Thread: Attaching Moulding Quandary

Luke, the way I do it I got from a book or magazine so long ago I forget exactly where, but it's probably a fairly standard procedure.

The front piece is glued on as you suggested. The side pieces have glued mitres, and maybe some glue for the first inch or so along the cross-grain, but glue on this bit is probably not necessary, and may be counter-productive, so skip that as you see fit. The side pieces are really held on by a few fine pins (I think you call them 'finish nails' in your part of the world), carefully set below the surface, and covered by a tiny dob of filler. They leave so little trace that even you won't see them. This bit is my idea, and I'm open to any criticism: I put the centre pin in vertically, then skew the others increasingly toward the edges. The skewing is so they hold better against tension, but directing them this way seems to me to allow better for a bit of wood movement, as well.

Whether my skewing method works the way I believe or not, I can report that several crown mouldings applied this way have passed the 20 year mark in my house, and are still holding firmly.....

Cheers,

I have Bill Hylton's "Illustrated Cabinetmaking" which describes Ian's method above. He calls the nails "wire brads". He also suggests two other methods, both of which involve gluing the mouldings together (and to the case) at the front mitre joint and then:

1. Making a slot in the case at the back through which a screw is used to secure the moulding with the slot allowing for movement.

2. Using dovetail keys (basically a single tail) to secure the back end of the moulding, i.e. a sliding dovetail joint where the tail is secured to the case with a screw.

Or you could just make the dresser out of MDF and not worry about movement.

Jeremy

Originally Posted by JAJ

......
2. Using dovetail keys (basically a single tail) to secure the back end of the moulding, i.e. a sliding dovetail joint where the tail is secured to the case with a screw......

Now you remind me, Jeremy, I have seen something similar somewhere, too, probably in an old FWW mag. If I recall it correctly, the 'tails' were about 30-35mm long, & screwed to the back of each side. It would be quite an elegant solution, & not all that difficult to execute, I think.....

Cheers,

Thanks, Fellas.

I kept poking around on the interwebs and got a bit more info after I made the post. It's amazing what you get from the second and third pages on a Google search...

The basic principle I've found is exactly as you outlined here. Glue the mitre and the front of the moulding, then mechanically attach the rest. The ways to do it are all outlined here. Nails, screws in oversized slots to allow for movement fore and aft, and the sliding dovetail key.

I like all of those ideas, and I think there's a good chance I'll use some combination of all of it.

I actually had another idea...

What if you cut a dovetail socket on both the moulding and the carcase so that they were right next to one another. Then you glued the front of the mitre, clamped it, and let it dry completely. Then, you cut a bowtie (basically a mirror image dovetail) key that ran about half the length of the moulding and very carefully tapped it home so that it drew the moulding and the carcase together. You could put glue on the side with the long grain moulding, and then it would slide along the dovetail which was in the side of the carcase.

Probably unnecessarily elaborate, but it is a way to do it "all wood", which some of us like.

Cheers,
Luke

These have more power than the Porter Cable 23 ga. pin nailers for sale at the big boxes: GREX #P650.H1 2" 23 GAUGE PINNER GIFT SET
But they're also a lot more expensive.

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

....... Probably unnecessarily elaborate, but it is a way to do it "all wood", which some of us like.....

Umm, yeah...

However, the object of the exercise is primarily to have fun, so why not?

What I meant to say before is that crown mouldings are not subjected to any stress whatever, in normal usage. On one or two old sideboards I've pulled to bits, there were no more than 3 pins aside, & they were well-rusted too, yet the moulding still hanging on, straight & firm. The couple of cases of damage I've seen have happened during moving, or some unusual activity. Which is probably why the more elaborate pediments are usually made as a separate thing that is plonked on the top at the last, & held by a few screws driven through cleats or convenient bits of the moulding from the top, well out of sight in normal viewing. If the piece needs to be moved to another location, the pediment is easily removed & kept out of harm's way.

There are so many ways to do it that are perfectly adequate, so just attach your moulding the way that pleases you. When I do something a little ott like half-blind dovetails in the back of a plinth, no-one is even going to see it apart from the bloke who eventually pulls my creation apart some time in the future (probably to get some kindling wood!). But it satisfies me to know I've done as sound a job as I'm capable of...

Cheers,