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For home improvement tasks, I prefer adding them to my DIY list. I am sure we do not do something because we are good at it but because we are up for a challenge. Once you achieve creating your first customized item, you will get addicted to building your own hands. I bet you will rarely ship in completed pieces. After all, shipping costs more time and money than DIY does. In this guide, we will learn how to make a crown molding with a table saw.
Whether you are an amateur or expert in woodworking, this information could not be more befitting. With the desire to make a perfect walnut and cherry crown molding, you need to learn the procedure toward achieving that. Therefore, feel welcome to obtain the details you require.
Tools You Need
- General-purpose blade
- Sandpaper
- Scraper
- Block plane
- Elbow grease
Selecting the appropriate blade
Use a 60 to 80-tooth crosscut blade for your table saw. It minimizes scoring and sanding. Place two scrap wood fences diagonally on the table saw while capturing the blank as you cut it. Squarely join one edge in each scrap fence.
Prepare 4 ½ inch wide banks with parallel edges for the 3 3/8-inch-wide moldings for the hall bench. The additional measurement on the blanks gives room for making bevel rips after curving the crown.
Build a jig
A direct jig for setting the fence decides the appropriate angle for the fences across the table saw.
- Ensure that the jig’s opposing sides are parallel.
- Mark the distance between the jig’s arms and the crown width.
- Fasten the wing nuts to lock the shape of the jig.
- Raise the table saw blade to the depth of the crown.
- Use tape (painters) to indicate where the blade teeth penetrate and leave the throat plate.
- With those marks, position the jig.
- Indicate on the tape the position the stock will first contact the front blade teeth. Similarly, mark the point the stock contacts the rear of the blade.
- Align the jigs so that the inside edges contact the marks you have made.
- Mark one jig inside edge onto the table saw top using a pencil.
- You can now remove the tape and clamp the fences.
- There is a scrap between the pencil mark and the fence that gives room for the cove and edge.
Making A Crown Molding
- Make a series of passes on the blade to create the cove.
- While starting, raise the blade 1/13 inches over the table.
- Turn on the table saw and use push blocks to pass the molding blank over the blade.
- Once again, raise the blade 1.16 inches and pass it on the blank.
- Repeat this process until you arrive at the final depth of the cove.
Hack: As you reduce the blade’s length while passing it on the molding blank, lighten up the motion. It reduces the need for sanding.
- You can use the freshly cut molding as the template, trace its profile to the end of rigid foam insulation.
- Cut the piece of foam into a rough shape using a coping saw or band saw.
- Sand the block edges to give a final shape.
- Additionally, sand the cove beginning from 100 grit while approaching 220 grit.
- Position sandpaper in the cove and run a piece of foam insulation along with it. It optimizes sanding and makes the block look perfect.
- Align the molding template on one end of the cove blanks.
- Bevel-rip the edges to finalize molding.
Safety hack: Utilize a zero-clearance insert to shield the waste from accumulating between the blade and throat plate.
Making Cove Profiles
Three variables decide the cove profile you shape on the table saw. They include:
Feed angle of the stock on the blade
A shallow/ smaller feed angle creates a compact and elliptical crown. On the other hand, a deeper/ higher feed angle gives rise to a broad cove; it resembles a semicircular profile.
Height of blade
Essentially, the blade height determines the depth of the cove. An example is a cove depth cut by a ¾ inch blade that is below the ¾ inch line of the blade. The depth of the profile is above the line.
The tilt angle of the blade
If you place a blade 900 over the table, it cuts asymmetrical cove. A smaller angle/ tilted angle creates an asymmetrical cove that appears more curved on one side than the other.
Using various measurements of these variables will provide diverse profiles. You can play with numbers and see what works. Do not forget to note down the specific measurements for referring in the future.
Safety hack: While using a tilt angle of the blade, feed the block in the direction that the blade tilts. So, if you tilt your blade from right to left, you feed the block from left to right. The same case applies when tilting the blade from left to right; feed the block from right to left. You will observe that the blade intersects the blade effortlessly.
Main Hack
When you begin to make crown moldings, make more than you need. This is why:
- It won’t be easy to make the exact moldings you made the first time.
- It is frustrating to get to the middle of the project and realize that you have run out of crown moldings. You might need to consume an extra hour making moldings that will not turn out similar to the previous ones.
- A beginner should expect to scrap and replace pieces a couple of times. The more the moldings, the better.
Conclusion
At the end of reading this, you might have thought, “this is harder or easier than I thought.” All the same, what matters is the sense of satisfaction that overflows once you complete a project. Hopefully, you will benefit from the information above by finding it pragmatic.
Making crown molding with a table saw involves creating fences, coves, moldings, and appropriate measurements. Proper measurements automatically build and ideally balanced crown molding. Once you follow the procedure above, you will inevitably catch on fast and eventually pride yourself on your effort. It’s now time to explore your craftsmanship.
Relevant Resources
