Richard Gillespie
06-19-2004, 9:01 AM
I work as a cabinet/maker when I can get the jobs but most of the time I'm a handyman. I've been working a job in Old Town Alexandria. One part of the job was duplicating and replacing about 9 feet of 8-1/8" high antique baseboard. The top piece of the three piece assembly had a profile unlike any other I have ever seen, essentially cut at a 45 degree bevel with a double bead detail on the top edge. To make things easier on me, I bought Popular to mill the baseboard out of. To duplicate the double bead detail I needed I bought a Lee Valley Beader. It came with five blade blanks and some others I bought. I cut one custom blade and used a bead blade to do the required profile. I even pulled my Stanley 78 off the shelf to work on the shaping. I started to use my great grandfather's Stanley 45 but as it turned out the beads didn't match the blades I had for it.
The main piece was 6-5/8" by 7/8". I duplicated the molding and primed it in my shop. I used my power surface planer for initial thickness planing and my table saw for width. The board was then finished in both dimensions with hand planes.
When it came time to install, I decided to use all hand tools. It was a small amount of cuts required and the staging area was in an adjacent bedroom. I didn't feel like it was worth it to fight with the power equipment. I used my great grandfathers mitre box and saw plus a 10 point hand saw to make the required cuts. I did however, forget my coping saw and had to cope two pieces with a electric jig saw. I had recently resharpened the back saw and used the other saw as I received it from a Ebay purchase. They both cut quickly and beautifully. It gave a great deal of satisfaction to have the job go in right and if the original builders of that house are still around in some way they saw that some of us still know how to use hand tools.
The bottom line is, I still burn electrons with many processes but really enjoy finishing with hand tools. They are a pleasure to use once you learn how. :)
The main piece was 6-5/8" by 7/8". I duplicated the molding and primed it in my shop. I used my power surface planer for initial thickness planing and my table saw for width. The board was then finished in both dimensions with hand planes.
When it came time to install, I decided to use all hand tools. It was a small amount of cuts required and the staging area was in an adjacent bedroom. I didn't feel like it was worth it to fight with the power equipment. I used my great grandfathers mitre box and saw plus a 10 point hand saw to make the required cuts. I did however, forget my coping saw and had to cope two pieces with a electric jig saw. I had recently resharpened the back saw and used the other saw as I received it from a Ebay purchase. They both cut quickly and beautifully. It gave a great deal of satisfaction to have the job go in right and if the original builders of that house are still around in some way they saw that some of us still know how to use hand tools.
The bottom line is, I still burn electrons with many processes but really enjoy finishing with hand tools. They are a pleasure to use once you learn how. :)