Mouldings- the old fashioned way

[Matt Hankins]

When I worked for a museum, we made many mouldings by hand, but since I moved into the private sector the opportunities don't come around that often. However, recently the right combination of a short run of custom crown and the lack of the right shaper to safely cut the large profiles allowed me to break out the hand tools. The large coves were cut on the table saw (angled cove cuts) and the ovolo portion was roughed out on the saw and finished with planes. It's not a 100% neander method, but I'm still needing to complete this in a timely manner. We have to make some money!:) The profile should be close enough to match and, if I did it right, once installed no one should ever be able to tell its new from the ground. The profile is about 2" thick and 10" wide. The job required 16' of moulding.
Pre-hand planes:118470


The moulding (edges not beveled):118471


With a sample of the original:118473


Better shot of profile:118472

[James Mittlefehldt]

Very nice Matt, I am doing something similar but the moulding is for the top of the stile for a door casing.

Since I don't have any pwer tools I will probably have to get ingenious to do it with what I have on hand.

Must feel good to be able to break out the hand tools.

[David Keller NC]

Hmm - Well, you certainly could've done it with hollows and rounds and a rabbet plane for "totally neanderthal", but what likely would've been done in the 18th century would've been a rough out with joinery planes and a huge cornice molder that would've taken 3 guys to use - one to push and guide, and two to pull on the tow rope.

Kinda hard to find apprentices willing to do that in this day and age! :D

[Matt Hankins]

David- Kinda hard to find a boss willing to pay me to do it that way too!:D

[george wilson]

A huge plane-like the one I made,and posted pictures of for the Peyton Randolph kitchen in Williamsburg.But,it was only 6" wide. It still had to be towed and pushed.

[David Keller NC]

ONe of the earliest planes made in America bears the imprint of Cesar Chelor, and I think it's in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society. It's a cornice molder, and it's 9" wide. Given that the shaving is actually about 13" wide (allowing for the curves on the sole), it must've taken a whole crew of real brutes to use that one.

I think that's why someone got smart in the early 19th century and started making cornice planes as a set of 2 - one for the ogee, one for the cove. These are almost always separated, but occasionally some lucky dog finds a pair in the bottom of an old tool box and brings them to the Brown auction. As a pair, they're typically worth in the $2k range, depending on maker and condition.

Perhaps of more interest is that the vast majority of cornice molders found at the antique auctions are very early. From what I understand, as soon as steam power (to run a factory) became widely available, most cornice was made in large factories and there was no more point in planemakers making the planes to manufacture it.