# homemade trim?



## ponch37300 (Feb 27, 2008)

I am remodeling my house and will be replacing all the trim soon. I like the look of a 1x4 with cap trim on top and quarter round on the bottom. Is there any money to be saved by making your own trim? I'm always looking for an excuse for a new tool and love the experience of doing something new. I have used router tables before but not alot. Am i better off buying the premade molding or making my own? Thanks for any advice


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## Marko (Feb 11, 2008)

depends what your doin with it.......if your going to  paint it then I would put in the cheapest stuff I get my hands on...MDF preprimed that looks close to the dim's you described above.But if your a "craftsman" you probably wouldn't want to live with yourself knowing you didn't take the opportunity to express yourself through your trimwork.making the moldings or putting together a configuration of moldings is easy.Allowing yourself the opportunity to get creative can get tricky,time consuming,expensive or what have you.I personally have a 1x8 EWP Baseboard and casings in my home with a shoemold at the hardwood floors all polyclearcoated.Did it cost much?compared to what,MDF preprimed?heck yeah it did,but it looks great and fits the loghome like a glove.:yes:My guess is your gonna have some new tools to enjoy and a trim job to die for soon.....Have fun!


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## daryl in nanoose (Feb 18, 2007)

The only profile I can think of would be either a cove or round over at the top otherwise I think you will find it's a lot easier and in the long run cheeper to buy it. Also trim comes in very long lengths and to try to do this in your shop could be major pita.
Just my two cents worth:smile:


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## mmwood_1 (Oct 24, 2007)

Probably the good reasons to make your own trim are: 1)if you want profiles that are not readily available; 2) if you want your trim in a wood species which trim isn't available in. 

I am currently making trim for a job I'm on which requires ash. Can't get that readily unless I special order from a mill and the quantity I need doesn't justify that cost.


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## BlockHead (Dec 28, 2007)

I once had to match up some existing trim in a 150 year old house. I The custom profile cutters ran about $650 and I used the shaper in my friends shop. But A) my customer paid for the cutters and B) I got paid for the work. 

I imagine you could come up with some pretty neat profiles with simple router bits and a little imagination.


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## Hack (Oct 9, 2007)

mmwood_1 said:


> Probably the good reasons to make your own trim are: 1)if you want profiles that are not readily available; 2) if you want your trim in a wood species which trim isn't available in.
> 
> I am currently making trim for a job I'm on which requires ash. Can't get that readily unless I special order from a mill and the quantity I need doesn't justify that cost.


+1.

My home is just over 100 years old. The casings, picture rails, baseboards, etc. are something that isn't available anymore. I have duplicated picture rail using a stacked dado and router table. I have duplicated plate rails using stacked crown molding and other pieces.

We have a local guy called "The King of Crown". He will custom mill any shape/size you want, but it's not cheap...


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## ponch37300 (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks guys. Guess i will be making my own molding soon! Now time to buy a good router and table. And bits to get the right molding. Any ideas on which router and table?


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## Capt Crutch (Jan 21, 2008)

If you plan to make a lot of molding (and you need a 12" planer) then you might want to consider a Foley Belsaw planer/molder/ripper machine. You can pick them up used at reasonable prices, parts are still available from Belsaw, and the molding cutters are not that expensive to have made. Another nice feature is that you don't need to remove the planer knives before installing the molding cutters...just install your molding cutters, run your wood through, then remove the molding cutters, and you're back in business as a planer again without having to re-set your planer knives.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I will be setting up the Woodmaster to run a bunch of eastern red cedar trim here in a week or a month. I'll posta few pics. So to oanswer your question when you say you are looking for a reason to buy a new tool, alot of guys make good livings doing nothing but making custom trim and moulding. 

There are alot of machines to choose from. Logosol is one that comes to mind. But for the money, how can you go wrong buying a (especially a good used one - you can find them cheap) Woodmaster or such and you get a trim/moulding machine/sander/planer/gang rip saw.

Not that you want to get into the custom trim/moulding business but you really open up your own woodworking/remodeling options when you own a machine like that.


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## clampman (Oct 20, 2006)

Poncho,



> Is there any money to be saved by making your own trim?


In general, I would say NO for standing and running trim (ie. casing, base and crown). But for things like bullnosing window stools which do no entail hundreds of linear feet, or putting some kind of detail on them, yes. Or edging door head caps, things like that.

I had three shapers, two with power feeds, and it was not cost effective to run casings, base or crown. I did run a couple small crowns for cabinets and ocassionally fireplace surrounds. I also ran a variety of small overlay and inset moldings for which I had knives ground to my own drawings. These could not have been run effectively with a router.

I also had duplicates of the inside and outside profiles of casings I used on a lot of jobs so I could run 2 piece casings (to match the one piece bought stuff) in cases where jack miters were needed or greater flexibility needed around windows abutted by cabinets and so on.

I also had 5 or 6 routers set up for various things. But not for running trim.

Good luck,

Jim


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## BudK (Mar 6, 2007)

I ran into this problem while doing a lead abatement .
It was impossible to find off the shelf molding in the widths that were used in our 100 yr.old home . Door stops , dr.& window trim would have had to custom ordered , custom cutters fabricated & so on .
I got around this by using a molding head on the table saw for stops , and adding a strip of poplar to commercial trim for door casings . It had to fit the existing mop splash ...

It is also possible to transfer profiles from your existing moldings , and with a bench grinder , make your own profiles .
It helps to have a friend in the tool sharpening business .
I know I saved mucho bucks .
Lots of luck !
BK


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## Al Killian (Aug 14, 2007)

I ended up buy a molding machine to make my own and ended up makeing it for local contractors.:thumbsup: This is one machine that I can say paid for it self in less then six month.


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

My wife and I recently did our hallway over with panelling painted a light blue. The rest of the house has a lot of cedar panelling in it, finished with natural varnish, so I wanted to tie the hall in by doing the base boards and cove mouldings in wood with natural varathane finish. We didn't want to do the entire hall in cedar panelling, because it has little light coming into it, so is a bit dark. I have a small planer, and small router table, as well as access to wood off cuts from my brother. So, I decided to give the trim a go , partly to save money, and partly just for my own satisfaction. I made the base boards out of 3/8 inch thick hemlock, 21/2 inches wide, with a 1/4 inch roundover on top. I made the door casings out of western red cedar 3/4 inches thick by 21/2 inches wide, rounded over on both edges. I made the cove mouldings out of wrc about 2 inches wide, with an ogee edge on the bottom. All trim was finished with natural satin varathane, and against the pale blue walls it looks terrific. Did I save any money? not too sure, but I am retired, and the satisfaction is terrific. I keep meaning to have a look at what trim mouldings cost these days, but haven't so far. As mentioned earlier, if you are just going to paint the trim, go with MDF. But, if you want the look of natural wood, then you will probably want to do them yourself.

Have fun with your new toys.

Gerry


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## Handyman (Jan 2, 2008)

I once worked in a 100+ year old house with 3" cove trim at the ceiling. I hunted to 3 days, and only found out that it wasn't avalible anywhere. Sad to say I had to pull the rest of it out and replace it with standered crown. It botherd me to have to do it, but the owner didnt care and just wanted it done.


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