The Framers Forum

Just had a very frustrating time working with this moulding. Everything went ok until I examined the frame I had just underpinned. All four corners were misaligned. To cut a long story short it would seem that the moulding width from rebate to outside edge is a variable distance and can be out by as much as 1mm (measured on my stock). May not sound much but the effect is disasterous. The problem is not obvious on the underpinner as the pressure pad hides the inner detail and the mitre seems to be ok.

A picture helps here....The mitre gap is due to no pressure on the mouldings.

Looking down through the pressure pad holder you can see the effect of offering up the two pieces - note the inner misalignment



Checking the inner alignment allows the two pieces to mate properly but at the expense of the outer corner which has a small misalignment (not shown)



A filler pen was used to colour the moulding to hide the problem but needless to say this is now off my stock list !.

Picture is a composite of two others, one damaged and taken about 30 years later.

The Crofter wrote:...it would seem that the moulding width from rebate to outside edge is a variable distance and can be out by as much as 1mm...

Welcome to my life, Pat. I know I whinge about it a lot, but the increasing deterioration in moulding quality is really taking a great deal of joy out of my work these days...

Pat,
This can happen with wooden mouldings and we just have to work around it the best we can or dump half the mouldings we use.

I find that a set of feeler gauges comes in handy. Take them apart if they are hinged together, so that you can select one of appropriate thickness to stand behind the narrow side of the joint against the fence.

The outside of the joint will be out of line, but most mouldings can be trimmed and coloured so that it is hardly noticeable. A very, very fine wet and dry 'sandpaper' can be used to 'sand' off the excess, then colour it with felt pen, acrylic paint, coloured wax, rub and buff or whatever works well.

I also find that a round metal screwdriver blade or a piece of smooth bamboo or a bone folder or agate stone, rubbed down the joint very,very gently will smooth out minor protrusions and give a nice finish.

Darn, no edit!

Quite often I use a utility knife blade to remove the protrusion instead of the 'sandpaper', then colour and 'round' it a little.

Pat.
Not familiar with the Lion range, but is that a plastic one by any chance?

Some really neat tricks there, Ormond!

Crofter, you are pretty new at this business, what you have there is not unusual for cheap mouldings, and you can't expect lion (or any other supplier) to inspect every piece with a micrometer. Its something we all have to live with, you get what you pay for....

If I get stuff like thatI live with it, if i keep getting stuf like that I stop using it and use something else.

Have you taken it up with lion, before posting here? If not, perhaps this would be better in the members section, not a public section.

That's a fairly normal situation with many similar profiles. I get around it by lining up the outer of the moulding and a liitle bit of filling / touching up of the sight edge. Cotton buds are often useful. It usually works out just fine.

Try practicing with your off-cuts. It's much easier than you think.