Cutting problems

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photech54
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Cutting problems

Post by photech54 »

Hi all,

I seem to get a problem when cutting some mouldings.

I'm using a Morso to cut my mouldings, but sometimes during the final cut I get a ripping, which spoils the piece completely. I've attached a pic showing 2 pieces cut from the same length of moulding to show what is happening.

Is this a blade problem, or not great moulding. I must admit that some of the wood on mouldings recently has seemed very soft.

Would love to hear any thoughts on this please.

Cheers,

Gary
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Gesso&Bole
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by Gesso&Bole »

I would say probably a bit of each. Obeche moulding is often inconsistent like that. Really sharp blades will normally solve the problem, or try putting a piece of mount board behind the moulding so you are not cutting with the very end of the blade.

I sharpen my blades very regularly and usually change them when they are cutting oak fine, but giving me problems on obeche
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by Not your average framer »

You can get that sometimes with Obeche, even if you can stop the Obeche from cutting like that, really poor quality Obeche does not produce very strong joints when you get soft patches in the wood. I find it necessary to keep cutting beyond the point where this happens, until I can find some wood which cuts cleanly. There do appear to be certain mouldings which seem to be made from Obeche which can be more prone to this that others. I personally tend to think that many of the cheaper mouldings on Obeche are best to avoid, if you want to avoid this sort of problem. It seems necessary to have a decent bit of resistance when inserting wedges to join mitres is Obeche to get the best quality of joints.

Really cheap Obeche mouldings can end up costing you more money due to excessive wastage levels. Really skinny profiles in cheap obeche mouldings tend to be worth avoiding sometimes as well. Deeper mouldings in obeche, often join much better, then less deep ones. I often buy some smaller profile Obeche mouldings with a bit of shape to them, which are favorites for me when building up stacked moulding combinations. Although these are a bit shinny, The Obeche is always good quality if certain moulding manufaturers always seem to produce really good quality results, I tend to think that some of the other moulding manufacturers are using inferior grade Obeche. Reps tell me this is not so, but experience suggests otherwise.

Over the years, I have focused on buying mouldings which result in less wastage, as this not only helps efficient production, but also is better for profitability. Not only that, but I aim to re-use my waste to produce saleable items, like ready made frames. It cost me money to dispose of too much waste in the dumpster,so if I can turn some of my waste in to ready made frames, this will often help to cover the cost of getting my waste collected and taken away. I don't personally believe that there is anything wrong in using Obeche, but just be careful to ensure that you are not wasting money on Obeche mouldings, which experience has shown to result in excessive waste.
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photech54
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by photech54 »

Thanks for those replies guys.

I'll certainly try the mount board behind the frame theory out, see if that helps at all!

And yes, I agree... wastage on obeche mouldings can get both costly and very tiresome!!
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by David »

I think its a problem that has been getting more frequent in recent years with lower quality wood being used. It can be fine on one cut then tear the next, sometimes in the same length of moulding. My solution is similar to Jim's but I use long strips of 3mm MDF - remember to allow for the extra thickness when measuring.
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by JonathanB »

I’ve found that sticking a short length of removable yellow Frog tape to the back edge of mouldings frequently protects delicate finishes - comes off easily without marking the moulding.
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by Not your average framer »

I have noticed that some mouldings which were once produced using Obeche, have stopped using Obeche to switch to using finger joined pine. I'm guessing that switching to cheaper grades of Obeche has already been ruled out as a bad idea, so they might be thinking that finger jointed pine is superior to inferior grades of Obeche, but business pressures dictate the need for saving some costs somewhere to avoid needing to raise prices of their products and potential loss of sales volumes.

Some of our UK suppliers are already reducing their ranges which they still include in their catalogues. Slow moving items are not so viable in a less boyant market. Stock items which are slow moving items take longer to provide a return up on there initial investment and to discontinue such items can make a whorthwhile improvement in cashflow, in order to maintain the necessary financial stability in less certain times. In some cases, many of us framers may eventually have carefully examine whether it is still a smart move to continue buying mouldings which don't cut well.

Currently it is our framing suppliers who are trying to adapt to these difficult times, but we are not immune to these things and as these things work their ways down to us, we may be adjusting what we will be wanting to make available to our customers as well. It will no doubt be a bit of a learning curve for many of us as well. In time, it will be a different market and many of us will be needing to adapt to how things will then need to be! We all had to adapt to the disappearance of ramin. It could be that affordable, good quality Obeche will go the same way!
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Re: Cutting problems

Post by fitz »

I find that with some mouldings bits of debris gather in between the inside of the blades and may interfere with the cut. During the cutting process I brush out bits of debris to ensure the blades are clean for each cut. Might not be an issue but you never know…
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