AboutStuart Mawle Expertise Now been a carpenter & joiner for the past ten years in the UK. I can give avice / help on carpentry & joinery, health & safety, woodworking machinery, power tools and suppliers. I have served an indentured carpentry apprenticeship with a medium sized building contractor doing a wide range of domestic and commercial work. This has included office buildings, barn conversions, building extensions and renovations. During my career, I spent over three years as a wood trades technician at a college. My job involved joinery work, wood maching and helping CITB carpentry & joinery students` pratical projects. I am a member of Institute of Carpenters
Question QUESTION: my sister asked me to help her put up chair-rail in her dining room. She has odd angles. Both inside and outside angles. How do I figure the angles and translate that to my miter saw???
Thank you very much
Colleen
ANSWER: Well, it depends what you mean by odd angles, most internal angles should be a scribe joint, the exception is where the angle is greater than 90 degrees then you use a mitre technique. In general you need to measure the total angle and divide it by 2, and it is this angle require to be cut on each piece so you would set up the mitre saw to this, some angles cant be cut on a mitre saw.
In an ideal world you will end up with perfect fitting joint, afraid it doesn't happen because walls are not straight and often plaster can effect how the joint comes together. Fitting mouldings is a skillful art where experience plays a big part, be prepare to have to adjust the joint to get a good fit. My best tip is glue and pin your external angles first before fixing onto the wall. I hope this helps you. Stuart Mawle
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QUESTION: "in general you need to measure the total angle..."
Okay....that was MY question....HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE TOTAL ANGLE????? I understand that if it is a 90 degree angle then I need to cut 2 45 angles. What I don't know is if it is NOT a 90 degree angle....how do I measure the total angle.
Answer Sorry about that...got off on a tangent, the easiest way is to go and buy a something that will measure the angle, there are alot of devices out there. It depends on what you are prepare to spend...the best one I have seen is the nobex multifix (for further info visit http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Nobex-Multifix-22784.htm) otherwise the tradition method involves using a bevel, setting that to the total angle, drawing it out on plywood, bisecting that angle with a compass, setting the bevel up to the mitre angle and using the bevel to set up the mitre saw.
In my first answer just trying to point out that you can do all of the above, cut the mitre and when you come to fit them together, you don't always get a good fit and most importantly mitre saw cant always cut the angle that you want. On the inside angles you should be using a scribe joint....mitre joints for internal (unless they are obtuse) don't work well because they will require filling in few months time as often the case timber mouldings will shrink due to heated house is often drier than where they been store for the past few months. I hope this helps you. Stuart Mawle
