Something a little different: Trim carpentry instructional video.

[LuckyCharms]

I'm afraid this will bore most of you, but some may be interested, so I'll post it.

This is a video that shows how to "roll" miter cuts. Frequently, when trimming out windows or doors, the jambs are either sitting proud of the wall, or they are recessed back from the edge of the wall. This is problematic when cutting miters, and if this is not compensated for, the miter joints will not be tight, and they will look like hell.

I re-trimmed my entire home in pre-finished oak trim. This means that the joints have to be perfect, because that stuff is not caulked or painted. I had all sorts of problems. Wavy plastered walls, proud jambs, recessed jambs...everything. All of the molding I ordered cost several thousand dollars, and I didn't want to slop it up with a bad install.

So I found a video on YouTube that explains how to deal with this problem (not this particular video)...I can't find the original video that taught me.

This technique is called "rolling the miters". I don't own a step gauge, so I was using coins, drill bits, nails, anything that worked. I went to trade school for God's sake, and I never learned this technique until I found a video on how to do this. It worked, and my miters came out perfect. As a pro who looked at my work said..."tighter than a gnat's ass".

I encourage everyone to teach themselves anything and everything as we all grow older. It's never too late to learn something new.

[ret5hd]

1. Thank you...

where were you 15-20 yrs ago???

[LuckyCharms]

2. Probably still cutting bad miters

[MiHale]

3. So many times lately...

I wish YouTube was around when I was younger and building, repairing my homes or trying to fix the car, tractor, mower. …..
BUT…everything I know I learned in kindergarten and YouTube wasn’t there…probably would have stayed in the lines coloring.

[usaf-vet]

4. Wow! Let's see more of these and a lot less liars and whiners! This kid is great! I'm 78 and he will always be a......

..... a talented kid!

[onethatcares]

5. meh

half inch of paint,, make it what it ain't

[LuckyCharms]

6. "A little caulk and a little paint make a carpenter what he ain't"

[mitch96]

7. Wow, thanks. Being a half assed wood butcher I've always struggled with miters...nt

[LuckyCharms]

8. When I trimmed my first door of many in the whole house trim job...

I solved the problem by using tapered wood shims behind the casing. This was how the original carpenters did it when my house was built in the 50's, because I found shims behind the old casing that I tore off.

This will tighten up the joint, but if you look closely, you can see the shims from a side view. That doesn't look very good.

Another way is to take a file, or plane, or a flap disk on an angle grinder, and hog out some material at the appropriate spot on the back of the casing, but this takes forever.

What is shown in the video is the best solution I think.