Expert: Stuart Mawle - 11/24/2008

Question
QUESTION: I'm putting decorative  trim down the wall of my staircase case and am haveing trouble finding the right cuts.I have a verticle piece with a 45 deg. piece meeting it at the top of the staircase and running down to the bottom where it meets another verticle piece. is there a formule for finding these cuts both at the top and botton of the staircase????

ANSWER: No, there not a formula for this, in fact the problem lies that you are doing a raking (sloping) mould down the stairs meeting something like a dado rail. Is it the case the cuts are 'reasonable' but the mouldings profiles just don't match, which would make more sense to me. Usually in this scenario to make it align up the raking mould has to be a slightly different mould shape for the vertical cuts to match up.  There is little you can do other than try to doctor the mould at the corner and feather back into the existing profile. If it is alot then it going to look unsightly but it would cost a small fortune to get a one-off moulding piece made up to match. Stuart

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QUESTION: the verticals and raking are the same ie; I'm using 4.25 inch colonial base upside down with picture frame molding on the top part of the base to finish it off. I  plan to use picture frame rectangles down the center of the framing.I crossed the raking behind the vertical piece and measured up from the crotch to the point they meet at the top and I'm getting close by transferring this with my bevel to table saw for cutting.still haven't mastered it.thought there must be an easier way??? thanks for your help.

Answer
No not really, you could work it out geometrically (drawing it out) but it takes time using that way and you need to have an understanding of geometric drawing. It can be frustrating when you so close but it not right, sometimes I got the right cuts but the walls are far from perfect which can make a joint imperfect. Ideally, it best to fix the joint first before fixing the mould rail to the wall. Stuart