How do I mitre a 7" skirting board when the deepest box available is only around 6 " and B&Q's deep cut mitre saw only does the same ? For a couple of cuts it hardly seems worthwhile hiring a specialist saw.
Use a normal mitre box to cut some scrap narrower pieces at the desired angle. Clamp these on the back to cover the full height of the board and use these to guide the saw. Only mitre external corners, internal ones should be scribed. Bear in mind that external room corners are rarely 90 degrees and so you might have to 'adjust' the mitre angles anyway. Small gaps caused by corners less than
90 degrees can be closed up by careful burring of the cut edges. Use a metal roller (round part of a large screwdriver)and roll this gently up and down the edge till the wood fibres fill the gap.hth
Bob
Because:
(a) It's easier to measure accurately (b) Partly because of (a), and partly because a scribed joint hides any variation in the angle of the walls, you'll get a better result.
Hacksaw + care? Coping saw? You only need to get the top edge decent, you can overcut the rest. Also, if it isn't absolutely perfect, YOU will be the only one who knows/cares :)
It also makes the inevitable shrinkage less noticeable.
You use a board mitre. Looks different, only supports the saw on one side, and comes in a range of sizes up to about 9"
Use a coping saw (hence the name) to saw one board into the matching profile of the other. Takes longer than a mitre, but then you only have to do it to one board, the other is just sawn straight.
-- What ? Me ? Evil Dictator of Iraq ? Nah mate, I'm just a Hobbit, honest
As Bob says, the wals are almost never at ninety degrees with each other, so if the mitres at cut for a ninety degree angle and the walls are more or less than that, then the mitre won't fit correctly.
If you use a piece of skirting as a template to scribe out the shape on the back of the piece you want to cut, then follow the line with coping saw, you can fit one length of skirting over the other at any angle you need without it looking bad.
Dodgy Netherlands art movement or not, I like internal mitred corners and simple white skirting with no grooves ;) The 50s crap that was here originally was scribed and looked dreadful. Maybe because it was poorly done though...
Lee
Tosser?
I've never had a deal of success with internal mitres - on skirtings, the decorative part of sash windows, or once on some trim around the top of book-case bays.
Could somebody please explain just what the technique is to "scribe" these internal joints - it's often referred to in books but never deomonstrated. I've done simple ones where there are "real right angles" (? TM) with simple rectangular bits of wood but always mess up on the "arty" mouldings ...
please take pity ...
Thanks,
Barley Twist (Please put out the cats to reply direct)
Take a piece of the skirting with a square end, and butt it up against the *back* (flat) of the piece you want to scribe, keeping it at a right angle. Draw round the moulding with a sharp pencil. Then carefully cut round the pencil line with a coping saw keeping it absolutely square - takes a bit of practice.
The part which *isn't* scribed should be the longer piece - this usually means the back part of an alcove. Being longer it is likely to shrink more.
Let's see if I can describe this OK. Take a piece of skirting and mitre it as normal (internal corner). Now take a coping saw and follow the profile at the top of the mitre. If done carefully and correctly the cut piece should be an exact fit over the front face of the other skirting you are mating to. I hope that makes sense to you, it does to me but I know what I am trying to say!
Try it on a few bits of scrap first, it's not as dificult as it sounds.
HTH
John
You wouldn't have said that if you had seen the state of the original skirtings here... Maybe coping does look better on fancy mouldings, if it's done properly.
I just don't like fancy mouldings, personal choice isn't it? Also, as I've said before, I just cannot understand the preoccupation with hideous Victorian/Edwardian features, but hey, that's my choice as well.
Lee
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