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Michael MacDonald
04-12-2010, 10:25 PM
thanks to everyone who provided advice in my molding-coping-quandry thread. http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=137526

Here is the latest twist and a question. I tried the drill press. It worked quite well, and I got some workable shapes. However, reality set in quickly--as Carpenter Mark noted, there is not a lot of room to attached the micro-molded piece. So I have decided it just ain't gonna work.

Instead, I have mitered the molding for all four legs as shown in the attached pic... it cut well on the table saw with the triple-chip blade... go slow enough to avoid tear-out, but not so slow to invite burning.

So my question to the more experienced designers is... is the way that I end the molding (the 45 deg cut on the right hand side of the close-up pic) acceptable? or am I crossing some invisible line of woodworking standards. To the camera, it looks imbalanced... I think less so to the naked eye. This cut will also show end-grain of the molding, which is generally undesirable. Part of me says don't worry about it, and part of me is willing to fight through a third alternative to get it right... All of me knows that my judgement is not so good on this question.

I think the next option, if I ultimately deem this molding approach a no-go, is to re-create the leg caps... the only reason I have molding queued up is that I mis-cut the mortise in the caps and the underside of the caps is a bit rough. (I probably should have cut tenon shoulders on the leg with the TS before putting the headboard and footboard together... that would have been the right approach and would help hide the mortise in the cap.)

Thanks for your help! (FYI, this bed is for my two-year old as he outgrows his crib... not for sale. just a hobbyist.)

David DeCristoforo
04-12-2010, 10:40 PM
This might be a "next time" situation because there is not much you can do here beyond what you have done. It might be possible to miter the mouldings around the back side of the post and cope them into the rounded edges of the cap. But "next time" I would make the post tall enough that the trim can wrap all the way around the bottom of the finial.

Michael MacDonald
04-14-2010, 12:09 AM
yeah... I guess I should probably just re-make the leg caps.

Michael MacDonald
04-14-2010, 12:55 PM
wow... is it that bad looking? 100+ views and no one saying "not so bad, go for it."... (which is what I was hoping to hear.) OK. Well, back to the drawing board.

Josiah Bartlett
04-14-2010, 1:24 PM
I think you are probably suffering from concentrationitis- you are looking at it from too close for too long. Back off 5 feet, see if it draws your eye. Have your wife or girlfriend look at it, but don't tell her why. See if she notices. If she doesn't, leave it alone and move on.

I have a sill in my house that has a longer overhang on one end than on the other, and I didn't notice it until it was installed. It drove me crazy for a while, but it would have been a pain in the neck to redo. Nobody but me has ever noticed it.