Where to buy cornice in the UK?

[Mjward]

Thank you all, super useful and many solutions.
Think my first port of call will be trying Atlantic Timber as PINE CORNICE 21MM X 93MM X 2.1M for 10 quid is hardly any different to what an equivalent plain length would cost me. Regardless of the success there, I am going to look further into a router table, I've only started to use the router but love the infinite amount of options you can do with it. Also from a future easy of delivery perspective, might be the winning formula to make my own mouldings.

 

[Spectric]

This is where a spindle moulder comes into its own. You can get say a 100mm wide HSS cutter custom made for £100 (see piccy) so you can have any moulding you want and be totally unique. It will produce it safely, consistently and quickly taking the cut in one bite if the spindle is say a minimum of 3Kw. The cost of a secondhand spindle with a powerfeed is probably less than a new router and router table, and far more versatile.

I think you have sold the spindle moulder, making such moulding on the router takes me at least three runs and limited to available profiles but a spindle with a 100mm cutter does it in one pass, for running mouldings like these the spindle looks like it wins hands down. Now to find some more space !!!!

 

[pe2dave]

This is where a spindle moulder comes into its own. You can get say a 100mm wide HSS cutter custom made for £100 (see piccy) so you can have any moulding you want and be totally unique. It will produce it safely, consistently and quickly taking the cut in one bite if the spindle is say a minimum of 3Kw. The cost of a secondhand spindle with a powerfeed is probably less than a new router and router table, and far more versatile.

I’ve just had these cutters made to replicate some architrave, this will be made on a spindle in one pass.


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Or have them made and take to a local (big?) joinery shop and ask them to make the mouldings?
[Am I the only one to ... nearly suggest the 'corner' shop?]

 

[deema]

@pe2dave That’s an idea, not sure what it’s like around the country and I’d be interested in knowing, but joinery shops are few and far between. Most joiners operate out of a van around here and don’t have a dedicated woodworking machine shop. The woodworking shops tend to be did specialist, so typically making kitchens / bedroom furniture. They aren’t interested or setup to do anything else.

 

[pe2dave]

@pe2dave That’s an idea, not sure what it’s like around the country and I’d be interested in knowing, but joinery shops are few and far between. Most joiners operate out of a van around here and don’t have a dedicated woodworking machine shop. The woodworking shops tend to be did specialist, so typically making kitchens / bedroom furniture. They aren’t interested or setup to do anything else.

Understood. There are (must be?) shops around with big machinery? Not sure what they'd be called.
Sadly, I'd agree re specialism and no interest (profit?) in small jobs?

 

[deema]

For large machines, it takes a few meters to set them up and dial them in, you also often need to get cutters made, which if it’s more than say 20~30m in MDF means you need Tungsten carbide cutters. By the time you factor in the buggeration factor of dealing with the public, who usually want some tweak when they see it, or if it’s real wood start getting upset when it twists or cups due to it not being stored properly and coated immediately on all sides; I fully understand why shops don’t want the agro.
I’ve started doing a few jobs for a local builder where it’s say 30m of custom architrave or skirting or the like. To begin with he was a little surprised at just how much it cost, I operate total open book with him, but now he can factor in the cost to his quotes. I also will only make it in MR MDF to avoid all the issues of come back due to twist etc. it reduces the time / cost of painting too.

There are company’s that make mouldings and custom mouldings.

 

[pe2dave]

For large machines, it takes a few meters to set them up and dial them in, you also often need to get cutters made, which if it’s more than say 20~30m in MDF means you need Tungsten carbide cutters. By the time you factor in the buggeration factor of dealing with the public, who usually want some tweak when they see it, or if it’s real wood start getting upset when it twists or cups due to it not being stored properly and coated immediately on all sides; I fully understand why shops don’t want the agro.
I’ve started doing a few jobs for a local builder where it’s say 30m of custom architrave or skirting or the like. To begin with he was a little surprised at just how much it cost, I operate total open book with him, but now he can factor in the cost to his quotes. I also will only make it in MR MDF to avoid all the issues of come back due to twist etc. it reduces the time / cost of painting too.

There are company’s that make mouldings and custom mouldings.

And if the customer provided the cutters and the wood?

 

[deema]

@pe2dave Running stuff on cutters you don’t know the history of isn’t something I would do. I’d be surprised if only would. They might not be made properly with the correct clearance (home reground for instance) dull / not sharp etc etc.

 

[Inspector]

They aren't common here but we have combination planer/moulders (thicknesser/moulder in you parlance) that are useful for home shops or small businesses. The Williams and Hussey types can run mouldings up to 7" wide with a 3/4" deep profile. The Woodmaster types can depending on the model cut profiles up to 8" wide and can be had with a sanding drum for thickness sanding for even more versatility. Both can also profile round and oval work too. I don't make mouldings often but will not sell mine until the last. I don't know if it is demand or regulatory reasons that keep them out of the UK but they would fit in your smaller shops.

Pete

 

[deema]

They aren't common here but we have combination planer/moulders (thicknesser/moulder in you parlance) that are useful for home shops or small businesses. The Williams and Hussey types can run mouldings up to 7" wide with a 3/4" deep profile. The Woodmaster types can depending on the model cut profiles up to 8" wide and can be had with a sanding drum for thickness sanding for even more versatility. Both can also profile round and oval work too. I don't make mouldings often but will not sell mine until the last. I don't know if it is demand or regulatory reasons that keep them out of the UK but they would fit in your smaller shops.

Pete

We certainly used to have this type of machine, where part of the spindle could be used to clamp cutters. I might be wrong but I believe they were made illegal over here. If I were to do a lot, I’d would get a 4 or 6 cutter that would plane and mould in one. SCM do a very nice machine, that secondhand usually aren’t that expensive…….I keep wondering about getting one just to 4 side plane with. I believe Dr Bob has one for his business.

 

[doctor Bob]

The cost of a secondhand spindle with a powerfeed is probably less than a new router and router table.

Am I out of touch with costs, but a spindle with the capacity to take and run up a 100mm cutter, plus a decent power feed for £800 (300 router, 500 table). I was paying a couple of grand 10 years ago for semi decent stuff.

 

[Doug71]

We used to have a big old 5 head Wadkin planer/moulder, talking proper old with square cutter blocks. The good thing about it was you could just put whatever knives you wanted in the 5th head (which was on the top at the end) to make different mouldings. The down side was it only cut 4" wide. Replaced that with a 4 head Dominion Mini Midas which cut 6" wide (I think) but I never got on with it as the first head was the top head so it thicknessed things before getting the bottom flat which I thought didn't really work that well.

Regarding making cornice despite having all the kit I still buy it in if it's available off the shelf as works out cheaper than me making it.

 

[deema]

Am I out of touch with costs, but a spindle with the capacity to take and run up a 100mm cutter, plus a decent power feed for £800 (300 router, 500 table). I was paying a couple of grand 10 years ago for semi decent stuff.

I was working on a sink cost of c£1200~ £1500 when you add a router lift and a big beefy router. But, that was just me having a google!! I don’t use a router table

There are at the mo. A few what look like could be good machines with P/F in auction sites. Wadkin, Wilson etc.

 

[johnnyb]

interestingly there's a woodmaster for sale on ebay atm. check it out. typical multifunction thing but pretty big capacity about 600mm. got the planer head sander moulding stuff plus knives. overpriced at 4000 but nice for 1500 maybe 2200 max.

 

[doctor Bob]

…….I keep wondering about getting one just to 4 side plane with. I believe Dr Bob has one for his business.

Great investment, get a good machine for £6-£7k plus vat. I'd only recommend it for someone running up lots of stuff though, overkill for a small shop. Big footprint compared to PT.

 

[Inspector]

interestingly there's a woodmaster for sale on ebay atm. check it out. typical multifunction thing but pretty big capacity about 600mm. got the planer head sander moulding stuff plus knives. overpriced at 4000 but nice for 1500 maybe 2200 max.

You didn't specify the currency. Given that a new one with those extras is over $6,000US ($8,000Cad/£4,930) before shipping and any taxes etc, its may not be all that much overpriced. There was one recently in an online auction of a retiring cabinet shop in Regina and the bidding started at $1,300Cad but in the last two days started to shoot up past $2,000Cad. I forgot and missed seeing the final bids but expect it went for over $4,000Cad since many will jump in at the end and this particular auction house will keep the bidding open after the closing until the bids level off. I would have loved it since it would replace the 12" version I have and a 24" drum sander. Downside would have been the need to get an electrical upgrade for the 7.5hp motor. For a business a few jobs and it would have paid for itself.

Given that the OP wants a simple cove It could easily be done by angling it long the table saw to cut the cove and a router for the other shapes. The saw to cut the 38º/52º bevels on the back. There are a number of online cove cutting calculators if needed to get the depth and width you want rather than experiment.

Pete

 

[johnnyb]

it's £4000 and it's not far from me tbh. it's a decent thing but seems pricey to me. it's got all the bits with it. wonder what the story is? it seems like it's got 4 moulding profiles but all single knives.

 

[Inspector]

The single knives are a plus actually. You only have to have one knife made without having to match multiples. Makes it cheaper to run a profile and here at least, there are hundreds available along with whatever custom profiles you need. The machine is robust enough not to be bothered by the out of balance and on a bigger knifes they use an aluminium wedge. I believe three knife heads are available for it, usually 4" wide and you can either put a pair together or get an 8" wide cutter head. With the variable speed feed you can get a very good finish. Even running slow at 6 1/2'/2m per minute a run of 200'/70m you are done in a touch over half an hour. That machine I believe is capable of cutting profiles 1 1/4" deep. Also with the ability to have 4 cutter heads on the shaft means that you could have say 3 different crown moulding profiles set up and one back knife in the 4th head. Run the back knife side first and then the crown you want next. My 12" machine (RBI 812) also uses a single knife, it is much lighter in weight and has a fixed speed without problems.

Pete

 

[pe2dave]

I thought the OP wanted to buy some cornice? Not a workshop full of top end machinery?

 

[Inspector]

You are right and I apologize for my part in leading it astray.

Pete