TheTiddles":3af7ye4o said:
do you think that guy actually does that for every one?
If you meant the twerp with the jigsaw, he can't be doing that very often at all -- he had all his fingers in the video!
On doing it proper like: in the original how-to, the chap cut at an angle with the coping saw, but never explained why: If you don't do that, his 'perfect fit' (which is always rough, unless the boards are simple small ones like his) is impossible. We have 12" skirtings on the ground floor, which are made up in two parts, with a planted moulding on top. You could only ever scribe and cut them with a coping saw, and I usually have to scribe on the back first, then guess with the coping saw and adjust to fit. They won't fit on any saw I own, for a mitre cut, and marking the front has too much parallax error in it to be safe.
The other trick is doing external corners: if you cut to around 44 or 43 degrees (WRT the length of the board), you get a gap at the back and can usually pinch the front up tight with pins or screws. It's then very easy to adjust for fit and fill the gaps at the back. Dado strips are the same.
It's rare to find a square corner, in the houses I've worked on anyway, but I find the worst bit, by far, is packing out the wretched things to be as vertical as possible, especially if the plaster's ropey behind the top edge (which it usually is). Happily we've probably done the last of the skirtings downstairs, and the upstairs ones are all one piece, which is loads easier.
I love living in old houses, but I'm very undecided about restoring them!
