# Angle Crown Molding How-to



## red68mgb (Aug 21, 2019)

We have this angle crown molding in our kitchen. Just finishing a fireplace/bookshelf wall in an adjacent room, and need about 20' of this.

Being a cheapskate, I would like to make it. It looks fairly simple - I'm thinking some passes on the table saw with the blade at 45 degrees. Don't have a shaper.

I would appreciate any other suggestions/ideas - maybe a router, (which I do have), or...?

It will be painted, so I'll probably use basswood or maple.

Thank you.


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

duck soup on a table saw with a sacrificial fence add....


add a 1" thick piece to your table saw fence.
cut out a chunk where the blade projects, so that you have a fence-guide where the work piece cannot get "over cut"
- any wobble or bobble will leave the 45' cut "long" - which you can address with a plane/chisel/sandpaper.


this avoids the 45' face getting dinged/cut into - which usually trashes the work piece....


if possible, leave 1-2" on each end for start/stop "effects"


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## John Smith_inFL (Jul 4, 2018)

this is not just a "run it through the table saw" project.
if it does not have adequate bracing on the outfeed,
you "may" get slippage up and down that will give you
an awful looking piece.
try it - do some practice pieces - then you will know what you have to do.
and the same for a big router table, if you choose to go that way.
~ practice ~

.

.


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## Buckmark13 (Jul 16, 2018)

I'm not sure if you need that exact profile and dimensions or not, but 20' of any basic crown will cost you $40-$50, with 4' of wiggle room. 

Given the time and most likely similar expense of making your own, you might want to consider opening the wallet. Throw in a slight miscalculation and you'll wish you did. 

On the other hand, there is always something satisfying about DIY.

Good luck!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Easy to do on the table saw!*



red68mgb said:


> We have this angle crown molding in our kitchen. Just finishing a fireplace/bookshelf wall in an adjacent room, and* need about 20' of this.*
> 
> Being a cheapskate, I would like to make it. It looks fairly simple - I'm thinking some passes on the* table saw with the blade at 45 degrees.* Don't have a shaper.
> 
> ...



I'd use Poplar. It paints very well.

The diagram posted above shows a "right tilt saw"....
not common these days. With a left tilt saw, no need for a sacrificial fence. All cuts will be fine using the stock fence, just lay the piece flat on the table, not vertical.

Do you need 20 ft in a single length.... I doubt it. Lengths under 10 ft will be manageable with proper outfeed supports and a "qualified" helper. Shorter than 10 ft will be a lot easier.


:vs_cool:


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## red68mgb (Aug 21, 2019)

woodnthings said:


> I'd use Poplar. It paints very well.
> 
> The diagram posted above shows a "right tilt saw"....
> not common these days. With a left tilt saw, no need for a sacrificial fence. All cuts will be fine using the stock fence, just lay the piece flat on the table, not vertical.
> ...


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I would do it on a table saw, with featherboards to keep the cut well constrained. I would use one or two featherboards on the fence to keep the wood down, and another featherboard on the table to keep the wood against the fence. Do NOT place the featherboard on the table beyond the start of the blade, please. 

Place the fence appropriately for the tilt of the blade to avoid pinching the wood and causing a kickback. If you have a right tilt blade, please be careful with the unfamiliar cut on the "wrong" side of the fence. Proper infeed and outfeed support is also necessary.

In case it helps, the inexpensive, ready-made painted MDF crown molding that we use comes in 16 foot lengths.


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

anyone own a table saw where the fence cannot be located on either side of blade?
whether it's left tilt or right tilt doesn't matter.
anyone with a brain can decipher how to set it up.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*So why post a sketch of how to do it?*



TomCT2 said:


> anyone own a table saw where the fence cannot be located on either side of blade?
> whether it's left tilt or right tilt doesn't matter.
> *anyone with a brain can decipher how to set it up*.



That's is NOT a helpful or even polite comment, since we all have brains, but not all are familiar with tilting the blade towards the fence as you illustrate. That requires the sacrifical piece, which is not needed when the work is laid flat and the blade is tilted to the left away from the fence as on a left tilt saw. Some explanation is always best for beginning woodworkers. :vs_cool:


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Do you have a router table?
A 45* bit would work


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## TomCT2 (May 16, 2014)

woodnthings said:


> That's is NOT a helpful or even polite comment, since we all have brains, but not all are familiar with tilting the blade towards the fence as you illustrate. That requires the sacrifical piece, which is not needed when the work is laid flat and the blade is tilted to the left away from the fence as on a left tilt saw. Some explanation is always best for beginning woodworkers. :vs_cool:


 perhaps you should think a bit more then before trashing other people's opinions.
cutting a perfect 45 with the work between the fence and the blade is very tricky. any movement up/down/sideways results in a dinged up cut.
and since you did not figure it out, in that sketch the work is laid flat, not vertical.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

TomCT2 said:


> anyone own a table saw where the fence cannot be located on either side of blade?
> whether it's left tilt or right tilt doesn't matter.
> anyone with a brain can decipher how to set it up.


With respect, I disagree. Many of the members here are new to woodworking or lack the knowledge and experience. 

Furthermore, the setup for rip cutting with a tilted blade is not intuitively obvious to everyone. I never considered it until I read it in a book. If I had not read it in a book, I probably would have set it up wrong if I had owned a right-tilt saw. In fact, kickbacks and their causes are not intuitively obvious to many (most?) people. If they were, we would see far fewer of them. 

Remember the thread about rip cutting a pressure treated board where the OP described how the board lifted up on him? That was scary, and it was clear that he did not know the implications of a board lifting up on a running table saw. 

That same concern applies to rip cutting with a tilted blade. To be honest, I thought I did a pretty good job with the writing on that post.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Really?*



TomCT2 said:


> perhaps you should think a bit more then before trashing other people's opinions.
> cutting a perfect 45 with the work between the fence and the blade is very tricky. any movement up/down/sideways results in a dinged up cut.
> *and since you did not figure it out, in that sketch the work is laid flat, not vertical*.



Every rectangle in this image is vertical, NOT laying flat on the table!



Of course, maybe even I can't figure it out from this sketch.....


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

woodnthings said:


> Every rectangle in this image is vertical, NOT laying flat on the table! [Image shows angled blade partially buried in a sacrificial fence.]
> 
> Of course, maybe even I can't figure it out from this sketch.....


I must not have a brain. I would have made the cut with the fence positioned on the left side of that right-tilt blade, and been very careful because of the unfamiliar position of the fence and blade.

I see how @woodnthings' drawing is another solution. It looks like a good approach to me. I have used the "fence on the wrong side" trick that I recommended, but not his solution. I will try his solution the next time to see which I prefer. That is, unless someone posts reasonable arguments as to why "fence on wrong side" should not be used.

Thanks!


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I have not made any drawing ......*



Tool Agnostic said:


> I must not have a brain. I would have made the cut with the fence positioned on the left side of that right-tilt blade, and been very careful because of the unfamiliar position of the fence and blade.
> *
> I see how @woodnthings' drawing is another solution.* It looks like a good approach to me. I have used the "fence on the wrong side" trick that I recommended, but not his solution. I will try his solution the next time to see which I prefer. That is, unless someone posts reasonable arguments as to why "fence on wrong side" should not be used.
> 
> Thanks!



That's the sketch copied and pasted From TomCT2 post, not mine!


Anyway, I've had enough of this. It can be done, how is a matter of choice. All my 5 table saws tilt to the left, so I'm biased to keeping the fence on the right side of the blade so that any off fall is on the left side and the workpiece is between the blade and the fence, typical of newer saws and SOP. :vs_cool:


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

cheap a$$ router table would do this in a heartbeat with a simple chamfer bit


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## JohnGi (May 9, 2019)

Making any moulding that requires multiple passes needs to start with very straight stock. Otherwise you won't get uniform registration of the cuts along the length. Basswood or poplar stock will run straighter than maple just because of the nature of the wood and are less stiff; so any little bow will press out easier. If you can't face joint and plane the stock, select it carefully for flatness. Rip it oversize and then edge joint and rip it truly straight before you make any of the bevel cuts.

When I have to make multiple passes, I avoid machining the reference edge--a jointer or shaper cuts the same edge as it references, a planer or rip saw does not. Reference edge cuts are prone to end snipe, and those snipes get worse and worse.


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