Angles for my MDF skirting

[chriselevate]

Hi,

I've been putting off the job of fitting my MDF (ready primed) in the lounge due to a few issues. The main issues being the tricky angles that I've got to work with and the fact that my electric mitre saw will only let me cut 14mm high wood and not the 18mm stuff which is what I bought for the lounge to make it look more classy! lol

So.... here's a ROUGH plan of the lounge to give you an idea of what I'm working with... the problem is that the angles you can see here, the bay window and the one near the door aren't straight forward angles.



I understand the need to scribe the profile of the skirting into the piece that fits against it (when working with 90 degree angles). But what do I do with this other ones?

Also... it is ok to glue the boards to the plastered and painted walls?

And what would you suggest seeing as now I've got the skirting baords in 18mm and my mitre saw will only chop wood 14mm high.

Cheers

 

[dextrous]

So, the ensuite's all done eh?

Think you mean your saw only cuts 140mm, since 14mm is quite a small blade! However, before I invested, I got a reasonable result by cutting the mitre as your saw will allow and then turning the board around and using the reverse side of it. With a bit of practice you'll get it pretty accurate.

As for the funny angles for scribing, the best way is to get a profile gauge . Remember to use the coping saw at an angle to cut away enough of the reverse side to make it fit flush (90 degrees will not work).

 

[big-all]

you scribe internal angles and mitre external angles
if you need to work out what angle to cut its easy enough you take an offcut off skirting at least 8" long
lay it flat on the floor into the corner for internals draw a line on the floor off the outer edge from both walls and where the outer line crosses over draw a line into the corner and theres your actual angle you need to set your mitre saw to cut

on the externals you do the same but its an external corner where the lines 4" or so inches outside the face off the skirting

14mm on a mitre saw !!!
what sort off saw do you have ""
normaly your talking around 75mm minimum

 

[chriselevate]

Ensuite done..... errrrr no! Don't be silly!

I just need some variety to give me a break from putting up this silly membrane which is proving to be hard in this ensuite than any other room in the house!

Sorry.... yes I know to scribe the 90 degree joints by scribing into the skirting. How do I do this for the odd angles though? Not sure how one of those profile gages would help with this? Do I need to mitre off an angle or is it done with square edges?

And yeah it's 140mm/14cm lol and thanks for the tip with my current mitre... I'll have to give that a few trial runs on off cuts.

Cheers

 

[chriselevate]

Thanks big-all.....

Yikes that sounds complicated... hard to explain I guess.

I'll have a few reads through that and a ponder on it to see if I can understand what you mean.

Cheers mate!

 

[big-all]

imagine 2 bits off skirting flat on the floor against the 2 wall into the corner or overlapping on an external corner the angle is where the external and internal edges cross
so iff you lay the skirting on the floor hard into the corner and draw a line along the outside edge then repeat along the other edge you will have an internal and external "corner" draw a line between them and thats the exact angle you need to cut assuming the walls are vertical and plumb!!! which they will not be

 

[dextrous]

you scribe internal angles and mitre external angles
if you need to work out what angle to cut its easy enough you take an offcut off skirting at least 8" long
lay it flat on the floor into the corner for internals draw a line on the floor off the outer edge from both walls and where the outer line crosses over draw a line into the corner and theres your actual angle you need to set your mitre saw to cut

Are you sure big-all. If I follow you right, a 90 corner would give you two lines on the floor at 90, which ain't the angle to cut and scribe from, 'cos we all know that that's 45

My way would be to butt the two boards into the corner (one on top of the other) and hold the profile flat on the other board and slide it along 'til it fits and mark a line along the board following the fingers. Alright, not really necessary to use a gauge, but a bit easier without that third hand Then cope along at a more than enough angle to chop the reverse side waste off.

 

[chriselevate]

Is this the sort of things you're tlaking about for the internal angles....







So the last drawing shows the angle which can be then worked out using a protractor?! And this angle can then be divided by two and applied to the two pieces of wood on this wall?

Cheers

 

[dextrous]

imagine 2 bits off skirting flat on the floor against the 2 wall into the corner or overlapping on an external corner the angle is where the external and internal edges cross
so iff you lay the skirting on the floor hard into the corner and draw a line along the outside edge then repeat along the other edge you will have an internal and external "corner" draw a line between them and thats the exact angle you need to cut assuming the walls are vertical and plumb!!! which they will not be

Gotcha!! Now that does make sense. Cheers

 

[chriselevate]

Are the diagrams I've done above what you're describing fella?

So in other words for internal skirting board joins you just mitre them rather than scribing them? Or are you somehow suggesting I scribe these too?

How does this work for the external joins?

Cheers

 

[big-all]

chriselevates drawing said a thousand words
he deserves the credit for making things clear

 

[chriselevate]

Cheers geeza!

So you liked my drawings? I just follwed you're advice step my step and figured out what you were saying.

Hope it helps others with this tricky little situation too.

Still a bit unclear (as I've said in the previous posts) about what technique to use where, which is mitred and which is scribed and also how this differs with the external/internal fixings?

Cheers

 

[regsmyth]

No, the technique you've drawn is what you use for the external angles.

For internal angles, you do this....
Cut and fit your first piece tight and square into the corner.
Measure the length of your second piece to the face of your first piece, and draw a square line on the second piece.

Now, don't cut this bit off, but cut a mitre through your second piece, with this line as the shortest part of the cut. Got it?

You are left with a profile on the mitre cut. Cut around this with a jigsaw or coping saw, and if done right, will match the profile of the first piece.

That is called a scribed joint.

 

[enigmatic]

Ok zombie thread

Im trying to do the same thing here scribing out skirting as I've tried with a 45 and it looks a mess on the internal and my walls are out anyway after being skimmed too!!

option is to knock some off the plaster but I don't want to do that.

been trying to scribe on a few scrap pieces (im running out) but its no good I cut an open 45 cut down to the ornate section the follow the pattern with a coping saw but I just cant get the hang of it. they wont butt up tight to the section I've put down

I've watched video after video on youtube and its not doing me any good!!

Please help

im using MDF pre primed torus

 

[Harbourwoodwork]

Internal corners,there are different school's of thought scribe or butt, much more than say 25-30 degs ,out of square I would butt joint ,the scribe would be too difficult,an alterative method of angle finding,use adjustable bevel on the plaster work and split the angle with compass,schoolboy geometry style or these new digital bevel's look good and would be very quick in conjunction with a chop saw with graduation's on the angle setting's.