How to cut
12 Inch Crown Molding
How To Cut Flat Crown THE EASY WAY!
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welcome to paws toolbox today I'm going
to cover cutting crown molding flat that
means setting it down on the saw flat
and making your cuts now in most cases
people don't have saws like this now
this saw right here is a double compound
miter saw so it swivels to both sides if
you have a standard saw you will want to
check out my other video it's called how
to cut crown molding the easy way and
that explains in detail how to go ahead
and make your cuts with a regular saw
and in position but now we're going to
cover cutting molding flat so what you
will do is lay it flat and then you'll
put the top against the fence and the
bottom will go here and this will act
like the wall so you will not cut it on
the angle that it's it's set on you're
going to take your blade of your saw and
you're going to swivel it over and make
these measurements and it's really easy
once you see how this is done the
problem is you need to know what the
spring angle is on this and I'm going to
explain that in a second and you're also
going to need to know what the figures
are for this and there's a chart that
tells you where to set this it's not
going to be your normal settings like it
would be if you cut this in position
this is where you need the double
compound miter saw and you also need to
find out what this angle is if you look
at this crown looks like standard crown
this is 45 45 crown crown comes in most
cases two different ways 45 and 45 which
make up a 90 that's where your wall goes
into your ceiling and that means this
angle is 45 degrees and this angle is 45
degrees on a 50 to 38
it's totally different look at one angle
is way different than the other now some
crown moldings will fool you because
they they're not as far down as this
this angle will stop short so it'll look
like it's pretty much the same but it's
not and I'm going to show you an easy
way to check it you can take this and
set it on this square all right when I
set it to where this parts flat here and
the other parts flat here
it should be even if I have a 45 45 50
to 38 crown means that you have two
different size angles on here are two
different cuts and if you take 52 and 38
and add them together you still get 90
degrees that's what your your wall to
your ceiling should be if you don't have
a vaulted ceiling now that's a whole
nother animal and we'll cover that later
right now I'm just going to show you how
to make these cuts okay this right here
if I set it up on here and I'm flush on
the top and bottom I'm two inches at the
top and three inches at the bottom that
means that this is 52 38 it's an arm
offset now if I put this upside down
you'll see it's going to look funny it's
not going to be right see how much of an
angle it is there now you have your
three inches on the ceiling and two on
the wall and it gives you a much
different angle every once in a while
you'll have a situation where somebody
wants that to put lights inside of it
they don't have a large crown it's a
small crown or something like that but
try not to do it with something like
this that shows a profile that's obvious
on the bottom this is pretty plain and
this is where your detail is that's
pretty obvious if you put it this way it
may look a little funny here's the crown
molding that can throw you off this
looks like it would be a 52:38 crown
because you have this obvious detail at
the bottom and you have the round part
up top but check this out if you set
this up against here you're two inches
on the top and two inches on the bottom
now if I flip it upside down you're
still going to sit the exact same way so
this is a 45 45 crown so don't be fooled
just by looking at it and assuming it's
52 38 or 45 45 the reason why I'm going
into detail with this is because I want
you to understand that you have to have
these numbers right when you go to make
these cuts if you set this up on your
saw 450 to 38 and you're putting 45 45
crown on there you're going to have bad
cuts this is a crown molding that has
detail all the way through so you can
take this and flip it upside down or
right side up because it is a 45 45
crown and it's still going to look great
this way or you can put it this way and
it really doesn't matter it's it's your
own personal preference that's going to
look good both ways and that's the way
it can sit on the wall all right we're
going to take this and go over these
settings and I'm going to get a chart
out because you really need that chart
here are your crown charts or your cheat
sheets and they are excellent this one's
made by Jo - Fusco Jo - Fusco passed
away a couple of years ago and he was an
excellent carpenter he knew a lot more
than most people and including me so I
go by his charts and I'm going to leave
a link in the bottom of this video
that's going to bring you right to where
you can print this it's a PDF friendly
chart so you can just print it right up
keep these copies with you when we go to
do ours which is 90 degrees I'm going to
set my minor at 35 point two six and my
bevel at 30 some saws show it a little
bit different but it doesn't really
matter it's not a big deal I'm going to
show you on here my saw says thirty five
point three if you put it on thirty five
point three you're going to get the
exact same cut it's so close it really
doesn't matter we're going to set our
bevel setting first and you see right
here are your different degrees I'll
loosen this up and unlock it and then I
just turn this down for thirty degrees
right on that mark and I can lock it in
place now we're going to get into our
miters if you look right here you see
thirty one point six thirty one point
six rings a bell right because on the
chart with 38 52 crown your setting
would be thirty one point six at ninety
degrees if you're doing forty fives you
have to go to this next little line here
some of them will have this and some
will not that's why you definitely need
your charts so thirty five point three
is right there
we set it on here and we lock it in
place I highly recommend that you make a
couple of sample cuts before you start
this because once you get this down here
and you have a sample cut it's a
no-brainer when you go to set you saw
because you may forget when you're doing
an outside or inside corner of where
your bevel setting and miter settings go
you take your crown and you put it on
the exact way you're going to set it on
your wall okay with the top up just like
this so you set that against the fence
and we'll go ahead and make a cut right
here and I'm going to show you how easy
it is if you look at this crown this is
an inside corner on the right side this
is a right inside okay this is a left
outside you see how it's an outside cut
if you look at the inside you can see
the meat of the of the crown and over
here you can't if you look at it
straight on you just see the finished
finished part of the crown so that's one
sample and we'll just flip this all over
to get the other one just swivel this
over 230 degrees lock it in place
take my miter and set it over here at 35
point three or two six now I'm gonna
make this cut
so you can write on here this is a right
outside corner okay this is a left
inside corner now you have all your
samples you need so when you go to set
this all up it's a no-brainer
if I have to do a left inside I'm lining
it up and it's going to fit perfect if I
do a right outside corner same thing so
a lot of times I'll have a right outside
and a left inside or opposite I'll make
this cut and then I'll have to do is
slide it over and make other cuts when
I'm cutting any molding I always make my
inside cut first or my flat cut if this
was a flat piece I would have that piece
first and then I can hook right on to
the edge of here and measure over to get
my outside cut you're going to run
across situations where you have two
outside cuts when you do that you're not
going to be able to hook your tape on
one of them once you make that cut it's
going to want to slide off there's ways
to go around that or work around it and
I'm going to show you right now one way
and this is great with short pieces I'll
take and cut an inch if I take and cut
an inch right here put my line right on
the edge I can get my measurement over
here but just remember you have to make
adjustments if I'm 12 inches and that's
what I need it's going to say 13 so
you're going to have to subtract an inch
from there okay once you do that you'll
get an accurate measurement if you're
cutting a long piece you're going to
want something like this this is a
b-line clamp and it's a great little
tool that I keep on a tool belt all the
time you will take this and clamp it on
the edge and I'm going to show you how
to do that it is made for plywood mainly
but I use it for this a lot the reason
why it's made for plywood is it because
it will lock right on the edge of
plywood and you can get your measurement
from the middle of the board over if you
want and it even has setups for angles
so check out that site it's really a
good little tool costs about nine ten
dollars and I'll use mine
on a daily basis so if you do not have
that you're always going to have a speed
square this is a Swanson
speed square and it's a great tool for
just about everything if you do
construction
you need a speeds good alright what I'll
do on the speed square is I'll set it up
right on the end to match my markup okay
once I do that I can take my clamp hook
it on here and get my accurate
measurement and it doesn't matter how
long it is it's going to hook and stay
on there let's go ahead and cut a 12
inch piece right here a 12 inch board so
I'll take it right on the edge mark it
at 12 inches we have our accurate
measurement and now we want to make an
outside cut right here well my saw is
set up for an outside right we're going
to need a left so remember the templates
that we made real simple all I have to
do is set my saw for that so what we're
going to do is take the saw and flip it
over I'll flip it back here at 30
degrees and I turn my mitre over here
it's going to match and my mitre is
going to go right at 33 or 35.3 the
great thing about a sliding compound
miter saw is you can take it and slide
it in a position to where you can line
it up exactly on that line now if you
don't have a sliding compound miter what
you'll do is you'll start back here a
little bit and then just kind of slide
your board over until you get your right
cut because you don't want to go past
that line if you misjudge it and it goes
past that well you got to start over
again I take this and I set it down
right on the line
see I use a fine line and I just cut
right on the edge where that line stays
there and I can still see it you don't
want to cut that line off because you
want to know exactly where you're at and
you don't want a really wide pencil
where you have a thick mark you want to
have a fine line there so when you do
get right on it you have an accurate
mark this piece the crown is leftover
from a job that I had this is 11 and a
quarter inches high or wide so there's
no way you could sit this in position
and make a cut you have to cut this
flight so we're going to go ahead and
just play with it and get a cut out of
it this wide piece of crown is really
meant for an experienced carpenter you
have to be doing this for a little while
before you can hang crown seven inches
are over on a wall because seven seven
inch crown and larger it doesn't flex
you can't twist it you have to you have
to shim it and work it to get it to fit
right and it's a lot easier with a
smaller crown so we'll I suggest to
people if you want a nice larger look go
ahead and make a two or three piece
crown you can stack them together and
get a really nice look and it's a lot
easier it's a couple more cuts but it's
a lot easier than trying to slap one big
piece up like this
this is not a crown you want to fight
with you cannot twist this you see how
think it is it's really hard to work
with if it's a little bit warped or a
little bit twisted you're really going
to have a time with it so stick with the
lighter or smaller stuff when you get
really experienced then you can start
playing with this stuff okay we're going
to go ahead and set this in the position
that it would be in on a house of course
this is too big for my house but I just
want to show you that my mitre is
correct if the mitre is correct and you
have your saw settings the right way
this is going to hug the wall and have a
true 90 degree angle if you're off it's
going to kick out this way or this way
and it's not going to match up right or
this top here will be off and your
bottom will be off it's just not going
to match up everything matched up here
and then you see my corners good well
that's it for now don't forget to
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