One of the
greatest uses for any sliding miter saw is in cutting molding — particularly crown
molding.
I can tell you war stories of my various attempts at installing crown
molding. The bottom line is I made way too many mistakes and that cost me a great
deal of time and expensive stock molding.
The Kapex is not only a new sliding miter saw with a lot of unique features
but it is a saw that has the cutting of crown molding in its design
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Normally, Elena and I would try to learn how to install crown molding and then try to
teach it via this web site. but I did better than that for the preparation of these
pages.
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I asked a
friend who has years of crown molding installation experience who is also just a very
capable woodworker. He is Per Swenson — a true craftsman when it comes to wood.
I know that I posted this picture of him and his father when they were putting the
final touches on a 60 foot long bar.
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Bob,
Per's father, is in his mid-eighties and is no slouch when it
comes to working. I sure couldn't start to keep up to him.
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Two old
bald guys get together to match stories of the 50's. Actually it was amazing to hear Bob
speak of his experiences back then. He and I did many of the same things then, and I don't
mean chasing women.
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Per starts his tutorial with Elena. Installing crown molding is a learned skill. It will
be interesting to see how long it will take Elena to pickup the basics from the
master. I say "master". It didn't take long to see a real master at work.
Per is good — very good.
He starts by showing Elena how the crown molding should look once in place.
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Per
shows Elena the angle measuring device that he has used in his work. He explains that you
do not need it when using the new Kapex.
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And just so you don't
forget, the new Festool Kapex Sliding Miter Saw is the subject of the day. We will be
giving it a workout in just a few minutes.
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We
created two flats that are our model corner walls. We wanted a corner that could be
adjusted to any number of degrees. Per's point is well taken — there is rarely a
corner that is a pure 90º. He will adjust our "set" so that Elena and he can
practice crown molding corners at any degree.
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At the saw, Per shows
Elena how to adjust the crown stops on the Kapex.
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Here is a
close-up of what Elena should be seeing. The molding is placed upside down on the bed of
the Kapex and angled so that the bottom and back edges are touching the base and fence,
respectively, of the Kapex. The crown stop is moved back and forth until this occurs and
then is locked in place for all the cuts.
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