Mitre-ing coving

[Mike]

Anybody know what the angles needs on a mitre saw are to make coving fit flush in a 90deg corner.

It isn't a 45 deg cut made vertically :-)

[Lobster]

Been there, done that, cursed, scratched head, done it again, cursed again..

Basically it *is* a 45 deg cut (it has to be if you think about it!), but the key is to rotate the coving along its axis so that the 45 deg cut goes through the correct plane, IYSWIM - hard to explain in words...

David

[Dave Gibson]

Oh yes it is!. There are 4 types of cut you can make. Think about it. Is it an inside or outside corner? Depending on whether its the left or right hand piece you can make an inside or outside 45 deg cut depending on how you position it in your mitre box.

Its easiest if you make the 4 types of cut in some scrap cove before you start, then for each corner work out which type of cut you require by plying around with the cut pieces.

Dave

[Vera]

I have 4 such pieces of cove in the garage. I need them every time as I simply CANNOT "see" it.

[Dave Jones]

Hold the coving as if it is already on the ceiling, and then cut!

[[news]]

exactly the way I did it using a £1.99 cheapo plastic guide from B&Q.

decide which cut you need to do then lay the 'template' corner on the coving to be cut, place the guide flush with the angle on the template cut with a fine tooth saw, jobs a goodun

RT

[Andrew Chesters]

'course it bl00dy is! Obvious! There again I did work for 10+ years as a picture framer. 90 degrees is easy, try a few obtuse/acute angles in a complex moulding :-( The worst was a frame in the shape of Sherlock Holme's pipe in profile. Don't ask, it was for a pub, and housed a collection of pipes.

If you haven't seen how a framer cuts moulding, I'll describe the tool; I don't get sleepless nights... any more.

Imagine facing the tool, it stands waist high with a footpedal. Behind some guards (not special) there is a pair of blades with the angle towards you in the horizontal plane, bit like \/. The blades are highest near you, sloping down at about 45 deg.

Holding the moulding in place, you press the pedal, the blades are pulled down, cutting through the timber. A sharp press, nothing to strenuous, would go straight through 2" PAR giving a very clean cut. No accidents while I was there, maybe because we respected it so much! No Risk Assessment needed...

[Mike]

Did that - joins at the top and bottom but there's a nice 1cm gap in the middle. Will try again tomorrow.

[[news]]

that's because you're doing it wrong ! :D

are you using a standard mite saw ?

top tip: don't bother unless you're using one of those cheapo £1.99 plastic mitre guides that are for sale alongside the coving ;-)

RT

[Mike]

I'm using an electric sliding compound mitre saw. There must be some combination of sloping cut and angle cut that gives the 45 deg needed. Just haven't found it yet.

[Alan]

In message , Mike wrote

You've got walls that meet at 90 degrees?

[chris French]

In message , Mike writes

How are you supporting the coving while cutting? As someoen ele said, the problem is that the coving is not being held in the quite same position as it will be on the wall, hence the gap.

forget the electric saw, it has no benefits here, and is probably more the cause of the problem. Get a cheap plastic mitre box for the coving, and a cheap hand saw. you may need to use a scrap of beading or some such to hold the coving in the correct position (I screwed a bit in place on mine).

Then you just need to get the cut round the right way....

[Mike]

Nope. That's the second problem :-)

[Mark]

Ah, I was going to say your corners are probably anything but an exact 90deg so If you cut your coving at 45deg it's not going to fit, I use a Mitre finder a 3 leg device were the middle leg doesn't move and thus gives you the cutting angle, unfortunately I cant find a seller online or link.

-- Mark§

[bof]

In message , Mike writes

You should just need to cut at 1/2 the angle the corner is, if it's 90, then cut at 45, if angle is 100 cut at 50, if it's an external angle it's the same, 270 corner cut at 135; I've done a couple of odd wall corners with 150 and 120 angles. The only trick needed is to cut the coving at the angle it will meet the other piece at the corner, i.e. stand the coving on its edge, rather than laying it flat.

ASCII art showing an end view of a piece of coving follows:

like this

saw-blade-saw-blade ---- / / / | |

not like this or this

saw-blade-saw-blade-saw-blade _________ \ / / \ \_______/ / \

[Roger Wareham]

Is this any good?

[bof]

attachments on the one in the URL look like they'd make standing the coving on its edge a bit easier.

[Brian Sharrock]

I have (tried one) it's truly magic ... but buy one from QVC as they through in the saw for the 'normal' price. It does make both holding the coving, standard-height that you'll find in the sheds, and obtaining the precise angle(s).

[Mike]

That was the original idea behind using a mitre saw so that I could start at a compunded 45 deg angle and work from there. Unfortunately no-one could come up with the settings needed so I've headed into town and bought the cheap bit of plastic that does 90 deg corners sort of okay.