Woodworking Tips from Pop…

So you want to install crown molding the easy way!

 The first step would be to learn how to properly use a coping saw!  

The first question Pop would ask anybody applying for a job is whether or not they could use a coping saw. Only the dummies would lie about it and get run off!

 The coping saw is a small hand saw used by professional finish carpenters for making fine deep cuts when fitting moldings. The object is to cut the backside of the profile so two pieces will fit on an inside corner perfectly! No Caulk or glue. Once the proper technique is mastered, coping moldings and other various woodworking cuts will be a cinch. You’ll save time, material and a whole lot of aggravation dealing with out of square corners that are almost guaranteed to be in every house.

A coping saw can be purchased with a pack of blades at most local home improvement centers for about the same price as a twelve pack of Guinness. I just wouldn’t recommend drinking the Guinness until after the job is done. Or you’ll probably need more than caulk!

  When coping a piece of crown, you’re actually hand cutting the profile of the molding so it fits into an identical piece.  This does take a little practice so be patient, get some scraps and go to work, You won’t regret it.

The first step is to get the blade pointed in the right direction. I’ve witnessed two different methods of coping over the years, (the push to cut or the pull to cut). I’m a push man myself!

Here’s why!

The object of using any tool is to let the tool do the work. By standing above the work piece and using gravity to help push the blade through the wood to make the cut instead of pulling, you end up with a much easier and more controllable cut.(Let the blade do the cutting)

Pushing the blade into the cut also directs the burrs towards the inside of the piece and not to the finished outside. This will eliminate any need for sanding and leave a much finer cope.

When coping crown you don’t have to cope it in all one pass either, the object is to get the cope as accurate as possible and rushing will only lead to a lousy joint that needs filling. I’ve found that it’s easier to cut the piece out in sections and work towards intersecting points, rather then trying to round corners and bend the blade all to hell.

Undercutting is also key to getting tight coped joints. The more you undercut, the more forgiving out of square walls and wavy ceilings will be. Another trick to getting tight crown joints is to not nail the molding in the corners until both pieces are fitted. This will give a little play in the corner for twisting the crown molding into place. Click on some of the photos for more tips

Building a custom bar…..Page 6

 If you’re going to spend the big bucks on a bar, it better have some custom moldings!

No matter what kind of bar you’re building in order to have a true classic bar, you need to have some kind of moldings to finish off the details. Crown molding above the back bar, heavy molding along the bar front, and the moldings with keystones around the arched openings are a must if you’re looking to create depth in the overall appearance of the bar. Even the small bead molding we milled for the columns changes the appearance of the bar drastically. It is the moldings that add the touch of class that make the difference in having a real bar or a kitchenette.
The molding that makes the biggest difference is the 6 ½” bar molding along the front bar. This heavy molding creates an arm rest that I’m sure everybody that is interested in a bar has bellied up to a few times (except for Pop). This wide bar molding is the piece that will tie the front bar cabinets together and create that authentic bar experience. It can also be one of the most expensive components of the bar, if you can even find it. This was one of the determining factors when we purchased a William & Hussey molder. Although not a high production molder, it definitely has enough to handle what we’re doing. We’ll typically run enough of this molding for a few jobs (about 100′) and store it on racks until it’s time to build another bar.

If you’re looking for either a large quantity or long lengths of this molding, you might as well invest in your own molder and make it yourself. Although be prepared, buying any type of equipment like this is not like buying a car where you get in and drive away. In order to become efficient with this type of machinery, it takes experience through trial & error. So be patient, which is something I try and tell Pop when he’s trying to body slam a machine. The best way to learn about machinery is using the internet and connecting with woodworkers who have experience with these machines first hand through woodworking forums like Woodweb & W & H forum, or ask us and we’ll do our best to help.

Some of the other moldings we’re using for this bar are custom crown with a dental molding. The crown is 4 ½” wide and will be mounted on part of a 2 ½” dental molding to create an even larger two member crown. This process can be repeated multiple time to create an even larger crown. This is mainly done on extremely high ceilings. We milled the crown on another inexpensive molder, the jet planer / molder combo. This machine we dedicated strictly for moldings to save time switching from planer to molder, and it has paid off many times over. We not only make the crown profile, but we have cutters to make the back of the crown profile as well. If you’re in the business of doing custom millwork or furniture, a molder is one of the best tools for saving time and money. From the time we purchased these molders, not a scrap of wood over 1″wide has been wasted. It all goes to making custom moldings from shoe mold to several profiles of base cap.

The molder isn’t the only way to make moldings.

 A shaper or router table can also be used to make decorative moldings. The decorative edge on this dental molding was created with a classic roman ogee bit on a shaper. This edge will just add a little extra detail to the dental. I used a radial arm saw with a dado blade to cut the teeth for this molding. I only had about 30′ to mill up, so I just marked each stick with a pattern that I originally marked by hand, one tooth at a time. The whole process took a little over an hour and had the dental ready for install. I’ll have some finished photos on the crown with dental soon.

Another molding that we use a shaper for milling instead of a molder is what we call a baby crown. It’s just a 1 1/8″ X 1 1/8″ large cove that we use for that little extra detail on anything too small for regular crown.
This molding is made from the cutoffs of the bar molding to cut costs. 

Well, the bar should start to shape up in the next post or two. We still have to finish the bar tops and some corbels that we’ll post about next. Here are some photos of what’s to come.

Building a custom bar…..Page 5

Well, I spent the first part of the day redoing the damn arches I made earlier, I goofed!
Even though I was using a story pole, it’s easy to make mistakes. My mistake was getting ahead of myself. I should have built the columns first (like I have so many times in the past) and set them where they belong, so I could get a look at what I was building. Instead I used the story pole and jumped right into the arches. Well- the center arch ended up looking like you could drive a car through it. If I had the columns built first, I would have caught this before I started the arches. Oh well, Pop will always say it’s not a mistake until it leaves the shop.
The rest of the day was spent finishing up the new arches and adding the trim and keystone. If you click on the picture and look closely, you can see I built the arches out of birch plywood, then added a ¼” cherry plywood skin over the birch. The reason for this  is that I didn’t have any ¾” cherry. I also added a 1″ wide by a ¼” thin piece of solid cherry to cover the bottom raw edge of the plywood arch. Now when anybody looks up at the bottom of the arch it looks like a solid 1″ backing piece behind the trim.
We made the three arches in two sections and joined it in the center creating one long piece with 3 arches. This is supposed to make the install easier. (We’ll see!)

Next, we went to work on the front bar. There is no cabinetry in the front bar only a 2×6x 42″ high wall that is there now. We’re just going to cover both sides of the wall with paneling and add a 32″ wide bar top including bar molding on both sides to the top of this wall. First we had to build an extension to the 2×6 wall on both sides to support our top. This extension wall was built mainly out of plywood scraps.
The stile and rail frame for the ¼” flat paneling was put together just like the stile and rails for the cabinetry face frame, with the kreg jig. I can’t tell you enough how this tool has changed the way we work. After the frame is assembled, I routed out a rabbet groove around the back side of each opening to accept the ¼” cherry flat panel. The flat panels are then cut to size and each corner rounded with a jig saw, then nailed and glued into position, ready for molding!

Preview for day 6
 Adding moldings to the columns and running crown and  dental molding around the top of the back bar.

Tamales for lunch

Recently I was reminded of the old days when Pop and I were installing handrails and steps for a local Atlanta stair company , It was alright for a while, we learned all kinds of info on curved stairs, bending rails, installing iron balusters and newels post. Like I said, it was alright for a while. Installing handrails for a living is a tough job, always on your knee’s, crawling around on dirty jobsite floors, constantly having to put up with other trades going up and down on the steps your trying to work on. And, nobody cares!
Throw in a van full of illegal Mexicans and you have the makings for crazy day.

It was an early spring morning several years ago, when Pop and I were racing a van full of Mexican painters into the convenient store for coffee. Pop must have been doing 50 mph when hit the parking lot, he didn’t care! He just wanted his cup of coffee first. Hurry up ! Lets go! He told me. Well, after a few dirty looks and a few comments about a loco gringo, we made it out first and Pop was happy and life was good. (for awhile anyway)
Well, anybody that is familiar with Atlanta traffic knows you can’t get too far too fast. This was never more apparent then that morning , traffic was bumper to bumper and of course Pop is in the wrong lane stuck behind somebody reading the paper while driving ( Not in a good mood anymore). The day only got worse from here, while pulling up to the jobsite, we couldn’t believe are eyes! Our south of the border buddies from the convenient store were parked in Pops’ spot drinking coffee. If only Pop was in the right lane. Well, there wasn’t much we could do about it, Except maybe go home, but it was our last day on the job and we wanted to finish. Nothing was going to discourage us.

Let the radio wars begin!

In this business, the bigger radio you have the safer you are.
There’s nothing worse then when you’re working and somebody is blasting music especially Mexican music. Well Pop, loves his elevator music so I’m sure you can imagine between the mariachi band and Pops waltzes that I was the one that was suffering the most. Well, it was around noon and about 75degrees outside and I know it was warmer up around the high ceilings where they painting and singing at the top of their lungs. This gave me an idea. The Heater! Pop carries that big 10000 BTU Kerosene heater until summer and if there’s no oxygen up there, they can’t sing. It worked like a charm, I got the heater out of the van and aimed it into the two story foyer where the loud one was working. Within minutes, silence! I told him to stop screaming and turn his radio off or the heater stays on all day. It worked like a charm.

From that point on- there was always a spot in the van for the heater.

  Ever since Pop taught me how to read a measuring tape and to build a cabinet, I’ve been hooked on the various forms of architecture that have evolved over the centuries. From the five orders that have fashioned the aesthetics of building from the renaissance, to the mid evil and gothic designs of 15th and 16th century England, I’ve had a passion to create interiors that standout above the norm.

Here are some photographs of a job we completed a while back, that drew inspiration from some 16th century English manor. This was my first opportunity to build something in a Tudor fashion and immediately fell in love with this style. The old world look and feel of this room gives one the feeling of being in a mid-evil style castle from and era that has long since past. We tried to stay true to the authenticity of this style by building everything out of quarter sawn white oak, which was the wood of choice because of its durability, warmth and its abundance.

This was truly a custom job and we spent many months manufacturing arches, moldings, panels and cabinetry for this mansion.

For more on Tudor interiors I’ve included some links to companies the have helped inspire us in the construction this job.

 http://www.tudorartisans.com/

http://www.stuartinteriors.ltd.uk/

Building a custom bar…..Page 4

 I didn’t get to the arches today like I had planned today. Pop always says write your plan down on a piece of paper and then throw it in the garbage. Because in this business things rarely work out as planned. Instead we worked on the raised panel doors and the columns for the upper back bar. The 5 piece door system we started yesterday came together pretty well. We planed the glued up boards down first to ¾” and then sized them all to fit inside the stile and rail frame. The boards were then profiled on a shaper with an automatic feed and given that raised panel profile that looks so good. After the panels are profiled, they’re inserted into the stile and rail frame and clamped together until the glue dries. See stile and rails for details on how this is done. Tomorrow we’ll sand the doors, profile the edges with a router, bore the 35mm hole for the hinges and hang them.

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