Miters and Compound Miters

[Bob Johnson2]

What do you use to cut accurate miters and compound miters? I have some crown moulding coming up that I'd prefer to not mess up. My only option at the moment is my TS with a sacrificial fence, there must be another/easier way, pretty time consuming to get very accurate. My RAS is useless for finish or trim work.

Thanks

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

What do you use to cut accurate miters and compound miters?

A CMS & a Bench Dog jig.
The BD jig is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful help.
Just make sure whatever CMS you use has enough clearance on the right side for it.
My 10" Ryobi doesn't, my 10" Craftsman did. I'm not sure if the 10" DeWalt 703 does or not.
The nice thing about the BD jig is the illustration label which shows you the proper orientation for left/right - inside/outside cuts.
It takes all the guesswork out of it.
Speaking only for myself here - putting up crown isn't something I do on a regular enough basis to keep those settings in my head.

I can give you some of invaluable tips though.

- If the crown is going to go up against a stippled (textured) ceiling, pick up a sanding sponge wider than where the crown will meet the ceiling. Strike a line on the ceiling where the crown will rest, then cut the sanding sponge down to fit that. Go over the stipple with the sponge to knock it down to a flat surface. The crown will fit nice and tight against the ceiling and have a very polished professional appearance.

- Run a nailer along the perimeter of the ceiling and use 2" 15 or 16 ga finishing nails to secure it to the wall & ceiling. When you hang your crown, you can nail into the nailer instead of trying to find a stud to secure it. Again, the result is a nice tight polished professional look.

- Do a small room first with paint grade crown, not natural, as a practice run. A 2nd bathroom or laundry room is perfect.

- Buy a section of crown and practice coping - if your planning on coping the inside corners. Tom Silva makes it look, oh, so, easy...it's a bear and a half. I've tried easily a hundred times and still end up going back to the Bench Dog.

[Johnny Fischer]

For standard crown installation of 6" wide or less crown, get a DeWalt 10" miter saw, a set of crown stops and some kind of support stand or extension.
If you have multi compounded angles on your ceilings then you will need a double compounded miter saw.
As stated above you will definately want to put up a nailer before starting your crown installation.
Set your TS @ 45 degrees & cut 8' lengths from cheap 2" x 4".
Run a bead of Grab On adhesive where your installing your nailer.
Press your nailer strip into the adhesive & secure it w/ 2" nails approx every 2 ft.

THINGS TO REMEMBER
Measure twice, cut once.
As a beginner you may want to cut your pieces slightly longer until you get the hang of it.

ALWAYS KEEP THESE TWO THINGS IN YOUR MIND WHEN CUTTING CROWN
On your inside corners the bottom of the crown will be the longest part of your cut.
Outside corners, the top will be the longest.

Make sure your material is perfectly aligned with your miter saw platform.
Cut a length of crown about 1ft longer than your shortest measurement.
Use this piece for aligning your crown stops.
Place your crown on your saw upside down and make your cuts.
If worse comes to worse, you can always get some Super Glue Gel & reglue you miscut pieces back together, hence, if they're going to be painted.

Something else to remember, Nothing in the construction world is square so dont worry about it, thats what caulk is for.
Good Luck

[mark page]

I second both Rich & Johnny. Another thought is if you don't want to do compound angle cuts & coping, you can use those decorative inside and outside crown molding corner blocks if they fit the decor of your room. Another hint is to allow your molding several weeks to acclimate to your home humidity and environment to minimize shrinking before installation.

[Bob Johnson2]

Some great tips and suggestions, I'll look into them all, thanks. Wish I had known about the sanding block idea a few years ago...

[David DeCristoforo]

Good suggestions. I'd like to add a couple. Make some "test" pieces at least two feet long with a miter on each end, two for inside corners and two for outside corners. Use these to gauge the room corners before you cut your material. Rooms are rarely perfectly square so you almost always have to adjust the cutting angle. Also, try to place the crown in the miter saw in the same position in which it will be installed, not laying flat. That way, you only need to make a "simple" miter cut which will be much easier to "get right" than a compound cut.

[Matt Ocel]

For cutting crown all you need to do is follow Chris Padillas' tag line!!!!!

Its that simple.

[fRED mCnEILL]

I bought a jig called the Cut-n-crown jig.Its a little expensive but it works very well. You make ALL the cuts from the same side of the saw so it eliminates MOST of the angle error. Its also good for angles that are not 90 deg.

Having said all that I did crown in my whole house without this jig (didn't get it until I had finished)by cutting the crown upsidec down on the saw. That way you only deal with one angle. i.e. 45 deg.

As for nailing it up I don't use any nailer or other support. Just used an air nailer (essential) and put in two nails at each nail location at an angle. I've done both mdf and hardwood molding this way. Can't seem to get the hang of coping though.

Fred Mc.

[Will Blick]

I second both Rich & Johnny. Another thought is if you don't want to do compound angle cuts & coping, you can use those decorative inside and outside crown molding corner blocks if they fit the decor of your room. Another hint is to allow your molding several weeks to acclimate to your home humidity and environment to minimize shrinking before installation.

Mark, any links to these decorative inside and outside corner blocks? hmmmmm....

[mark page]

Will
Just do a google search on crown molding corner blocks and you will have a wealth of knowledge and products available. If you don't have access to a CMS, then these may be just the item for you.