Renovation 4th Edition

by Michael Litchfield

  surements from the 1-in. mark, remembering to

  ners are rarely 90º exactly, use an adjustable

  and chaos eventually lead to

  deduct 1 in. when taking readings.

  bevel to record the angle needed and then make

  wasted time and costly mistakes.

  A 6-ft. folding rule with a sliding-brass exten-

  miter cuts that bisect the actual angle.

  sion is handy for readings of less than 6 ft.

  Levels, —2 ft., 4 ft., and torpedo—should be part

  because the rigid rule won’t flop around as a tape of any finish carpenter’s tool chest; use smaller

  measure will. The sliding extension on one end of levels in tight spaces.

  the rule is useful for taking accurate measure-

  Buy or borrow a laser level if you need to set

  ments inside cabinets as well as between door

  cabinets at the same height or align different

  and window jambs.

  trim elements in a room.

  A framing square held against a door or win-

  dow frame quickly tells if it’s square or not—a

  good practice when sizing up a trim job.

  A combination square is both a square and a

  45º miter gauge, so it can be used to mark square

  Finish Carpentry

  479

  and a bevel (an angle cut across a board, in which

  the sawblade is tilted)—hence the name com-

  pound miter. It will also cut through wider stock

  such as wide baseboards or crown molding.

  A tablesaw may be the only table tool you need

  if you are cutting only miter or butt joints.

  Tablesaw guides are generally not as accurate or

  as easy to readjust as the guides on power miter

  saws, so recutting miter joints will be a bit more

  work. With a power miter saw, you clamp the

  stock steady and move the blade, whereas cutting

  a miter on a tablesaw requires feeding long pieces

  of trim at an odd angle to the blade.

  Still, tablesaws, while costly, can be worth the

  investment because they can cut stock to length

  (crosscut) and width (rip cut), prepare edges for

  joining, and cut dadoes (slots) easily.

  A power miter saw is a must if you’re installing a houseful of trim. The 10-in. sliding compound

  A miter trimmer (also known as a Lion Miter-

  miter saw shown is big enough to make complicated beveled miter cuts in large crown molding.

  Trimmer®) looks like a horizontal guillotine and

  bolts to a bench. Because its blade is razor sharp,

  it slices wood rather than sawing it. Although it

  can shave off paper-thin amounts of wood until

  joints fit exactly, it’s been eclipsed by power miter

  saws for on-site trim installations.

  An oscillating multitool (OMT) (see p. 49) is

  the power tool when you need to cut a piece of

  trim that’s already in place—say, you need to trim

  the bottoms of door casing. OMTs have a wide

  range of blades and grinders. A sabersaw also

  works fine for cutting complex shapes in trim

  that has not yet been installed.

  Use a coping saw to cut along molding profile

  Plate joiner (biscuit joiner) and biscuits. The fence on the front of the tool rests lines, ensuring a tight fit where molding meets in on the board being slotted for glue and biscuits.

  inside corners. For more, see p. 487.

  A plate joiner (biscuit joiner) is a specialized

  Cutting

  saw with a small, horizontal circular blade that

  cuts slots into board edges. After slotting boards

  Which tool you choose depends on how much

  to be joined, inject glue and insert a football-

  trim you’ll cut. Wear safety glasses and hearing

  shaped wooden wafer, called a biscuit, which will

  protection when operating any of these tools.

  swell to create a strong joint with no need for

  nails or screws.

  A miter box with a backsaw will suffice if you

  P R O T I P

  are casing only a doorway or two. A backsaw has

  shaping and sanding

  a reinforced back so its blade is rigid; it should

  For razor-smooth cuts and

  have 12 teeth per inch (tpi) or 13 tpi, with mini-

  A block plane and a palm sander are probably

  tight joints, buy an 80-tooth

  mal offset (splay) so it cuts a thin kerf. Also use-

  all you’ll need unless you plan to shape board

  carbide-tipped blade for a 10-in.

  ful are a dovetail saw (a small backsaw with

  edges to create complex molding, in which case,

  power miter saw or a 100-tooth

  20+ tpi) and a slotting saw, whose kerf is even

  get a router.

  blade for a 14-in. saw. if you

  finer because its teeth are not offset.

  save such blades for finish work

  Block planes are most often used to trim miter

  only, they’ll last a lifetime.

  Buy a power miter saw if you’ve got at least a

  joints for a tight fit. If you slightly back-bevel

  roomful of trim to install. Well worth the cost, a

  miters, the edges of the face will make contact

  power miter adjusts to any angle for miters

  first. Block planes can also shave down a door or

  (angles cut across the face of a board, with the

  window jamb that is too proud (too high above

  blade perpendicular to the stock). A sliding com-

  the wall plane), thereby allowing the trim to lie

  pound miter saw, though more expensive, is more flat. A power plane (see the photo on p. 199) can

  versatile. In one stroke, this saw will cut a miter

  do everything a handplane can but more aggres-

  480 Chapter 17

  handplaning

  nailing and drilling

  P R O T I P

  TipS

  Because most trim is light, it is usually nailed up

  don’t bring trim stock to a job

  When handplaning, clamp the wood securely,

  with finish nails, which have slimmer shanks and

  smaller heads than other nails. Trim-head screws

  site until the drywall joints are

  and push the tool in the direction of the grain.

  (shown in the photo on p. 106) are often speci-

  dry and the building is heated.

  While holding the shoe of the tool flat against

  fied when molding is heavy or complex or when

  otherwise, trim ends will absorb

  the edge of the wood, angle the tool’s body 20º

  moisture, swell, and become dif-

  trim pieces will be subject to twisting or flexing,

  to the line of the board, so that the plane seen

  ficult to install. never store trim

  as happens with door frames and stair treads.

  from above looks like half of a V. At this angle,

  in unheated areas or garages.

  the plane blade encounters less resistance and

  A finish hammer has a smaller head than a

  framing hammer so it’s easier to control when

  clears shavings better.

  trying to avoid denting the trim. Stop when the

  nail head is almost flush with the wood surface,

  then use a nail set to drive the nail head below

  sively, so practice on a piece of scrap and check

  your progress after each pass. Caution: Befo
re

  planing existing trim, use a magnet to scan the

  wood for nails or screws, setting them well below

  the surface before planing.

  Rat-tail files and 4-in-1 rasps (see the bottom

  photo on p. 50) remove small amounts of

  wood from curved surfaces so that coped joints

  fit tightly.

  Routers are reasonably priced and invaluable for

  edge-joining, template cutting, mortising, and

  flush trimming when used with a router table.

  Router tables vary, but on most you mount the

  router upside-down, to the table’s underside, so

  the router bit protrudes above the tabletop. A

  guide fence enables you to feed stock so that the

  router bit shapes its edges uniformly—much as a

  large shaper in a lumber mill would.

  Before setting up a router table, however,

  read up. Fine Woodworking magazine’s website

  (www.finewoodworking.com) has hundreds of

  references on routers and router tables. Above

  Sanders. From left: palm sander, orbital sander, and belt sander.

  all, heed all safety warnings about routers: Their

  razor-sharp blades spin 10,000 rpm to 30,000 rpm.

  Sanders are needed for a variety of jobs. A palm

  sander (or block sander) is useful for shaping

  true grit:

  contours and sanding in tight places and for light

  Which sandpaper for What

  sanding between finish coats. Orbital sanders are

  intermediate in cost, weight, and power. Random-

  orbital sanders sand back-and-forth and orbitally

  coMMon

  grit nuMber

  nAMe

  ("teeth"/sq. in.)

  uses

  (the center of the sander’s pad shifts constantly);

  they cut faster and leave fewer sanding marks. If

  you buy only one sander, this is the one to get.

  coarse

  

  40–60

  stripping finishes

  Belt sanders are great for preparing stock and

  sanding down

  stripping old finishes, but they are so powerful

  Medium

  

  80–120

  minor bumps

  that they tend to obliterate details, so use them

  sparingly. A belt sander is particularly useful for

  Final sanding

  Fine

  

  150–180

  before finishing

  fitting scribed cabinet panels, as shown in the top

  center photo on p. 367. Whatever the size of the

  polish sanding

  Very fine

  (rarely used)

  sander, change the paper often; you shouldn’t

  

  220–240

  need to lean on a sander to make it cut.

  Finish Carpentry

  481

  A SAndpApeR primer

  sandpaper is coated with tiny abrasive particles (grit), which make tiny cuts in the

  material being sanded. sandpaper is rated according to the concentration of grit per

  square inch and the size of the abrasive particles. the lower the grit number, the larger,

  coarser, and more widely spaced the grit particles. conversely, the higher the grit

  number, the finer and more closely spaced the grit is.

  the abrasives on today’s sandpapers are aluminum oxide, silicone carbide, ceramic

  particles, or garnet. Aluminum oxide is the most common abrasive for sanding wood

  because it’s relatively long lasting. silicon carbide, being harder, is better for sanding

  metal, fiberglass, and paint. if you’re renting a big drum sander to strip wood floors,

  its belts will likely be low-grit ceramic sandpaper. garnet, the softest of the bunch, is

  often the grit found on fine and very fine sandpapers.

  if you’re sanding wood, avoid closed-coat sandpaper, which will clog quickly

  because there’s no place for wood dust to go. A better choice for woodworkers is open-

  coat sandpaper, in which only one-third to two-thirds of the surface is coated with

  grit. closed-coat sandpaper is used to sand metal.

  When it comes to finish nails and nailers, smaller is often

  better. This pin nailer weighs less than 5 lb. and shoots

  1-in. to 11⁄2-in. nails.

  the surface. Always set nails before sanding

  tips; some models can drive 250 or more 2-in.

  or finishing.

  screws on a single battery charge. (Whichever

  tool you buy, get a spare battery for recharging

  pneumatic finish nailers have largely replaced

  while you work with the other one.) You’ll find

  hand nailing because pressure settings can be

  more on drills, drivers, and bits in chapter 3.

  adjusted so the nail goes just below the surface.

  You don’t have to set the nails manually. Finish

  nailers won’t dent trim, and you can nail with

  Materials

  P R O T I P

  one hand while holding joints together with the

  Trim materials include custom-milled hard-

  other. Production carpenters favor pneumatic

  woods; softwood boards, molding, and stock

  Most glues will bond MdF,

  models with air hoses running to a compressor,

  caps; medium-density fiberboard (MDF); and

  but its edges tend to suck water

  but cordless models with spare batteries work

  polymer moldings that replicate detailed histori-

  out of glues with thin consisten-

  well, too, for installing small amounts of trim.

  cal styles in lightweight, easy-to-install sections.

  cies. to minimize this tendency,

  Nailers are designed to shoot specific nail

  double-glue joints (rub in a thin

  gauges (thicknesses). Standard finish nailers

  first layer to seal the edges, then

  shoot 15-ga. nails, whereas brad nailers ( pin tack-

  a second to bond the joints) or

  ers) shoot 18-ga. to 20-ga. brads. (The higher the

  Window casing

  apply glue size to seal the edges.

  gauge number, the thinner the nail shank and the

  zzzzzz interior trim

  Crown molding

  polyurethane glue is probably

  weaker the nail.) Most homeowners should stick

  Picture molding

  the best all-around choice.

  with 15-ga. nailers, but brad nailers are great for

  tacking up trim: Brad holes are tiny, so you can

  easily pry off and reposition the trim if needed.

  Brads are also useful for attaching thin cabinet

  elements such as finish toekicks or cabinet side

  panels. If you don’t have many brads to drive, use

  a hand brad pusher.

  Cordless drill/drivers are the essential tool in

  most carpenters’ belts. Although they range up to

  1⁄2-in., 18-volt monsters, unless you’ve got fore-

  arms like Popeye, get a 3⁄8-in., 12-volt cordless

  drill/driver, which has a keyless chuck for quick

  changing of bits. A 12-volt model accepts either

  drill bits or screw tips and has plenty of power

  for finish carpentry tasks. For production car-

  Chair rail

  penters, the next step up in power (and price) is a

  Baseboard

  12-volt impact driver, which accepts only screw

  Door casing

  482 Chapter 1
7

  triM options

  Because trim is costly (especially hardwood

  trim), buy it from a local shop that mills its own.

  zzzzzz Common Molding profiles

  That way, you’ll be more likely to get trim that

  is straight, knot-free, and stored in humidity-

  and temperature-controlled warehouses. If

  Quarter-round

  you’re trying to match existing trim, a local mill-

  ing shop is also your best bet. You may pay a

  Ogee

  setup fee but, all in all, the final cost of a room

  or two of custom trim may be more reasonable

  than you think.

  Talented woodworkers and carpenters some-

  Splay

  times re-create old trim when they need only a

  few feet of it to complete a renovation. Veteran

  woodworker Kit Camp uses a tablesaw, a block

  Cove

  plane, and sanding blocks, as described in “Site-

  Made Moldings in a Pinch” ( Fine Homebuilding

  issue #210.) A homeowner who’s good with a

  router and can find the right bits may be able to

  Fillet

  do the same. Be advised, though, that the task

  is very time-intensive: If you need more than

  16 lin. ft., it’s probably worthwhile to have it

  Ovolo

  milled by a shop.

  Stock trim from a lumberyard or home center

  is often so warped that you must pick through

  Astragal

  the racks and eyeball each piece to see if it’s

  straight. Discard any pieces that are obviously

  heavier than the rest—usually a sign of excessive

  moisture. (Trim is typically dried to 7% to 10%

  moisture content.) Examine each piece for splits

  and cupping across the width. Also, sight down

  the length of each board for excessive twisting.

  You can force a twisted piece into position by

  toenailing and clamping it, but the extra stress

  is likely to open a joint or cause splitting down

  the road.

  If you want the wood grain to show, be even

  pickier or pay more for a select grade. But if you

  plan to paint the trim, most surface blemishes can

  be sanded, filled, or sealed with white pigmented

  shellac (see chapter 18) or a primer-sealer to sup-

  press knot or tannin bleed-through. Finger-jointed

  Specialty blocks cover sawcuts,

  molding, which joins short sections of clear soft-

  However, if you want to dress up a room with

  allowing you to join sections of

  wood, is another option. Although usually painted complex crown moldings, consider installing poly- polymer molding without the need to conceal its glued finger joints, finger-jointed