My cabinet crown molding debacle from last Friday

I was working on a kitchen remodel in St. Paul last week and thought I had the crown molding figured out. The miter saw was set, the angles calculated, and I cut my first piece perfect. Then I went to install the second piece and realized I had the saw set to the wrong bevel the whole time. Ended up wasting about 40 bucks worth of poplar because I had to recut three sections. My buddy Dave walked over and pointed out my mistake in like two seconds flat. I felt pretty dumb but at least I caught it before I glued anything. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple math error on angles cost you material and time?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinhunt5d ago

Man Dave's always got the eagle eye when you least want it right? I had a similar thing happen with some crown I was doing for a buddy's bathroom. Spent a whole afternoon measuring and cutting what I thought was perfect crown molding only to find out I'd been subtracting the spring angle instead of adding it. Ended up with joints that looked like a gap-toothed smile. Had to scrap almost twenty bucks worth of primed pine and start fresh from the angle finder. What did you end up doing with all those messed up poplar pieces?

lee.diana4d ago

Gap-toothed smile" lol that's exactly what mine looked like too. I just chopped em up into test pieces and used em for setting up the saw on future jobs, saves me from ruining good stock when I'm dialing in a new cut.