Help Cutting Floor Trim

ws450r

Does anyone have any secrets to measuring and cutting floor trim? I've got a saw that swivels side to side, and also tilts to one side for a 45 deg cut. My problem is the outside corner cuts. I get the measurments right, and draw my line on the trim, but every time I make the cut, it is always to short. Any suggestions?

Bud Cline

Are you cutting to the correct side of your mark?

What are you cutting? Quarter round, shoe mold, what?

ws450r

I'm cutting regular base trim, and yes, I'm cutting on the correct side. When I lay the trim flat with the blade tilted, I'm always looking under the blade to line up the "bottom" of the blade cut to the correct side of the cut on the trim.

Bud Cline

I guess if you have what I understand to be a "compound mitre saw" then I don't understand why you are cutting with "the material laying flat and the blade tilted". You can't possibly hit your mark like that without a little speculation as to whether or not the blade in in the correct relationship to the material.

Why wouldn't you stand the material "up" against the fence and swivel the blade to a 45 degree angle like any carpenter would do? How wide/tall is this "regular base trim"?

Also, I would cut my 45 for the outside corner then get the necessary measurement to fit the inside corner at the opposite end of the piece and "cope" that end about 1/16" longer than necessary so-as to be able to "snap" the material into place. This insures a proper fit at the outside corner and a snug fit at the opposite inside corner.

Rather than using a pencil mark I would be using a utility knife to make precise marks on/in the material.

Maybe I'm missing something here!

ws450r

If you have a wall is 3 feet long, with both cuts an outside corner, do you make the mark on the back of the trim, and cut accordingly?

I can get the inside corners to work, its just the outside that I struggle with.

Bud Cline

The problem with outside corners is for any number of reasons the walls may not be perfectly plumb in relation to one-another, especially at the floor. I would get a good hard measurement of the distance. You can get a better more precise measurement by holding something flat against one wall to push your tape against, then measure to the other side. This way your eye can only error once rather than twice. And this way you are always pushing your tape to get a measurement. The people that make those tapes think they have them all figured out and they build a push/pull slot in the end of the tape. Of course not all tapes are totally accurate and not all tapes agree with one-another.

Then you make your first mitre cut in one end of your material. After making that cut is when you measure and mark for the other cut. I generally mark the backside of the material and then precisely eyeball the blades position slightly beyond the mark so as to purposely mis-cut the cut. It is then easy to see where your cut ends up in relation to your mark and you then gently slide the mark towards the blade and cut your final cut perfectly.

It's easy to screw up double outside cuts because there is just too much room for error if you don't have a good plan for each cut.

Tricks of the trade - don't tell anyone.

ws450r

Thanks for the tips. I'm gonna work on it a little more this weekend.