Turning crown molding into baseboard
Recently we’ve been doing some cabinet projects that require a more furniture grade look. One inexpensive way we found to achieve this result is to add decorative feet to the base instead of a traditional toe kick. Now, you can go out and purchase a decorative foot or spend hours or days carving one, but who has the time for that. The solution is simple, modify a piece of molding already shaped. The molding we’re using on this cabinet is a crown molding without the bevel on the back side. We will be referring to this molding as the baseboard. The baseboard we’re using is a little wider than our typical toe kick, so we’ll have to rip some off on the table saw.
The first step is to fit the baseboard around the cabinet, just like an ordinary baseboard. The next step is to make a template for the cut out design. Making the template is a very important step and requires a very special tool. After the template design is achieved it will be cut out and sanded using the band saw and the oscillating spindle sander. Here are a few photos of this procedure.
After the baseboard is fitted and the template is ready, the next step is marking the baseboard with the template and cutting out the long straight cut using the table saw. This part can be tricky for some, so it’s best to achieve this cut in a way that is most comfortable for you. The rest of the cuts are performed in the same manner as cutting the template.
Here are a few finishing photos of this project.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Jason // Jan 27, 2008 at 3:51 am
What a great looking cabinet! The whole unit just looks great. Hope to see some photos if you guys do the finish also.
2 Phil // Jan 27, 2008 at 5:29 am
That’s a far-out idea. Unfortunately, I don’t stock that particular brand of “special Sprite can tool”. I have used a similar tool (”special Diet Coke can tool”) for similar tasks, and I was wondering if you think it would work.
3 Pop in Training // Jan 27, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Fortunately I will not be finishing this piece. It will have some type a faux finish that will be applied by someone much more experienced then me in type of finish. I will post some finished photos sometime in the future, and the diet coke can should work. You might want to experiment first though, (just in case)
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