8 inch skirting mitres

[jacquieg]

How do I mitre 8 inch skirting cant get a mitre box for to do it. Thank you for any help.

[Guy King]

The message from "jacquieg" contains these words:

Make a bigger mitrebox.

Anyway, skirting's better scribed than mitred. Run one bit right into the corner then use a fretsaw to profile the end of the other bit.

[Bookworm]

Very interesting. How do mark out the second piece for cutting with the fretsaw?

[Brian Sharrock]

When faced with the same problem .... I persuaded my wife that this was an ideal time to buy (from B&Q) a sliding compound mitre saw! I marched into the B&Q shed armed with an offcut of the skirting board and offered up the work-piece to the tool to assure myself it would be 'fit for purpose'. The solution is to place the work-piece (Skirting board) down flat and cut with the blade 'slanting' ----\---- (if you see what I mean - that's supposed to be an elevation]. The sloping cut doesn't _have_ to be at 45 deg either- one can take-off the exact angle and half it.

Worked for me! :)

[dennis]

You mitre it and then cut the mitred bit out with a coping saw which leaves the profile you want.

You can get a needle gauge and use that. Or a scrap piece to draw around.

[Guy King]

The message from "Bookworm" contains these words:

On the flat back, using a bit of scrap as a template.

[John Rumm]

Two ways:

One is to cut a rough mitre by eye in the profiled bit of a piece of scrap skirting. Then lay it flat on the back of the skirting and draw round the end.

Or, get a square ended bit of scrap and balance it end on against the back of the skirting and draw round the profile.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not on an external corner like you get on a chimney breast, surely? You'd see the end grain. Agreed for internal ones, though.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You offer up a square end to the bit to be scribed and draw round the profile. It gets a bit complicated if you have a fancy moulding, though.

[Stuart Noble]

And cut from the back with a jigsaw. Personally I prefer mitres on the outside corners and scribed on the inside. Overall it's much easier to butt join plain 6" x 1" and just mitre a 2" moulding to go on top. That you can do by hand on a small mitre box. 8" mitres are difficult, and most chop/pullover saws I've used don't function well at the full 45 tilt. Gripfil to fix to the wall. Not everyone's idea of a "proper job" of course, but it's neater, quicker, and allows the wood to sit nice and straight rather than being tightened against a wonky wall

[Guy King]

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Yes, sorry, I should have made that clear!

[Chris Bacon]

Mark it out and cut it with an ordinary panel saw.

[Chris Bacon]

I didn't know that there was another way.

[Tournifreak]

Why would you _not_ mitre? I think the mitred joints in my house look OK. Mitred joints are surely easier (except perhaps in the case of 8" skirting!)

Jon.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

With a compound slide mitre saw. :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Because the timber, if softwood, *will* shrink and open out the mitre. Doesn't show as much on a scribed joint.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Profiling is the way to go,but you still have to mitre outside corners.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

I've found one of the a godsend when profiling Taurus skirting.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yup - but since this is usually things like chimney breasts glue the mitre then the movement should be all at the scribed joint.

[Rob Morley]

That's bull.