I know this isn't strictly a woodworking question but I thought
someone might be able to answer this one.
I added a chair rail to a room with a window that has a existing stool
and skirt. I'm placing the new chair rail to it matches the top line
of the stool. The chair rail is a not quite as wide as the combination
of the stool and skirt.
Seems easy right?
Now I already installed the chair rail around the other walls of the
room. Everything is tight and looks nice. Only a few cuts to go or so
I thought.
Wow, I tried using my profile gauge, made paper templates, made direct
measurements and tried to duplicate the angles, tried holding up a
piece of the scrap of chair rail with paper taped to create the
profile I needed to make. (The paper templates always fit perfectly.)
I have nifty little scribe tools that work great when I'm scribing one
flat object to another flat object. They weren't much help in this
circumstance.
I have a scroll saw that I used to cut all kinds of test cuts. It
seemed like the problem was that I couldn't draw the cut I need to
make directly on the chair rail. I also tried taping paper down on the
chair rail so it followed the same curves as the chair rail. Every
time I tried to duplicate this cut it was always off. I just couldn't
figure out what I was doing wrong. I tried breaking the cut in to
different parts. I used different combinations of direct measurements
and paper templates and my profile gauges.
(The profile gauge is the one with the little metal rods in it where
you push it against the object you want to copy. The "negative" of the
profile is copied from the opposite side of the gauge.) I even tried
making the cut backwards on the flat side of the chair rail. (Thinking
the curves were throwing me off from getting the correct measurements
on the other side. Nope, that didn't work either.)
I spent hours making test cuts. I finally got something that worked
but it was a fight all the way. I finally got it close and filled in
the gaps with spackling compound and painted it. (I even called a
molding shop where I buy trim and asked them if they knew a better way
to do this. They didn't.)
Professional trim carpenters don't spend all day figuring this out.
What do they do?
(Next time, I'll just move the chair rail up 3 inches and avoid the
entire problem by placing a butt joint against the shutters that are
right above the stool.)
Now that it is done, I still curious as to the best way to solve this
or a similar problem.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 03:04:16 GMT, "Carter"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Now that it is done, I still curious as to the best way to solve this
>or a similar problem.
Not saying it's the best, but I might have removed the stool,
appropriately notched it, and installed the rail behind it.
Another method, if possible, would have me slipping a piece of paper
between the wall and the stool, tracing the profile, and using the
paper as a template.
If I could see it, I might have other ideas, or simply use the same
methods you did. <G>
Barry
Thanks for your suggestions.
Your idea to remove the stool is one that I didn't consider. That's a
good one.
Your other suggestion, about making a paper template - I tried that a
number of times. The problem (at least for me) was when I made the
template against the wall - it made an outline against the wall not
the profile of the chair rail.
So when I tried to match the template that was drawn referencing a
flat surface to the surface of the chair rail they wouldn't match up.
(Because the total line distance of the paper template was shorter
than the line that follows the contours of the chair rail.)
That's why the paper template always fit perfectly but it didn't give
me a perfect cut when I transferred the line to the chair rail.
At least that is what I surmised when I kept cutting it and it was
always off at least an 1/8".
if I understand the situation right, I'd probably scribe the line with
a pencil compass.
On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 03:04:16 GMT, "Carter"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I know this isn't strictly a woodworking question but I thought
>someone might be able to answer this one.
>
>I added a chair rail to a room with a window that has a existing stool
>and skirt. I'm placing the new chair rail to it matches the top line
>of the stool. The chair rail is a not quite as wide as the combination
>of the stool and skirt.
>
>Seems easy right?
>
>Now I already installed the chair rail around the other walls of the
>room. Everything is tight and looks nice. Only a few cuts to go or so
>I thought.
>
>Wow, I tried using my profile gauge, made paper templates, made direct
>measurements and tried to duplicate the angles, tried holding up a
>piece of the scrap of chair rail with paper taped to create the
>profile I needed to make. (The paper templates always fit perfectly.)
>
>I have nifty little scribe tools that work great when I'm scribing one
>flat object to another flat object. They weren't much help in this
>circumstance.
>
>I have a scroll saw that I used to cut all kinds of test cuts. It
>seemed like the problem was that I couldn't draw the cut I need to
>make directly on the chair rail. I also tried taping paper down on the
>chair rail so it followed the same curves as the chair rail. Every
>time I tried to duplicate this cut it was always off. I just couldn't
>figure out what I was doing wrong. I tried breaking the cut in to
>different parts. I used different combinations of direct measurements
>and paper templates and my profile gauges.
>
>(The profile gauge is the one with the little metal rods in it where
>you push it against the object you want to copy. The "negative" of the
>profile is copied from the opposite side of the gauge.) I even tried
>making the cut backwards on the flat side of the chair rail. (Thinking
>the curves were throwing me off from getting the correct measurements
>on the other side. Nope, that didn't work either.)
>
>I spent hours making test cuts. I finally got something that worked
>but it was a fight all the way. I finally got it close and filled in
>the gaps with spackling compound and painted it. (I even called a
>molding shop where I buy trim and asked them if they knew a better way
>to do this. They didn't.)
>
>Professional trim carpenters don't spend all day figuring this out.
>What do they do?
>
>(Next time, I'll just move the chair rail up 3 inches and avoid the
>entire problem by placing a butt joint against the shutters that are
>right above the stool.)
>
>Now that it is done, I still curious as to the best way to solve this
>or a similar problem.
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Thanks.
Thanks for responding.
I tried that too. The metal point on my compass angled inward a pretty
good bit. (So I couldn't put the point where I wanted to trace. I
really wanted the point to be at a right angle.)
As I think of it now, I could have made a jig with holed drilled for a
pencil in each end
(That way the pencil tracing the profile could have been inserted at a
right angle.)
I wish I would have thought of it at the time.
On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 04:06:37 GMT, "Carter"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Thanks for responding.
>
>I tried that too. The metal point on my compass angled inward a pretty
>good bit. (So I couldn't put the point where I wanted to trace. I
>really wanted the point to be at a right angle.)
>
>As I think of it now, I could have made a jig with holed drilled for a
>pencil in each end
>
>(That way the pencil tracing the profile could have been inserted at a
>right angle.)
>
>I wish I would have thought of it at the time.
sometimes I make special one-off tools for oddball scribes.one for
that application might be a thin flat stick 2 or 3 inches wide, one
end sharpened to a rounded point like a fence picket, with a hole near
the middle that the pencil would press snugly into.
Bridger