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Thought Shares

My old way of cutting crown molding was a total joke | Carpenters - Thought Shares

My old way of cutting crown molding was a total joke

Honestly, for years I just held it against the fence and guessed the angle, which led to some real bad gaps. Ngl, I was on a job in Tacoma last month and the homeowner pointed out a quarter inch gap in the corner. I finally broke down and bought a digital angle finder for like 60 bucks. Now I measure the exact wall angle first and set the saw, and the joints are perfect. Anyone else have a tool that saved them from their own old messy habits?

4 comments

4 Comments

evakelly6mo ago

Hold up, that digital angle finder is a great step, but you still have to account for spring angle on crown molding. Measuring the wall corner is only half of it. If you just put flat crown against the fence and use that wall angle number, you can still get a bad fit because crown sits at an angle on the saw. You need to either set the saw bevel or use a jig that holds the molding at its proper angle against the fence. I learned that the hard way after my digital finder gave me perfect numbers but the cuts were still off.

spencer_park264mo ago

Mike from Fine Homebuilding had a good article on this exact thing. He talked about spring angle and how it changes the geometry on the saw. His tip was to measure the spring angle first, then use that number to figure out your bevel setting. That fixed my fit issues after I got the digital finder too. Have you tried that setup or did you just guess the bevel?