Copying Moldings
Use bamboo skewers and corrugated cardboard to make an improvised contour gauge for moldings of any size.
I’ve created an inexpensive tool to copy molding and trim profiles. Starting with a pack of bamboo skewers from the grocery store, I inserted about 50 of them into a 2-in.-wide strip of corrugated cardboard. I push this improvised contour gauge against molding profiles to get a very accurate template of the profile. I can then use the template to check or reproduce the shape. One benefit of this homemade version compared to a commercial version is that it can be made as large or as small as needed for the job at hand.
Click here to enlarge the illustration
—Rob Foote, New Zealand
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #290
