Skirting Profiles

[DrPhill]

Phill where will you get your timber from? If it is a proper timber merchant, then they should be able to machine a piece to that size for you.

Damn good question........ I am not sure who around here would be classified as a 'good timber merchant'. We have a small TP and a small Jewsons. I dont think we have any others. Taunton is 45-60 minutes drive away, Bridgewater takes longer.

Phill

 

[carlb40]

Phill where will you get your timber from? If it is a proper timber merchant, then they should be able to machine a piece to that size for you.

Damn good question........ I am not sure who around here would be classified as a 'good timber merchant'. We have a small TP and a small Jewsons. I dont think we have any others. Taunton is 45-60 minutes drive away, Bridgewater takes longer.

Phill

Try ebay, there will be a few sellers with timbers around that sort of size and most offer a cutting / maching service.

 

[blackrodd]

For decent home grown timber you may well have to travel. There's a good yard at Martock, I've bought from in the past.
I can recomend Bedford timber south molton, all kiln dried and stable, sells yards of oak flooring.
My dad an I have bought from him on and off for years.
The real solution might be to ask at you're local shop or pub first, just in case there's someone closer first!
HTH Regards Rodders

 

[DrPhill]

I can recomend Bedford timber south molton, all kiln dried and stable, sells yards of oak flooring.
My dad an I have bought from him on and off for years.

Thanks for the recommend; I will try phoning him Monday morning. maybe a day out is due.... would you pre-order and trust his timber selection? Or would you arrange to select the timber and have it machined? I have never done this before......

Try ebay, there will be a few sellers with timbers around that sort of size and most offer a cutting / maching service.

I had a look, and several came up, but which to choose? I do not know how to make sure that I will get good timber.....

 

[blackrodd]

Thanks for the recommend; I will try phoning him Monday morning. maybe a day out is due.... would you pre-order and trust his timber selection? Or would you arrange to select the timber and have it machined? I have never done this before......

Jolly good question!
I have always rang to ensure that someone was there and able to serve then picked out my own stuff.
And machined my own. suggest you ask about machining on you're initial enquire
What sort of sizes are you after? Rodders

 

[carlb40]

Thanks for the recommend; I will try phoning him Monday morning. maybe a day out is due.... would you pre-order and trust his timber selection? Or would you arrange to select the timber and have it machined? I have never done this before......

Jolly good question!
I have always rang to ensure that someone was there and able to serve then picked out my own stuff.
And machined my own. suggest you ask about machining on you're initial enquire
What sort of sizes are you after? Rodders

I need a piece 165 x 2100 x 18mm. I have the technology to shorten it, but would be hard pressed to make it narrower (pin on a batten and route against it). No way have I the tools or skills to thickness it.

 

[blackrodd]

Thank's Carl for the prompt, Not paying attention again!
DR Phil, ask if they will cut and plane a piece for you.
I'm afraid I can't help for a few weeks 'till I get my workshop emptied of motorbikes
Up 'til recently I had my planing done in my local jewsons, but some clever clogs decided that the facility had to go along with the slightly higher wage. Regards Rodders

 

[DrPhill]

DR Phil, ask if they will cut and plane a piece for you.

Yes, will do - a phone call on on my list for tomorrow.

I'm afraid I can't help for a few weeks 'till I get my workshop emptied of motorbikes
Up 'til recently I had my planing done in my local jewsons, but some clever clogs decided that the facility had to go along with the slightly higher wage. Regards Rodders

I know some folks as would help remove the bikes....... but seriously, I was only after information and you have been helpful with that. Do not express remorse at not being able to do more.

Oh, and on another note, I have finished laying the woodblocks to repair the floor. The miter saw made cutting the blocks very easy and more accurate than I would have managed by hand. Wish I had bought one years ago. The floor does not look up to much as they are all old blocks (in need of a sand). I had to get creative as one half of the room was 12" oak blocks and the other was 9" pine. The scavenged blocks (understairs cupboard) were 9" pine too. I had to steal some oak blocks from the border with the missing wall and replace them with pine blocks so that I had more oak blocks to fill the area by the fire.

 

[blackrodd]

Happy to hear the floor blocks are working out O K.
I suppose a bit of work with the right stain would help to hide the oak/pine difference.
Does the area of block replacement warrant a floor sander or would a belt sander suffice?
Regarding the planing, I'm a bit teed off with being unable to use the workshop, at the moment,
soon to be rectified!
Regards Rodders

 

[DrPhill]

Happy to hear the floor blocks are working out O K.
I suppose a bit of work with the right stain would help to hide the oak/pine difference.
Does the area of block replacement warrant a floor sander or would a belt sander suffice?
Regarding the planing, I'm a bit teed off with being unable to use the workshop, at the moment,
soon to be rectified!
Regards Rodders

We are not too fussed with a difference between the timbers (or not yet) - we are not aiming for perfection (we do not have enough years left to achieve that here!), and quite like the way that a house shows it's history. We are planning to sand the floor - but research seems to indicate that a belt sander is better for non-experts. We have purchased one and will find out. Some of the blocks (especially the long ones from the original edge) are in need of some preparation - they have mortar from the edge fill. Some other blocks had a slight curve to them. So although the floor looks reasonable, it looks like an old floor in need of tlc.

When we moved here I gave up a double garage (with power) that I used as a workshop. I now only have a single garage off my property with no power. I feel for your loss of workshop - and mine was not even a large part of my life.

Phill

 

[blackrodd]

I forgot to mention the previous finish to the blocks may tend to burn and/or clog up the belts.
It may be a good idea to lightly "skim" a few thou from the top of the block, with a electric hand planer,making finish sanding a doddle, when laid. Try and follow the grain.
The added bonus is that you can "match" any colour or grain variations you come will certainly across.
You may well find that the rougher ones would have been saved for using up under the stairs, out of main sight
You could knock up a 3 sided "stop" to keep the blocks safe and secure, on a board, secured on the good old workmate.
Any cement or former "nasties" can be quickly scraped away first and save a set of blade's.
Sounds long and drawn out but, as usual, preparation is the secret to most jobs.
Work easy, HTH Regards Rodders

 

[DrPhill]

Good ideas Rodders, but the blocks are down now (and I do not own an electric plane). I hope that the colour variations will be minimised when the floor ages - we do not mind some 'history' showing through, and are certainly not aiming for magazine-like perfection. We do plan to sand the entire floor at some stage, but the current priority is getting the hearth so that the burner can be installed.

I poured the hearth base at the weekend (formwork(?) from the old architraves, hand mixed mortar). Will find out next weekend if the base is flat and level enough for the slates. Looks good at present testing with a level.

You and others on this forum are being immensely helpful to me in this project for which I am truly grateful.

Phill

 

[blackrodd]

If I had the time, I would come and do these jobs for you so's you can go make another Beautiful box.
What a fantastic job that has turned out to be, not that I'm qualified to be a Judge.
Can I ask how many hours that took?
Regards Rodders

 

[DrPhill]

If I had the time, I would come and do these jobs for you so's you can go make another Beautiful box.
What a fantastic job that has turned out to be, not that I'm qualified to be a Judge.
Can I ask how many hours that took?
Regards Rodders

Very kind thoughts there, I thank you.

The box was a labour of love, produced over a period of about a year for my partner. Since I had no dedicated workshop I had to work on it when she was out or when the weather was good enough to work outside. I guess it took several hundred hours, but I have no real idea. And I have no way to judge it's quality except that I am (almost) satisfied with it. (The silhouettes are of close family members btw).

I am not sure that I have another like it in me - I need to be inspired and motivated to a particular project and no two projects are the same. I made the first two boxes for her children's marriages - a way to use my assets when I was time rich and money poor. The timber was reclaimed from a set of shelves we removed when altering the house we lived in, so cost in money was almost nothing.

As for doing my DIY, well you are always welcome, but part of the satisfaction is doing for myself what I can do for myself. Part of the disatisfaction is the lack of perfection of course. :lol:

 

[DrPhill]

OK, lets resurrect my old thread rather than create a new one.....

I think I would like to use my router to give a small amount of profile to plain boards to make skirtings and architraves. There are some original windows in the room, ad the timber has simple 45 degree bevel as only decoration. It would seem sensible to try to match this with the skirting.

I have a reasonable amount of routing practice, and want to use the biggest (1/4" shank) bearing-guided 45 degree bevel that I can find. I can find a 9mm cut for example. Does anyone know of bigger, or am I limited by shank size?

Also, while we are on the topic, would MDF take as good a finish from routing as would pine? We are planning on painted skirts and architraves, so the appearance of the raw material is less important than its other features (eg consistency, availability and cost). Any opinions? Do picture rail profiles come in MDF? I have almost never used the stuff and not for serious work, just jigs and frames..

All help gratefully received.

Phill

 

[carlb40]

From what everyone has said in other threads and i asked about last year. Moisture resistant mdf is better for edge profiling as it isn't as fluffy.

As to the bits you might be better off going through various online catalogues and finding out who makes the biggest in a 1/4 inch shank. I just had a quick look on the axi site and they do an 11mm depth of cut in a 1/4 inch. Having grabbed their paper catalogue axi do a 14.5mm cut in the 1/4 shank.
Others to try are wealden, titman, trend.

 

[DrPhill]

Thanks for the pointers - very helpful. Wealden do do a 12mm in a 1/4" shank, which is almost enough. I am measuring max depth of 45 degree slope, not counting any vertical cutting face.

However, they also do a 15mm in an 8mm shank, and I think this is as big as I should need.

When I bought my Trend router it had a second whatchama-collet(?) This may well be an 8mm, but how can I be sure? Trend do do an 8mm collet, and the size looks about right (gently squeezed shut round a 1/4" shank leaves about the right size gap". Anybody have any guesses? Are other sizes possible/likely? How do I get a collet out of a collet-nut?.

I am worried about the fluffiness of MDF, and the fact that the job has two long runs: 3.9m and 4.7m from memory. My impression is that MDF at those lengths might be a bit fragile for transport and handling. The 4.7m run is almost certainly going to need a join (but I will move this as close to the corner as I can). The 3.9 should be do-able with a 4.2m length (if I can get one home).

Phill

 

[blackrodd]

I would check the 8mm(?) collet by getting someone to check their 8mm cutter with you're collet that you have in yer pocket.
Don't let the centre mitre cut worry you.
Take a decent handsaw with you and cut them in the wood yard. make sure the skirting is well supported.
Mark/cut the skirting @ 45 degrees and mark both sides to identify the pairs.
Should you be a little out on the cut, or even way out, it won't matter as you have the matching pair, so they have to fit.
You may be aware that 1 rule of thumb fitting skirting, first piece fitted goes in opposite the door, blank each end.
Do not mitre internals corners, they are rarely 90 and there are shrinkage issues.
Easiest way to mark the SCRIBE to suit the 1st piece just fitted is to cut the skirting off the end at 45 degrees, as if it were for an internal, then the inside edge where the mitre ends is a perfect scribe of the profile.
The other end is a blank.
You may mark and cut from an offcut should you find that easier. use a coping saw and a fine saw for the "straights"
Accurate measuring is king! 2, or 3, times! Bad language upsets the dog!
Fluffy is no problem, just sand gently and prime and when dry, the second coat should show a good enough finish.
Pre moulded has none of these problems 'cos the moulding and priming is all ready done for you!
Are you sticking or nail/screw fixing? HTH Regards Rodders

 

[Benchwayze]

Skirting doesn't have to be made in one piece. You could fix it so there's a small void behind it, (similar to wainscoting) even using MDF if you wished. It's fixed to the wall by a top batten, with a supporting batten behind it, along the floor and some verticals for stability. A separate moulding is planted on the top,. You wouldn't need to have a full skirting machined. Just the moulding along the top. You might loose an inch or so all round the room, but the finished job looks the business, and you choose your own depth and moulding. The moulding could be made from some good pine, to avoid the 'fluff'.

Just a thought.

 

[DrPhill]

Wow, lots to think of there, thanks.

Skirting doesn't have to be made in one piece. You could fix it so there's a small void behind it, (similar to wainscoting) even using MDF if you wished. It's fixed to the wall by a top batten, with a supporting batten behind it, along the floor and some verticals for stability. A separate moulding is planted on the top,.

Now here is a thought: if I fix a batten to the wall level with the top of the skirting with screws, can I then attach the skirting with lost head nails? How thick would the pieces need to be for this to work, I wonder? We have chosen a simple profile as this house was originally a quality-but-budget victorian abode, and the remaining original woodwork has a simple chamfer decoration. 45 degrees on the window frames, maybe 30 degrees on the other skirtings. Fortunately I can manage to cut this with a bearing-guided routers.

Don't let the centre mitre cut worry you.
Take a decent handsaw with you and cut them in the wood yard. make sure the skirting is well supported.
Mark/cut the skirting @ 45 degrees and mark both sides to identify the pairs.
Should you be a little out on the cut, or even way out, it won't matter as you have the matching pair, so they have to fit.

Now that is practical. I will give that a try.

You may be aware that 1 rule of thumb fitting skirting, first piece fitted goes in opposite the door, blank each end.

I was thinking of starting there because that is the longest run. But I see the generalised logic matches this particular case.

Do not mitre internals corners, they are rarely 90 and there are shrinkage issues.
Easiest way to mark the SCRIBE to suit the 1st piece just fitted is to cut the skirting off the end at 45 degrees, as if it were for an internal, then the inside edge where the mitre ends is a perfect scribe of the profile.

I have a bit of trouble picturing this.... for a 90 degree corner I would have used a 90 degree cut as a template. Perhaps I am missing some essential point?

You may mark and cut from an offcut should you find that easier. use a coping saw and a fine saw for the "straights"
Accurate measuring is king! 2, or 3, times! Bad language upsets the dog!

Luckily the profile will all be straights..... and even getting the tools out scares the younger dog.


Again thanks, I tend to assume that I will be able to do a job and often I can. But more often I find after that there were some tools, techniques or approaches that would have made the job easier and the result better. Folks on this forum really do help me miss out a few learning mistakes and let me benefit from their experience. It makes a big difference.

Phill