrong, you may be able to salvage those pieces to make the shorter ones you'll need.

[cabinetman]

Scarf joints are an accepted method, but I don't like to piece the work if at all possible. There's always a possibility of difference in grain or color. I finish hardwood crown before installing, and if joined, getting a good fit. If you decide to use a scarf joint, mount a cleat on the back of one of the mating pieces to get a good alignment for both. I wouldn't take a long enough piece to make a run and cut it just to handle.

Crown can be made with router bits, and long pieces do present the problem of a smooth feed. Crown is usually made in a moulder, or on a shaper with a power feeder.

For a one time procedure, getting a power feeder for a router table seems a little extravagant, unless you're well padded. They aren't that expensive, and you can buy a second mounting base for use on the TS. Getting a smooth hand feed on long pieces would require extended in/out feed support, guides, and feather boards, and a nice long unobstructed walk by the router table. With that, you might be able to have a smooth pass. I agree with Rick, that a test piece will give you an idea for the "real thing". Having a helper doesn't always solve the problem. It's not like having a "catch man" for a planer.
.

[jgscott987]

If you run into any problems it will most likely occur in the first or the last foot of the piece. You should still be able to salvage 10' from your 12' piece.

A second set of hands would make this job doable. It will be a big challenge to do by yourself.

[atgcpaul]

I think I will try it on some cheaper pine first as you guys suggested. I'm
still leaning towards full length molding rather than scarf joined.

I'm thinking that a nifty solution would be to have a horizontally mounted
router with the router sitting above the stock. Rails would guide the stock
uniformly past the cutters much like how a molding machine works. It would
be a lot easier to support the piece flat on its back rather than vertically
on an edge. Yay/Nay?

[Seedy]

Hey Paul,
I made all of the trim for my farmhouse remodel a couple of years ago. For my base, I routered 1x6 pine on both sides and then ripped it. I used my old cheap craftsman router table. It worked fairly well with my wife holding the long end of the board until I burnt up the router( I needed 300lf).Since I was only half way done, I finished with my Freud plunge router. I used a big roman ogee bit with a bearing on it. I found that if I didn't try to do a finish cut on the first pass, my results were a lot smoother. 3 passes seemed to be perfect. I don't know if this would work on cherry or with crown bits, but you might try to experiment. Good luck.

-Craig

[JimD]

I made crown and base moulding on a router table for our previous house but it was softwood and painted. I am making a kitchen island with cherry right now.

Cherry color variation is at least as high as any other wood I have used. If you cut a scarf joint, keep track of the pieces and join the same board back together at the cut. That should nearly eliminate color variation and make the joint a lot less visible.

I will second cabinetman's suggestion about a backer for crown. I started doing this on my basement and it was a lot easier and more beneficial than I thought. I just ripped whatever 1/2 inch or less plywood scraps I had to a width that would not impact locating the moulding against the ceiling and wall (this is easy to judge holding a piece of the moulding up against a square). I glued and stapled it to the backside of the crown. Then you can treat the jointed moulding like it's one piece. No gaps occur later at the joint. You can sand out any small variation in profile. If you back the joint, I think you could cut one board several times and still not easily find the joints. Your cut to shorten the board can be the scarf joint you later use to re-join them. Number the cuts and then mould the edge.

Crown is a pain, however, to do this way. Now that I have a bit more money, I would look hard for a place to buy the moulding you need. Cherry is going to burn unless your feed rate is a lot better than mine. I can avoid burning, but doing it all the time is challenging. Cherry burns with the slightest little hessitation, at least mine does. Sharp bits help too but the sap in cherry - or something - causes it to burn a lot worse than oak or walnut (maple can also be bad but not as consistently as I find cherry to be).

Jim

[Anthony]

making crown moulding

yeah I just finished making about 40 feet of crown myself from maple, i beleive hard maple.
There are many points in the process where you can mess it up.
I will not soon make my own crown again.
Running a test in soft pine will make you want to only work with pine and paint it.
I ran it in pine and it was not the same as running it with the hard wood.
I use 4 feather boards to keep the stock tight to the fence and to the table. In feed and out feed rollers are crucial. I use both a 3 1/4HP freud and a 2 1/4 HP dewalt and found the freud better.
My bits were a little on the weak side, but new. Blades n bits bits.
A problem that i had that was pretty nasty was that in order to get the profile where I wanted it, I had the bit raised up a little in the collett and with the strain of the board passing through(several passes mind you, not all in one pass) I had the bit shift a bit and ruin some stock. I then moved the profile on the face of the stock to allow more shaft in the collett. I checked the collett after each run through.
I didnt enjoy any of this and my end results were modest and reuire a fair amount of sanding. I havent yet stained them so Im sure I will see more scars.
Also, I cut the profile, cut the spring angles and then board planed the moulding after down to 1/2 thick to allow it to fit to the ceiling/wall better.

Good luck.