# Does it make sense to cut crown in the room?



## klawman (Dec 2, 2009)

I am making a miter saw stand and will mainly be using it to cut crown molding for my own house. Is there any benefit to taking the saw into the room where I am installing crown or should I leave it in the garage. If the first, I will build a portable stand to mount on saw horses. If the second, I will make a cabinet type with casters, folding wings, and a dust shelf.


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## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

it is a whole lot easier if you can cut your trim pieces on the spot rather than have to measure and then head out to cut. if you cut as well as i do you then will try to place your piece and find out that you need to take it back outside and cut it again. the problem you will run into inside is having enough room to put your trim pieces on the saw and get them set so you can cut what you need.


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## Julian the woodnut (Nov 5, 2008)

Bring it in! That is unless you want to bang up the walls carrying the long pieces in and out repeatedly to get the final cuts perfect.


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## mwhafner (Jan 16, 2009)

It is incredibly handy to be able to cut as close as possible to the work location. If it is a very large room, then you typically don't have issues with maneuvering your trim into cutting position. With a small room and 16' trim, it is a nightmare (if not impossible). If you have several rooms to do, then it may be better to find hallway where you can setup. 

If your saw has a dust port, hook up a shopvac. Even on a saw with poor dust collection capabilities, the vac will likely collect the vast majority of the fine dust that gets airborne.


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## klawman (Dec 2, 2009)

*Portable miter saw station.*

I am glad I asked. It isn't just the convenience, but I can picture myself banging the heck out of the walls and the crown carrying it to and from the garage. As for dust collection, I bought a shop vac on a Black Friday sale and it plugs right into where a bag hangs off of the saw's dust port. Thanks for the advice.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

It all depends upon the work situation. I have done it both ways. In a condo that was stripped of everything I did not care about making dust. When I was redoing my house while living in it I did not want the dust inside. I did not like walking back and forth to the garage or outside, but that was best.

No matter what system or how careful you are, you are going to generate dust that is going to get everywhere.

As has already been mentioned it is hard to maneuver 16' pieces of crown and/or base inside. 

In the final analysis it really boils down to whether or not you are willing to tolerate the dust inside. Your family may also not like the noise.

G


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## garryswf (Aug 17, 2009)

*Been there, done that*

I agree that cutting it in the room it will be installed in, to me, makes all the sense in the world. The LOML would disagree with everyone. I installed crown moulding in our house after we purchased it, and had already painted the ceilings and walls, even with good ventilation and some dust control there was still fine airborne dust that had to be cleaned from the new paint - PITA.
If you makes your cuts in the house i recommend trying to control as much of the fine saw dust as possible.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Piling on here*

What kind of heating system do you have. Forced air will draw the airborne dust in and then relocate it into the rest of the house if the filtering system is not up to par. You can seal off the room you're working in with a visqueen flap if there are no doors.
There are tricks in cutting crown to length by using a precut measuring stick and then allowing for that length in the measurement. This allows very accurate measurements for a one time only cut, to save all the back and forth cutting and fitting. 
C-man posted this tip I believe here before.Or WillyT or chief woodworker or LeoG....somebody will fess up :laughing: bill
Maybe this was it:
cabinetman 
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Here is a tip for cutting crown, if ya-all promise not to spread it around.

To get lengths right, like between two 90 degree outside corners, cut two sample pieces. Cut a 45 on the left one and a 45 on the right one. As they sit on the wall cut them both off at 90 degrees, 10" long. I picked 10" because it's an even number, and I'm a simple guy.

Now, when you go to get a wall measurement, set the two pieces up so the miter closes up, and make a fine pencil mark on the straight end. From that mark to wherever the crown goes you can get a wall measurement from that corner by adding 10". If you do that on the other corner, you will have the dimension between marks that you can add 20" to. 

You can cut the actual crown a bit heavy to fine tune the mitered fit.


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## joesdad (Nov 1, 2007)

We regularly use a Fein vac system with an auto on/off switch attached to any saw set up in a house, garage, even a driveway.Builders and customers get all gooey over neatness. I've used the Dewalt portable stands for about eight years now, and have yet to see another stand that is as stable and compact when broken down as that one. IMO you really can't compare a chop saw station in a shop/garage to a portable one. I have a great ten year old Makita benchtop saw that I use on site that sets inside a Rouesseu stand with all the wings and outfeed gizmos you could wan't. It's a great portable set up, but can't compare to using the big cabinet saw in the shop. 

So I guess if this is a one time crown project for you, then I'd say build your more permanent one, and just for the day practice your navigational skills with long lengths of crown through the house, it's usually the ends that ding the walls, so just throw a heavy boot sock on the ends. The sock won't help much if you swing it into a chandelier! (been there)


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## klawman (Dec 2, 2009)

*Damn if I do, damn if I don't*

Thank you all for your suggestions and pointing out the pros and cons. I like the idea of being portable enough to be able to set up in the house. I think the cabinet style would allow that, though it would be a bit unwieldy - especially if lugged upstairs. Still, it can be done by first removing the saw.

Saw dust in the house is a bitch, even if the paint is all well cured and if some attempt is made to cover things with sheets. The forced air system will want to spread it throughout the house, even if much is caught in a dust box I may build into cabinet. The idea is to connect the shop fact to a hole in the back of the dust bina s well as to the miter saws dust bag port.

A homeowner customer would probably give you hell for making a mess they have to clean up. We would just have to clean. 

I like having a place for long term storage in the garage and the cabinet style gives me a place to store a few other things down below.

Actually, I built a 100" gauge stick from a piece of molding for measuring walls just yesterday. I got the idea from a Gary Katz DVD "Conquering Crown Moulding". It should enable me to accurately measure most walls without an assistant (my son).

The more I think of it, the more I will go with the cabinet on 4" casters. I can do the downstairs first, in which case I can set up for pretty good access whether I locate the saw in the garage or the back patio. Perhaps by the time I am done with the downstairs, I will be accurate enough not to have to make many adjustments and can simply precut everything in the garage.

I like that idea about putting sox on the crown.

Oh. If I locate the saw on the upstairs landing when I get to the upstairs, I will be within 5 feet of the air intake for the heating and cooling system. If it is running while I am working, the intake filter may keep some of the dust from getting everywhere. I know, some will spread out regardless.

Thanks again for all the ideas.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

woodnthings said:


> There are tricks in cutting crown to length by using a precut measuring stick and then allowing for that length in the measurement. This allows very accurate measurements for a one time only cut, to save all the back and forth cutting and fitting.
> C-man posted this tip I believe here before. bill


 





cabinetman said:


> Here is a tip for cutting crown, if ya-all promise not to spread it around.
> 
> To get lengths right, like between two 90 degree outside corners, cut two sample pieces. Cut a 45 on the left one and a 45 on the right one. As they sit on the wall cut them both off at 90 degrees, 10" long. I picked 10" because it's an even number, and I'm a simple guy.
> 
> ...



I prefer to cut in the same room or in close proximity. Carrying wood in and out of a room gets old real fast, and very tiring.


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## jjrbus (Dec 6, 2009)

Out here in the sticks situation permitting, I set up the saw outside a window. 
I try never to use a shop vac in the house, all they do is blow dust everywhere!! If I have to use one I cover the exhaust with a wet towel and keep it damp, or plug an extra hose in the exhaust and stick it out a window. HTH JIm


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## mwhafner (Jan 16, 2009)

These situations are exactly why I bought into the Festool system. 

First, you can buy a filter that is a little larger than your return. It will help the intake of fine debris. 

Second, make sure you have a good filter on your shop vac. As jjrbus mentioned, you have to be careful, as an improperly setup vac can actually compound your dust problem.

Another idea that helps is to use a velour blanket to cover doorways, instead of plastic. The native static charge of the fabric will help trap dust particles.


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## Av8rTx (Mar 10, 2009)

The back and forth trip is the only exercise I get these days! 
The best was doing our master bedroom with a private exterior entrance and deck, I set up my tools there! 
I've worked inside the house with my power tools and the dust was everywhere like others have said. At that time saw dust was an accepted fact of life in an old house we were trying to make livable while living in it. Now it is a PIA and probably a health hazard. In the beginning I didn't have Heat/ac now I do so out to the shop I go.


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## LarryS (Jan 2, 2010)

Some really good ideas here, another one to save you some frustration and potentially expensive molding is to make up some sample miter pieces off different angles and label them so you can use these samples to set your saw and molding to proper settings.

My personal opinion, cut as close as possible, but I avoid cutting inside as the dust is a longterm problem, a little exercise is not.

Larry


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## klawman (Dec 2, 2009)

LarryS said:


> Some really good ideas here, another one to save you some frustration and potentially expensive molding is to make up some sample miter pieces off different angles and label them so you can use these samples to set your saw and molding to proper settings.
> 
> My personal opinion, cut as close as possible, but I avoid cutting inside as the dust is a longterm problem, a little exercise is not.
> 
> Larry


 
I have decided to cut my boards in the patio which has entrances into the family room/kithchen and living room/dining room. What I do about the upstairs will turn on how much work it is lugging crown through the downstairs. I may set up a cut room, similar to a paint room, on the upstairs landing. Kind of like what I did when refinishing the wood flooring in the kitchen.


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