Picture rail and dado options.

[Christina]

Hi,

We are restoring our newly moved into1905 house which was turned into flats in the 80's. We are having issues finding matching mouldings and really don't want to pull out all the beautiful mouldings to get something off the shelf.

With the dado rail we only need a meter, so it would be quite an expense getting it replicated.

I wondered if anyone recognised these profiles or knew a place that has decent amount of choice. Or maybe how easy it would be to recreate them, I saw on Ebay they have lots of old moulding planes.

Thank you




Picture rail



There is also skirting, we have gaps in certain places that need putting back in.

 

[williams1185]

are the mouldings in every room could you take some from another room and use that to match then use a modern moulding to replace it

 

[Christina]

are the mouldings in every room could you take some from another room and use that to match then use a modern moulding to replace it

Unfortunately that isn't really an option as the hallway has different profiles to the rest of the house. The dado rail for example is only in the hall. They had removed it from everywhere else.

It's the hallway we are currently working on.

 

[RobNichols]

Looks like a nice project to replace them with hand cut mouldings. Starting by reading Mouldings in Practice by Matthew Sheldon Bickford might be a good start.

 

[williams1185]

thats a pity to copy the profiles the old paint needs to come off that means the new wont match the old unless you mean to strip the paint off anyway im too far away wonder if theres someone closer who could help you

 

[Inspector]

Since the amount of moulding you need is small I would suggest using a scratch stock. A table saw if you have one can be used to rough the profile out by stepping each cut over and adjusting the blade height. I'll link some blades and a metal scratch stock to illustrate but you can easily make your own from wood and metal you shape with various files to fit each moulding. An old handsaw blade, power hacksaw blade, steel strapping from a crate, etc works for the metal. you don't need to purchase it. Use straight knot free wood.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/hand-tools/73766-cast-scratch-stock?item=15P1710

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/hand-tools/100601-cutters-for-veritas-beading-tools

Pete

 

[niall Y]

If you can strip the paint off some of the pieces you are copying, and cut out a cardboard, or even a thin metal profile of the shape you seek to reproduce, you can use these to draw the profiles on both ends of your stock.

In the past, if one didn't have any moulding planes to plane the exact shape, then one would plane various rebates along the length of the stock, blocking out the square outlines of the profile Concave profiles would then be cut with a moulding plane with the nearest, undersized half-round cutter. The convex parts could then be planed as a series of facets. with a block, or shoulder plane The whole outline was the blended in with abrasive paper wrapped around a strips of wood that can, themselves, be planed to fit some pf the profile.

You can use a side rebate plane to get into some of the tight quirks in the profile ( like the top of the round on the picture rail), or even use abrasive paper folded over a plane blade

Nowadays, this task can more easily be accomplished with a few basic straight and cove cutters, and a small electric router.

With something like the skirting, one doesn't need to machine a large piece of wood, but can just shape the small moulded top piece, and pin and glue this to a board of the appropriate size.

With the dado, this might best be tackled as two or even three separate pieces. You might well find a cutter that will machine the outer ogees. You may also be able to find a cutter to match the double bead in the centre.

 

[Christina]

Looks like a nice project to replace them with hand cut mouldings. Starting by reading Mouldings in Practice by Matthew Sheldon Bickford might be a good start.

Thank you, I will try to find a copy of this.

thats a pity to copy the profiles the old paint needs to come off that means the new wont match the old unless you mean to strip the paint off anyway im too far away wonder if theres someone closer who could help you

Thank you, I have recently discovered Peelaway when renovating a fireplace we unccovered, so I planned on using it again to remove the paint from the dado. Getting someone to replicate the picture rail isn't too bad as we need quite a bit, but the dado is the issue as we need such a small amount.

scratch stock

Thanks. Funny enough I watched a video yesterday with a guy using this, he also used old moulding planes. I could try this and see how I get on.

Is this easier to use than a moulding plane? I guess it would be hard to know from ebay what profile they cut.

 

[Inspector]

A scratch stock isn't all that hard to use as long as you take light cuts. A proper moulding plane set up correctly is nicer it's just that getting them set up properly when you are a beginner can be a challenge.

You could look int the metal combination planes that were made by Stanley and Record. The Stanley 45 or 55 planes command a premium price compared to the Record 050. The Record is a good value and just as capable as the Stanley at a third of the cost. The only new maker of such planes that I know of is made here in Canada by Veritas and sold by Lee Valley tools. They have sellers the UK but sit down when you look at the prices. Here is a link that shows it and some of the moulding you can do in the backgrounds. You can also take the plain blade and grind a profile into it to do a special section of the moulding like both edges of the Dado rail.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/sho...MI3Ji3lYPvigMV8UL_AR2eqiaOEAYYASABEgKK0PD_BwE

Making a scratch stock is still the cheapest way in addition to sandpaper etc.

niall Y made the suggestion of using a router (I presume in a simple router table) and a few router bits that is basically the same as what I suggest as there is overlap between the two methods.

Pete