I’m looking for guidance/ideas on trimming out a couple of arched windows in my house. I would like to stay away from the expensive custom built casing and am interested in extending above the arch with MDF and trimming that out in some fashion. I would love to see some pics if anyone is willing to share of some of their work. Also some web sites with ideas ( I have googled this and come up pretty much empty).
Thanks
Silas
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Replies
Can you post a pic of your windows and surrounding walls?
I went down to the lobby
To make a small call out.
A pretty dancing girl was there,
And she began to shout,
"Go on back to see the gypsy.
He can move you from the rear,
Drive you from your fear,
Bring you through the mirror.
He did it in Las Vegas,
And he can do it here."
is it an elipse ...or a true arc ?
I can post a pic but won't be able to do it for a day or two. As far as if it is a true arc or not I can't answer but the pic should tell. Thanks for the responses and stay tuned for the pic.silas
ok.... this is like playing a piano...
you can start with chopsticks....
or beethoven.... you know you chose beethoven , right ?
hey, but it's all goodMike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
have you priced the 'custom' casing? My yard will take any template to their trim supplier and get me a wooden arch set to match any casing they sell for a very reaonable price.
Also you can get the flexible mouldings as well.
silas1804,
If all else fails you can always give this technique a try.
http://www.josephfusco.org/Articles/Plaster_Curve_Mouldings/Plaster_Curved_Mouldings.html
If you need a bit more info you can always drop me a line.
http://www.constructionforumsonline.com
Nice link Joe. Thank you for posting it. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Mike,Thanks. Maybe someone might find it useful on a current or future project.http://www.josephfusco.org
http://www.constructionforumsonline.com
Joe, Many regards sent your way for keeping that technique alive.Several years ago I was in Milan Italy, they were restoring an old opera house. I spent a while watching them do some really large crown using pretty much the same technique that you used. They'd also fold burlap into the crown as reinforcement.Best, Mongo
Mongo,Thanks and good to hear from you, I hope your doing well.I'm very comfortable when I work with stone, tile, concrete and plaster. . . I don't know but it might just be an Italian thing ;-). http://www.josephfusco.org
http://www.constructionforumsonline.com
Hey Joe, Nice link, thanks for sharing. What is the adhesive you use? You mentioned water based,
but could you be more specific?
Henley & Basswood,Thanks. The adhesive was Locktite PowerGrap, it replaced Liquid Nails a long time ago as my go-to adhesive.Basswood,GREAT shot of using a taping knife on the crown! I used to have like 6 different profile for crown. . . Now I can't find one. . . ;-(http://www.josephfusco.org
http://www.constructionforumsonline.com
Thanks
Joe,Always nice to see your work.I've been experimenting with a similar technique for tight radius crown molding. I used expanded metal lath as the base/backing.
excellent! I saved those two photos to my archives. A picture is worth a thousand words!"...craftsmanship is first & foremost an expression of the human spirit." - P. Korn
bakersfieldremodel.com
Thanks Huck,That is a project that FHB asked me to write an article about. They ran a similar article on arched casing in plaster in the mid-90's. I mentioned writing this weekend, in the CL thread, and this is what I was writing about.As you mentioned, the pictures tell most of the story, the writing may just be filler. ;o)
I knew the job of trimming out one of those was going to fall to me, and that I would be expected to do it economically, and not tweak out.
So I kept glancing at that window as we got nearer and nearer to the finish stage.
Finally, the light bulb went on! The rest of the hundred-year-old house had 1x side casings on plinth blocks, with 5/4 head casings, so I did a variation on that. I divided the arc of the window approximately into thirds, used 1x for the lower, side sections, and 5/4 for the center top.
Nominal 8" wide stock would be plenty wide, there was a visual reason for the splices, and those joints were tucked into pleasing shadow lines, just as with the doors.
I traced the curve directly off of the jamb, and cut to that line. Then I ran over the pieces, front and back, with a 1/8" rabbeting bit. That did two things: it brought me out to the correct radius for the reveal, and also left just a thin, 1/4" ridge down the middle of the hardwood trim that was easy to quickly smooth with my old Stanley Compass Plane.
Another pass with the rabbeting bit smoothed up the rabbet, which of course was as rough as the jigsawn edge I'd been bearing on. Then a pass with a flush-trim bit removed the planed ridge, and left it ready to sand.
I scribed back from there to lay out the full width of the trim, and did the back edge the same way. The only difference was that I had to crank the plane from convex to a concave setting.
Sounds like a lot of steps, but the tools were all there and set up for other jobs already, except for the compass plane, which was sitting on my mantel at home, sharp, and ready for its once-a year job.
The whole thing took me just a few hours, and it looked great!
AitchKay
Atchikay:That sounds really cool. Wouldn't have a pic to share woudja??Silas
Edited 1/9/2009 9:20 am ET by silas1804
I don't. That was early 90s, and pre-digital, too. But that job isn't that far away, and although I wasn't the contractor of that job, I have contracted other work for them.I'll give 'm a buzz and see if I can swing by some time soon --never hurts to have more pics in your portfolio!If I get 'em, I'll post 'em.Aitchkay
That sounds like a lot of trouble for you. I'll keep looking and surely come up with something. I need to post a pic myself so that everyone knows better what I'm talking about. Hopefully will be able to get that done this weekend.thankssilas
If you're looking for "economical" and "DIY", I can offer this:
View Image
It's nothing more than MDF. The jamb is 3/4" ply with the back kerfed to contour the arch.
The casing is about 5-1/2" wide, 3/4" thick MDF with one edge rabetted to catch the 3/4" ply jamb. Then another layer of roughly 2" wide MDF around the outside edge of the first layer, for added depth.
Inexpensive. Fairly easy to fabricate. And it's held up for the past 10 years with no wear issues.
If you want more info, I probably still have sample pieces of the parts tucked away in my shop.
I trimmed out 14 arches this way.
that is very nice - you routered the cove in the mdf?"...craftsmanship is first & foremost an expression of the human spirit." - P. Korn
bakersfieldremodel.com
Yes. Fabrication and assembly was simple and straightforward.
There are options such as these:
http://www.trimster.com/flextrim.asp
http://www.flexiblemoulding.com/products.asp
http://www.ultraflexmoulding.com/products.html
Thanks reinvent. That Trimster product has some definite possibilities.Silas
I've used FlexTrim before - it puckers a fair amount upon nailing and in a few other ways acts more like rubber than wood. Sometimes, though, it's exactly what you need.
Jeff
http://jhausch.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_archive.html
THere is an arch window in the garage loft at the link above.
I used a sheet of 1/2" MDF for the window trim. Not as fancy and detailed as what others have posted, but serviceable.
I made a "trammel arm?" for my router and used a 1/4" spiral up-cut bit to cut the arched piece. Multiple slow passes. I think I did the ID first, then the OD, then ripped the vertical pieces to match that width. I was shooting for 6" inches.
Adventures in Home Building
An online journal covering the preparation and construction of our new home.
I've been working on arched casing and crown lately. I have a book that has helped incredibly.
http://www.amazon.com/Circular-Carpentry-Joinery-George-Collings/dp/0941936481/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=booksqid=1231706051&sr=8-1
It give the formulas for determining arcs and ellipses, and more. It was originally published in 1886, but has updated explanations along the original writings.
Here's a page of the book showing how to calculate the radius of an arc, and a couple of pics of my latest project.
Once you determine the radius you can cut out build up and rout the casing to what design you want. You can cut out the pieces either by jigsaw, router, or bandsaw. If it's painted, MDF is the easiest.
Ott
nice work i'm assuming you made the crown yourself? any pics of the process?
Mike,It took me quite a while to settle on a process and then it took me way longer than anticipated to make the pieces. My adjustable guide didn't do the job right the first time and I had to make them over with my own guide.I have a Woodmaster molder/planer but it can only cut profiles 1-1/8 deep so the molding had to be made with two knives and passes. I laminated up the pieces seperately and routed the cove in the bottom, then ran the first portion of the profile. I then glued up the top portion and ran the top of the molding. After building all of the jigs and working out the details the first time it took me about 4 days. When I had to rebuild them, glue up, routing, and molding took about 6 hours.Here's some pics.Ott
Let me try those pics again.
wow, that is some beautiful work!"...craftsmanship is first & foremost an expression of the human spirit." - P. Korn
bakersfieldremodel.com
Thanks,I worked really hard to figure out how to do true arched crown. Very little/no information is out there. It's not a simple as it may seem. I only got paid for less than half the time I had in them, but it was a valuable learning experience. Here is an earlier attempt.Ott
Nice work!"Real" work, too!
Its not cheap but I used some (extruded?) rubber moulding for a bow window once.
It really worked great. It was stained to match the rest of the trim and it looked good too.
Beware though an 8' piece of 3 1/2" base moulding cost $120. So when you buy it make sure you order from a place that has benches at the counter.
You'll need to be sitting when you see the bill.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
Heres how I've done it before. No trammel needed. Just used flush cut bit and the jamb as a guide.
Oh yeah! That's what I'm talkin' bout! Thanks Brady T. Tom
have you tried the flexible moldings? They are pretty amazing.