Subject: Crown Molding Mitre cuts

Name: Jim Tomfohrde
Who is asking: Other
Level: All

Question:
My question has to do with making mitre cuts when installing crown molding. Crown molding is the trim that is put up at the top of walls with one edge on the wall and the other edge on the ceiling. To make a mitre cut on your mitre saw for a 90-degree corner you can lay the molding flat on the saw base, set the bevel of the blade to 34 degrees and the mitre to 31.5 degrees (these may be slightly appoximate). Of course depending on which piece of molding you're cutting you will cut one end or the other, or use the left or right end. These angles allow the cuts to line up and form a seamless corner when they're put in place on the wall/ceiling at 90 degrees. My question is this - is there some mathematical formula from which the 34 degrees and 31.5 degrees are derived. I want to know this because in many cases the corner is not 90 degrees but can be more or less, and in these instances I would like to know if I can calculate the bevel and mitre to use based on the angle of the corner.

Thanks

Jim Tomfohrde

There is an online calculator that will calculate the angles you want. You can find it at http://www.issi1.com/corwin/crown.html. At the bottom of the page is a link to a derivation of the expressions that are used to calculate the angles.