First, I consult my Stark Lumber molding brochure to see if it is a stock item. Failing that, I trace out the profile on a piece of paper and see if I can match it up with a combination of a couple of router bits. I use this approach if I only need 10-20 lineal feet of molding.
It's difficult to get consistent results running profiles on a router table, even using multiple feather boards to apply pressure. Prior to buying my own molder-planer, my only other option was to have Stark do a custom run for me.
Several years ago I invested in a Grizzly 1037 13-inch molder planer to produce some mahogany base and c
asing for a master suite project we were working on. The lead time and cost from Stark seemed high, so I thought I would do it myself.Unfortunately, the cutter profile required wasn't sold by Grizzly. I knew that the machine used three knives of 1/8
inch thick steel, so I decided to grind my own. I purchased a length of 1/8 inch 0-1 (oil hardening steel). I cut three, 3-inch lengths and used a sharpie to trace the profile onto one of them. I then clamped all three together and used a die grinder to grind to the lines. It actually worked pretty well and I got a good match. Then I heated each knife with an acetylene torch to a dull cherry glow and plunged it into a bucket of used motor oil.
Now to sharpen them and put them in the machine. Wait a minute. How in the world do you grind a consistent 45-degree bevel on curved edges and do it exactly the same three times? Way beyond my skill set.
A couple of saw blade sharpening places couldn't help me, but one did direct me to Vexor Custom Woodworking Tools on N. Washington in Denver. This is shop that specializes in grinding cutting tools for the woodworking industry.
Imagine my chagrin when they informed me that they would have ground the knives to my profile and sharpened them for about 40 percent more than they charged me to sharpen them! Oh well, I got to play around with steel, grinders and a torch!
Shops like Vexor charge by the inch. To save money I only have them grind knives that take care of the profile, and I use S4S (surfaced 4 sides) stock. The Grizzly 1037 will accept knives up to 4 9/16 inches long, so if you have detail all along the width of your trim, you can cut it.
What if your trim has detail wider than that? You will have to get two sets of knives ground and do it in two sets of passes.
For this particular job, we were installing five new vertical-grain Douglas fir doors that needed new three-piece cabinet head trim. Many times the two-casing legs are just 4 ¼-inch flat board stock, but in this case the legs had a profile. No luck with the Stark catalog for the casing, but their SCM-1 crown and fillet were good for the cabinet head pieces.
Some of the original trim was missing, and the rest was in poor shape, painted over multiple times. If a clear or light stain finish was going to be used, all the trim would have to be run in Douglas fir. That would have required a special run of crown and fillet by Stark in a non-stock species.
Some of the original trim was missing, and the rest was in poor shape, painted over multiple times. If a clear or light stain finish was going to be used, all the trim would have to be run in Douglas fir. That would have required a special run of crown and fillet by Stark in a non-stock species.
Because the doors and trim were going to be stained a dark brown, we made the decision to run the casing in poplar, a very versatile wood. A good finisher can make it look like cherry or walnut, but the heartwood varies from green to purple, so you have to hand select the cream-
colored sapwood boards.
The molding knives are locked into the cutter head with gibs, wedge-shaped metal pieces with set screws. Make sure they are in alignment (use the provided jig) and all gib screws are tightened.
The molding knives are locked into the cutter head with gibs, wedge-shaped metal pieces with set screws. Make sure they are in alignment (use the provided jig) and all gib screws are tightened.Once your stock is ripped to width, you can begin producing your molding. I always run a test piece, usually in three passes to produce the full-depth profile. The first two passes are pretty heavy, hogging out most of the shape, and the third pass is to clean up and get the correct thickness.
Depending on the molding, some shallow details are not cut until this final pass. I keep comparing my test piece to the original until I am satisfied. I note where I ended up on the planer depth scale so I can duplicate it on the finish pass of my production run.Then it's simply a matter of feeding each board into the machine and walking around the backside to take it out. I set up an out-feed roller stand to minimize snipe, although you will usually get 4 inches to 6 inches worth per board on each end. Not the shore wader bird, but the deeper cut caused by the board entering and exiting the cutterhead at an angle.
This brings up an important point. I knew that I needed 20 6-foot, 6-inch casing legs, 130 linear feet. I purchased 20 8-foot lengths of 1x6, because the board ends often have cracks and because of the snipe issue.
Don't shortchange yourself! After the molding was run, I touch sanded each piece with 120 grit on my random orbit sander and then ran a very light cut with a round over bit in myBosch PR10E trim router.
The finished product looks great, now it's time to install the doors and trim them out!
