Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Baseboard: Trimming the front edge

After my two workers finished cleaning up the dried glue, I took the baseboard outside and sanded both faces with 100 followed by 150 grit paper. I used a random-orbit sander, which also helped to take out a few very minor irregularities in the joints between boards. Both my father and I agree that our work joining up the boards was very good: the sander needed to dwell on only a few spots to get everything level.

Next, we clamped a straightedge along the front, making sure it was perpendicular to the long side, and crosscut the front edge straight with a handheld circular saw. The process of biscuit joinery allows some slight sideways play in the boards when they're glued up, so the ends of the boards are usually a few millimetres away from being in a perfect line. As long as you cut the ends off, all is well and a straight edge is restored.

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