Posted by: Tamara on April 03, 2005 at 20:18:40

In Reply to: How Do You Cut Crown Molding On A Mitre Saw? Posted by: Doug Blakeley on April 26, 2002 at 06:27:56

I know that the angles to cut the crown molding are 22.5 degrees and 45 degrees, but how do I place the molding into the miter box so that each cut is uniform? Is in fact angled in the right direction and matches up with the rest of the other cuts. It is a puzzlement.

Answer:
No molding to spare is a bad place to be! You need to find some scraps of something close in size to practice with. The 22.5 is across the face and the 45 is on the edge. Practice with a few pieces of scrap first.
More Answers:
According to the guidance in my compound mitre saw instruction manual, there is a relatively easy way to make these uniform cuts. Assuming that your house does not have dead-on 90-degree angle wall-to-wall facing:

1. Fashion a crown molding jig. The jig is a couple 1X pieces of wood put together as an upside down "L". It should be as high as the crown molding when installed. The horizontal 1X needs only to be long enough to form a good corner with the vertical 1X.
2. Secure the jig to the mitre fence using whatever fasteners will work best with your fence. Cut a couple 45-deg cuts into the jig so you have a working notch.
3. Place the crown molding in the jig upside down. The part of the crown molding that faces the ceiling should be flush with the mitre table. The part of the crown molding that faces the wall is snucked into the corner.
4. Using scraps first, cut a couple right and lefts to see what angles work best to finish the molding.
5. Once these angles are ascertained, it should be straightforward to repeat these cuts in the jig.

I'll be trying this this weekend.

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