Trim/Molding

[Robert Weber]

Friends,

I'm preparing to build a suite of office furniture (I've got the coolest boss) so I don't have to be infected by the veneered termite barf they've been reburbishing my office with. I'm going with maple ply, cherry trim, and curly maple legs. The maple ply is going to be stained fairly dark (for maple) and the cherry trim a little darker to provide some contrast.

Here's the question: I want to put a profile on the molding as follows: 1/4" roundovers on each corner and two half-round hollows (coves?) down the center. I could make several set-ups on the router table and generate a tons of noise and dust, but would really like to do this with molding planes.

Any advice?

BTW, renderings of the office suite can be found at:

http://www.jlatech.com/rob/Bookcase.jpg
http://www.jlatech.com/rob/Cred&Cabinet.jpg
http://www.jlatech.com/rob/New Desk.jpg (http://www.jlatech.com/rob/New%20Desk.jpg)
http://www.jlatech.com/rob/Office 1.jpg (http://www.jlatech.com/rob/Office%201.jpg)

Thanks,
Rob in Peoria

[Tim Sproul]

Mill the molding blank and start shaping from the middle out. Use a fence to register the plane against to keep the profile straight and square.

When you get your hollows and rounds.....cut out some profile from a stable piece of stock and then use that for maintaining the edge of the cutters. You can use diamond paste directly in the profiled wood (I'd avoid the water based diamond pastes and get lapidary paste or get powder and use mineral spirits to remove swarf) - which affects the profile the least - or use sandpaper in the hollow or round - which will slightly affect the size of the profile.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Mill the molding blank and start shaping from the middle out. Use a fence to register the plane against to keep the profile straight and square....

Tim, I was taught that when using molding planes the best approach is to start at the end and work your way back, planing a small bit at a time. This is mainly a stock removal issue.

And how would you get the molding consistently shaped when the plane is turned around to go from the middle out on the second half of the piece.

What have I misunderstood about your message?

Pam

[Tim Sproul]

By shaping from the middle out, I meant middle of the width, not middle of the length. Yes, start the plane at the endgrain and plane with the grain. By Rob's description, I'd start cutting the coves first...but I know others who have cut the edges first too. Just like most things in woodworking and in life generally, there is more than one way to skin a cat :).

[Pam Niedermayer]

Aha, thanks, now I see.

Pam

[Dave Anderson NH]

another way to help the plane track well for cutting the hollows (using a round) is to start off by cutting a Vee groove centered on where the two hollows will be. This also helps speed up the stock removal and saves wear and tear on the round plane.

[Steve Wargo]

I imagine that I cut mouldings a little different, but it works well. If I have a largemoulding to cut I'll hog out the bulk with a plow plane and then just clean things up free handed. If it is small moulding for a carcass, box or trim then I usually just free hand using the nuckle of my left hand as a fence. I've actually had good success going this rout and if I knock the corner off with a pass of 220grit I usually don't cut myself. This alows for greater flexibility and also reduces the time it takes to install or move fences (usually attatched with turner's tape). The most important thing is to actually get the iron sharp. I can't stress this enough. If it's really sharp, you should be able to cut both directions without much tearout. Both with and against the grain. While this is probably not the case with some nasty woods pine, cherry, poplar and the likes should work great.

[Robert Weber]

Thanks for the good advice so far, everyone. Let me be a little more specific:

What planes would you recommend I use to create this molding?

(I'm going to try and post a close-up of the molding tomorrow (Friday).

Thanks,

Rob in Peoria

[Alan Turner]

While I have molding planes, they have not seen much use from me. I looked at your pix, and this is a pretty ambitious project. Should keep you busy for a full weekend.
I note the radiused end on the desk. I am not sure how a plane will work on that curve, and will be interested to see what the more experienced neanders think in terms of approach. I wonder if scraping them, at least on the curve, would work.
Alan

[Robert Weber]

Here's a rendering of the trim I'm imagining.