In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva reveals various means and methods of making your own authentic reproduction moldings.
Steps for replicating molding profiles
- If there’s a router bit that matches the profile of the original molding, you can use a portable router or router table to mill the exact-match profile into boards.
- Replace a table-saw blade with a molding cutter head.
- Select the cutters that most closely match the profile of the original molding and mount them to the cutter head.
- Adjust the table-saw fence and height of the cutter head, then make a cut into a scrap piece of wood. Once satisfied with the cut, mill boards into moldings.
- To replicate a very ornate or unusual profile, start by making a crosscutting through the molding.
- Slip a piece of paper into the saw kerf and trace the shape of the molding’s profile onto the paper.
- Fax or mail the piece of paper to a machine shop and it’ll make a pair of custom knives to match your molding.
- Mount the knives into a molding machine to mill as much molding as you need.
