Just back from buying some 3/4" quarter-round (well, 95/128" or whatever) . It isn't a quarter circle profile, though. The right angle part (the middle of the circle) has been machined off. Didn't check every species in the yard, but the pine, maple and faux-mahogany were all like this. Checked a piece of 1/2" and it was a full 1/4 circle profile.
Not a big deal except at doorways. I usually just do a little angle cut, but if you don't do a proper return with this stuff, you can see a little notch at the end of the run.
Any idea why the corner gets trimmed off? Seems like an extra step in the production process.
If you mean the 90-deg corner w/ a 45-deg angle taken a little off, it's to provide some clearance in use so the interior corner doesn't have to be completely perfect for the two faces to fit flush...otherwise, any little bump in the corner will hold it out.
If you're meaning the profile isn't circular, what you were looking at was shoe mould, not quarter-round. Shoe mould is what is typically used for floor at baseboard (hence "shoe").
It is 1/4 round, not shoe mold (mould? never can keep straight which one is black and smelly and which one is wood!).
Guess I can see trimming the inside corner at 45 to avoid the wall/ floor seam, but I would have thought the baseboard would have covered up most of the imperfections already.
I'm sure it's all milled at the same time, so there is no extra step. Why do they do it...? For clearance. Any time there's a question why something doesn't fit with mathematical precision, it's for clearance. If I were to take a stab at what the clearance is for, I'd say that it was probably to allow the 1/4 round to replace shoe mold. When a floor is refinished there's frequently a little raised section right at the baseboard where the sander can't reach, and a lot of refinishers aren't totally meticulous about hand scraping off a little ridge like that. The back cut corner would allow the molding to sit flat on the refinished floor. It's a guess, but, regardless, it's for clearance. ;)
There are other places to use it where that isn't the case. Particularly in an inside cabinet corner might be one place where the clearance may help "neaten up" the application much more easily.
"Mould" is the traditional spelling; one often sees "mold" any more; my age and past experience probably shows in my choice...
I didn't see any of that "right angle cut off" stuff at either HD or Menards a couple months ago. But I was only buying oak.
Might be for the ridge as you said. Makes sense.
I just had my floors sanded, and they looked so good we decided to replace the painted baseboards and shoe molding. New oak with a few coats of varnish is a lot easier and cheaper in the long run than stripping many coats of paint from dried and split oak.
Should have pulled the old stuff before they sanded/varnished. Might not have mattered much though since it was raw wood under the base and shoe. Doubt they would have matched it all.
The sanders got right up to the shoe, but when I pulled the old stuff there was varnish/dirt ridge at the outside edge of where the shoe was. They didn't take off enough wood to make a noticeable wood ridge. No problem shaving off the varnish/dirt ridge. But either the new base or shoe is made thinner than the old stuff, so putting it back how it was left a dirty line at the edge of the shoe. About 1/8". Looked terrible. The shoe is 3/4" tall and 1/2" wide at the base. I put the 3/4" side to the floor and that covered the line. Looks real nice if you bother to notice it. Custom looking. Yeah, that's it. Almost looks like crown molding. Feels like you're walking on the ceiling. But only if you stare for a while after a few beers..
As another said, it isn't another step but it does take an extra knife/spindle in the moulder/shaper and so cheaper (slightly, but over enough thousands of feet it can add up) slightly.
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