Architrave and Skirting

[Mr Punter]

I have used wax to fill a few gaps that have opened up with picture framing around oak flooring.  If you use wax, get the OSMO oil on first or it won't take where the wax has been applied (only a fool would do otherwise!).

[Oz07]

What's up is your saw good quality and sharp blade?

[ProDave]

I will post pictures later, well probably tomorrow.

 

More a case of the slot in the mitre block I was using is slightly wider than the saw blade so allows a certain amount of "wobble" resulting in a less than perfect cut.  Wait for the pictures later.

[Oz07]

Oh hand saw!? Fair play bit think you'll struggle can't you borrow a chop saw

[ProDave]

I have a chop saw but I suspect it would end up with a worse cut.

 

Anyway this is it:

 

 

That is not fixed in any way, just stood there, and the wood is bare at the moment.

 

If I could fill it with something that could be oiled, or oil it first and fill it with something that would look a similar colour it might be okay.  Lots of wood fillers say they can be painted or stained, I have not found one yet that says it can be oiled.

 

I suspect part of the problem is with the corner bead that the plasterer used, the angle may be a bit more than 90 degrees.

 

I think I have about 8 external corners to do like this in total, most of them around door reveals like this one.

[joe90]

Why not try one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/9011365381?iid=132105346239&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=132105346239&targetid=879667141355&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045293&poi

 

on another matter, internal corners. I gave up doing 45’ cuts on these years ago, I now instal A full board to the longest wall then using a profile tool https://www.amazon.co.uk/Profile-Gauge-Accurately-Shape-Woodworking-Tiling/dp/B00AJ6VK4A cut the second board to fit with a jigsaw. Cut that board a bit long then cut to length after the joint fits well. I find the corners fit much better this way.

Edited April 4, 2020 by joe90

[ProDave]

I have one of those. I used it in the last house for the same thing with no better results.  Even those have a surprising amount of slack in them.

 

I suspect this is the hardest joinery cut to get right.

[joe90]

I have used a very good quality (powered) chopsaw on a site and it proved very accurate and did very good 45’ mitres,  I could not afford one of those but another chippy on site was good enough to let me use his ?, perhaps hire one fir a day?.make sure it’s a double mitre Saw and cut the board flat .

Edited April 4, 2020 by joe90

[Oz07]

External mitres I usually look at corner and set saw to around 46/47 deg if looks a sharp corner. A joint always better if open at back rather than front. I also glue externals with mitre bond before fixing to wall. 

With internals again just cut a 45 on the piece you want scoring then remove the end grain. Perfect scribe no profile tool needed

[JFDIY]

One way I'd consider to do an outside corner would be to cut them around 2" long. Put them in place, then scribe the inside with a pencil or even a knife. You them have the minimum length of the shortest part, obviously need to check it's square up the height of the skirting.

 

The you just need to do the mitre, check the angle of the wall and go from there, last one I did I cut roughly then used a bevel gauge on a disk sander/punisher, a bit at a time, as mentioned above leaving the outer side longer than needed for a start.

 

 

[tommyt]

23 minutes ago, joe90 said:

 

on another matter, internal corners. I gave up doing 45’ cuts on these years ago, I now instal A full board to the longest wall then using a profile tool https://www.amazon.co.uk/Profile-Gauge-Accurately-Shape-Woodworking-Tiling/dp/B00AJ6VK4A cut the second board to fit with a jigsaw. Cut that board a bit long then cut to length after the joint fits well. I find the corners fit much better this way.

That’s the way I do it but just use a small off cut of board to draw the profile cut needed on the back of the board to be cut

[Barney12]

30 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

External mitres I usually look at corner and set saw to around 46/47 deg if looks a sharp corner. A joint always better if open at back rather than front. I also glue externals with mitre bond before fixing to wall. 

This is absolutely the right way to do it. You can even fully glue the joint with a good quality wood glue. Just tape the mitres together with some masking tape and leave them for an hour. That way you have a perfect mitre and can offer it up to the wall. Even if your corner is a couple of degrees out you will have a small gap between the wall and the skirting which will be unnoticeable with a bit of calk. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Barney12
Typos

[Barney12]

Internal corners shouldn’t be mitred at all. Instead you should cut one piece flush to the corner and then the other is scribed to match the profile. This enables you to trap the two lengths against the wall. 
 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Barney12

[tommyt]

1 minute ago, Barney12 said:

Internal corners shouldn’t be mitred at all. Instead you should cut one piece flush to the corner and then the other is scribed to match the profile. This enables you to trap the two lengths against the wall. 
 

Yep, this ?? Is the way

[ProDave]

Yep that's now I do the internal corners.

 

It's the external ones I am struggling with.

[Oz07]

I still scribe internals but if you cut a 45 on one of them,  the one you want scribing, this gives you the shape to cut out without bothering to trace with an offcut. Also as a 45 cut gives you the thickness of the board measuring is quicker/easier 

[SiBee]

Oz they are not listening to you pal?. The method you describe is how my uncle showed me. He is a carpenter/joiner. Once the profile has been cut at 45 degrees, I rub a pencil against the edge just to make the shape clear for cutting out.

Too much faff and I prefer plain and clean lines these days so all my skirts and arcs are square edge.

[Oz07]

The medium of internet forums it's hard to get your message across sometimes! I should hope I know what I'm talking about been doing it long enough now! These days pre primed mdf gives a good contrast so you can see the shape to be cut out!

Pro tip. If internal corners shallower than 45 you can then cut your scribe with your saw taking more out the back edge. Same theory as above and the joint will be nice and tight on the face. 

[Oz07]

Shallower than 90 I should of said

[ProDave]

Lets have some more positive input to the thread.  The bits I have finished, the architrave and skirting on the upstairs doors.

 

All upstairs doors have their archtrave.  Only the left hand door on the first picture has it's proper oak door stop (I only bought 2 lengths to try it and the merchant is now closed)  The rest of the doors still have a scrappy temporary bit of door stop.

 

 

 

 

Remember these are the door frames I made out of left over engineered oak floor boards.  It is pleasing that the end result of frames made of floor boards, oak doors, solid oak door stops, and veneered oak architrave and skirtings all end up with pretty much the same finish and match together nicely.

 

Only the landing side has the corner blocks.  Those are purely to enable one stock length of architrave to do two sides of a door with hardly any waste.  The bedroom sides of the door frames have no corner block with the architrave going down to the floor.

 

[ProDave]

Take 2 at cutting an external corner.  (a different corner this time)

 

This time the cut done with the chop saw.

 

 

Better, but not perfect.

[Simplysimon]

@ProDave i would suggest in both mitre pics you scribe the sqaure cut which abuts the door frame first, you then have two options.

 

1    if the corner is square and you have a combination square, use that as your cutting guide, holding the saw tight to it and sawing along it. mark where the other section of timber bisects at the inner corner and that is your start point for the cut. using the combination square and saw, cut through the mould onto the face, square a line from the inner edge of the saw cut and continue cutting. do the same on the opposite piece and plane with a razor sharp finely set blockplane and use the plane slowly, you can't blockplane quickly and accurately.

 

2   if the corner is not square this shoudn't be an issue unless you have obtuse angle walls (deliberately). mark inside and outside edge points to bisect the angle and saw between the two points by eye as for the previous to cut through the mould and then continue as above.

 

as for internal butt and scribes (the correct method) the same process is adopted as with @Oz07, however, i would stop cutting again after the mould as it's easier to cut square as opposed to 45deg. back bevel the cut to ensure the front edge hits before the back.

[Pete]

Can you set the chop saw to do small incremental changes ? You sometimes need an angle finder which will give you the exact angle to which you can set your chop saw. 

Have you tried using some old timber pieces to get the angle right if you do not have an angle finder?