Cutting Miter Angles

I am asked how quite often how to figure out what angle a 7 sided project or 14 sided or any other number of sided project will be. The simplest way I have is to divide 360°by the number of sides. Here I will show a 7 sided figure and a 14 sided. the 7 sided is 51.43°, and the 14 sided is 25.72°,then divide that by 2 for the cut.
Herb

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an invaluable tool to get ultra precise angles is a Lion Miter Knife.
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LION MITER KNIEF

another gotta have tool is a shooting board…
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Shooting Board 2.pdf (1.9 MB)
Shooting Board 3.pdf (57.0 KB)

and taking it up a notch…
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this is what you can achieve w/ a miter knife…
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I have one of those in an unopened box on the back porch. I has been sitting there for years, I don’t think I could even lift it now it is so heavy. I heard a guy cut off his finger in one so never wanted to use it.
Herb

would you like to do your miters old world style???
use a shooting board…
there should be enough ideas here to adapt a shooting board to your needs…

Shooting Board 2.pdf (1.9 MB)
Shooting Board 3.pdf (57.0 KB)
INCLINED SHOOTING BOARD.pdf (1.1 MB)
Setting Up and Using a Shooting Board.pdf (2.2 MB)

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plan “B”&“C” to cutting your miters on staves…
no birdsmouth bit??? use your dado blade on your table saw…
the proud on the exterior circumference can either be left, trimmed down some or flushed w/ an LA hand plane or your RT using a sled…
you could vein the exterior joint seam for something different that will make an accent out of any minor flaws…

Birdmouth_large

16j4056s4

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got a lot of oddball angles when you are trying to miter moldings???
Cope it…

Coping Moldings.pdf (324.6 KB)

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Coping is the old stand by. That was the way we always trimmed out base/ceiling molding in house construction. There are very few right angle inside corners on dry wall construction due to the nature of mud and tape build up in the corner. Outside corners can be easily cut by adjusting the angle.
Herb

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DeWalt put this PDF together for cutting angles…
it should really help many…

CROWN ANGLE COMPS.pdf (3.4 MB)

now that you are proficient at miters do build ups for that special accent…

Built ups…
Built-Up Moldings.pdf (600.8 KB)
adding-detail-with-built-up-molding.pdf (1.2 MB)

extra wide crowns…
Make_Extra_Wide_Crown_Molding.pdf (1.0 MB)

the fancier moldings…
Gooseneck Mouldings.pdf (38.4 KB)
Goose-neck Mouldings.pdf (131.9 KB)

Notes…
where to cut…
Scribing Interior Trim.pdf (1.2 MB)

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