Providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen. Woodcraft helping you make wood work. Gorilla glue for the toughest jobs on planet earth. Phillips behind me, you can see im a creek without a paddle. Look at these three walls right here. Well, the space varies dramatically. And for this space to work, i need three mirrors to match the cabinets below that are walnut and have a classic, old look to it. Come with me. Ill show you how to cut this egganddart molding and create your own custom frame, whatever the size. Lets head to the woodshop. Any good frame on a mirror or a picture will have a mitered angle, and the way to cut it is with a miter saw. But first, before you start cutting, make sure that the fence is lined up all the way across. Another thing is the table has to be flat. If its not flat across, it will raise the angle when you cut and that will effectively change the mitered angle. Now, ill set this straightedge out of the way. This is all tuned up. The first thing that were going to do to cut the Crown Molding. And thats what this trim is. Its Crown Molding thats at a standard angle. Its 52 degrees on the top edge. This is where the egganddart pattern is classic pattern. And then on the back edge, its 38 degrees. Now, a miter saw a good one will come with two key things. Right back here you can see a Little Diamond on there. Well, that diamond, when you tilt this down, thats the bevel angle that i want to lock this saw at to make a simple, compound cut. The other angle and that angle right there is 33. 86 degrees, so dont try to find it. Just set it at the diamond. And then over here, when i swing this over, it clic in. Listen. [ click ] theres a positive stop right there, and i lock it right in. And thats 31. 62 degrees. For typical Crown Molding. Now, why are we using crown . Well, youre going to see when we cut this out. Look at how this corner comes together. Its very beautiful, very elegant. And that looks complex because thats a compound angle, and that springs the frame away from the wall. Well, thats what i want. Well, look at this. Well take the egganddart Crown Molding, and we will slide it right on down here, with everything locked exactly the way i just explained, and well make a miter cut. A couple safety tips make sure you wear your safety glasses, safety protection on the hearing. Always read, understand, and follow the instructions that come with the tools and products you use in your woodshop. Work safely and stay alert. Now, when i make this cut, see how my hand is locked down to the table and i press that piece against the fence . Now watch the cut. This is very important how i do this. When i bring that blade down, i want it to split one of those eggs, just like that. And notice how i turned the saw off, let it come to a complete stop before i back out of the cut. That saves the cut, makes it perfect, but its also for safety so it doesnt grab the blade and throw the scrap in a dangerous place. Now, you think, boy, i have to cut that other angle, right . And its complicated. No, not really. What you do now theres one part of that mitered angle thats beveled. Now, im going to slide this all the way down here against my stop thats at 23 9 16. Well, that doesnt do anything for me. I just have two parallel edges. I need it to go this way. You just flip it over just like that. You dont change the saw setting. You flip it over and hold it securely down to the fence. Notice how my fingers are locked to the fence and down to the table, and i make the cut. Again, i dont move the workpiece or the blade up until everything is stopped. Now, theres the short piece that i need. Now, i need several of those, so ill go ahead and make those right now. But remember, i first have to make this cut by splitting one of the eggs so when the corners mate together it is a match. Let it come to a stop. Dont reach in there until that comes to a stop. And i just flip it over, and i make a total of six workpieces this way. Hold that flat, repeat the process. For the long workpiece, the inside length is 29 1 2 inches and i just have a line marked on the table. Clamp that in place. Thats my stop. And what ill do is take this long workpiece and cut those six identical long pieces through the egg, just as before. I havent changed a thing, but this can be deceptive. As you look at this workpiece, it kind of looks like i have it up at an angle. I dont. I have the wide flat of that molding flat to the table when i cut it. Youll see some people take this and spring it up at an angle and cut it. I dont like to do that. Thats dangerous, in my mind. The other thing down here you can see i have my six short workpieces. I always want to set those safely out of the way. Lock that up behind the table so nothing can be in the way as i make the cuts. So i split that egg, holding it flat to the table, hand brace down. And it has builtin dust collection, which is really good. So thats one part of the cut. I flip it over, swing it up to the stop. And now ill cut the six long workpieces just by holding the workpiece flat to the table. I let the bevel and thmiter do the work. Repeat this process until you have six long workpieces, as well. Okay, set that safely behind the fence here. This is so easy when you have a good setup like this. Now that i have all the long and short workpieces for that mitered corner cut, ive done test samples to get the color i nt. Remember, im matching that walnut base, and this color looks really good. Its a spray walnut stain with both pigments and dyes. And once i get this all done outside and why i like a spray is it really gets into that carved detail very nicely. The winds behind me. And i am wearing safety glasses with side shields, because that microspray could come up and coat my eyes, asell. I do like to work outside when i can because of ventilation. The trick is you havto have at least 65 degrees and a relative humidity between 40 and 60 . Otherwise, youre better off doing it inside. So ill get this all sprayed out, and then its inside to learn how to glue the corners. No glue or excuse me no stain in this area, if at all avoidable, please. That could affect the glue up. Once the stain has dried, its one corner at a time. I use a sanding block get any of that excess stain off, like that. It doesnt have to be perfect, but it does have to be dustfree when we do the next step, and that is we apply an excellent wood glue that, when it dries, it dries clear. You dont want a yellow glue here that dries yellow and leaves behind a nasty bead. Now, its very important, since this is end grain that i putting that on. That means the fibers of the wood thats running this way. And theyre like tiny straws and it will really soak the glue in and starve the joint if you dont use an acid brush to brush that wood glue, or massage it, right into the pores of the wood. Now, because i am going to get a little bit of squeeze out here ill wipe it off with a rag. But since ive already stained it, the stain is in the wood and it will not make a blotchy corner. Of course, ill put a good finish on this later. See my fancy jig here . Its just a squarecut board clamped down with a holdfast. And then back here, heres another piece thats. Held in place. And when i bring this corner up on tt board, just li that, see how the corner mates and is nice and tight . And the other thing i like to do is use a rubber mallet and my body to hold this corner in place right there. Get everything all lined up. Its not a matter of force to clamp that corner, cause im letting that angle do its work. If its cut correctly, all i do right now is bring it flush right in here. And then ill use a brad nailer to tack the corner together just like that. This an 18gauge brad nailer. And once that draws that corner tight, then i dont have any marring. Because its so small, i just fill that. And thats how i do all four corners. Ill rotate this around, get another one. And its just that simple. Sand it clean. You want to keep that sanding block flat, just like that. Size the joint. Add the glue. And then just repeat this process for all four corners. [ brad nailer firing ] if you look very closely, all the corners e nice and tight. I have a little bit of squeeze out there, and since its going to dry clear and i have it already stained, i just use an acid brush to brush that excess glue off while its still damp and thats all there is to it. All four corners need to dry and once that happens, in two hours, then ill flip it over and ill show you how to trim out the back and put the mirror in. Once the glue has dried, now i can do the trim on the back. Now, look at this. This is a digital angle gauge. This trim piece, a quarter of an inch away from the edge and mitered on the end, wraps the entire case. Now, what angle did i need to bevel that at in order to get a perfectly flat back . It says here 16 degrees. These are very handy tools to use when youre trimming things like this out. So now all the way around. Im going to put in a total of four workpieces. And i cleaned up the back edge with a sanding block 100 grit before i glue these strips in. And a quarter of an inch away from the edge, and right on that miter seam right there, im going to use a pin nailer. Now, look very closely at this pin nailer. It has a safety ght here. Thats pulled back, a quarter of an inch in. And when i fire this, look at that. Thats tiny. You can barely see it. Ill bring that up a quarter inch all the way around and ill nail this in. And this will hold the frame for the mirror, and the stock mirror is 24x30. And once i get this in all the way around, put the mirror down. Once the mirrors in, i put the plywood back panel in. It matches it. And then thats just trimmed out with a oneinch strip of walnut thats countersunk and screwed in place. And then a french cleat goes on the top so that i can hang that on the bathroom wall. Thats all there is to it. Okay, everythings tightened up, and that french cleat will hook on the wall, on an identical cleat. And i think youll agree thats a goodlooking mirror. Very easy to do when you know the compoundcutting trick. And go to the website for all the angles and charts. Now lets go do the install. If you look at the cleat on the back of the mirror, you can see the mate on the wall. Its just a mirror image, and they hook together in a way that makes the install go perfectly. Egganddart custom trim. Mirrors or Looking Glasses you cant beat it in the bathroom. I bet suzy will like it. Now lets go take a look at another Looking Glass that well make back at the woodshop. Prior to about 1860, mrors were called Looking Glasses, because thats what you do with them you look at things. Well, look at this beautiful chippendale mirror. It tells a story a very interesting story. When you go to buy antiques, i want you to be very eptical. I want you to start looking for what is called a marriage. Its where something that looks a ttle bit out of place, like this bottom treatment to the frame, because the color is off ever so slightly, or the top pediment being just a little bit too good, because if this mirror was dated back to the 1760s of chippendale style, which this is, there should have been more damage to that. Nothing can survive with all that scrolled tail without damage. So look at antiques with a critical eye. Look for the color or the tina. If its off a bit, chances are you dont have an authentic antique right there. So this chippendale frame is something that i conjured up. I married that and that together with an old frame to create an antique. Suzy loves it. But you dont deceive anyone. And out of this, im going to head to the woodshop to show you all the tricks to make a beautiful chippendaleera mirror together out of mahogany. Lets head there now. A great friend of mine brian boggs, has a saying if you cant outsmart a piece of wood, better give it up. Well, here are all the tricks you need in order to create an antique masterpiece or a recreation of one, like this chippendale mirror. Whenever you have this very inicate scrollwork, you could use a coping saw or a fretsaw. But its a whole lot easier to cut out these details by using a scrolling blade on the band saw. Lets head over there right now and get started. Before i use a band saw to scroll out the parts, a couple tips make your pattern, reduce it in size to fit the wood that you want, to match the chippendale frame, in this case. And then this paper pattern see how it sticks right on there . Well, i like to use temporarybond spray adhesive. I put it on the paern. Let it dry f a minute. Th put that on. That way, after i make the cuts, itll peel right off. Also, you can see this is thicker than what i need. Im acally cutting out two fleurdelis and using carpetcentered, pressuresensitive tape to hold that together. It always has to be clamped together to hold it firm and tight. Now, down here, you can see, for a smaller fleurdelis, ive done the same thing. And then down here, this is the base, with a beautiful scroll treatment ght there. That date backs to the 1760s for chippendalestyle furniture. And then heres the top, or the pediment. Thats the pattern, and this is on beautiful, beautiful mahogany. Its very dense wo. The denser the wood, the better here, cause it will hold the detail. Now, this is a scrolling blade and it will get into those tight spots. Heres the trick. These are cool blocks, above and below the table phenolic resin blocks that gently hold the blade. And ill lower this so its the guide blocks will control the blade, but it also protects my fingers. This is the guard. And now ill turn on the dust collector and make some cuts. Whatever you do, wear safety glasses for this, and these are safety glasses. So the dust collector comes up and the first thing ill do is cut off the sharp areas here. Now, let me get started. Notice how my hands are always to the table. Now, as i go in, i just want to stay on the outside edge of that pattern line. And on a tight spot like this, i dont go into that cavity. I swing it out and around, staying on the outside edge. And once i get the basic shape roughed in, ill go back in and do relief cuts into those sharp areas. That way, i never put the blade into a bind. Remember what yogi berra said . When you come to a fork in the road, what do you do . Well, you take it the same thing on a band saw. When you come to a curve, take it. With that 1 8inch, 14t. P. I blade, youan do remarkable cuts on a band saw. Ill whittle this out, then work on the stake and also the castle. Same way. All techniques apply. Well, there you have it. Watch that blade as it comes to a stop. And now to separate the two patterns, i just use a chisel on edge and gently prime apart. Be careful of the delicate detail there. Now, the other thing let me t rid of that scrap off then im going to do is cut out the base pattern right there and the top paern, using all the same techniques. With the blade off, you need to lower the guideblock assembly so its as close to the two top of the workpieces as possible without having the two touch. So ill just scroll this away. There is a way to do this entire piece on this machine. Turn on the dust collector, and away we go. All right now, its a good idea to wear a dust mask when youre in there tight, doing all those detailed cuts, cause mahogany can be nasty to breathe. So just work smart. Use a good dust collector. See that hole in the center . Now, heres a way to cut that. I like to use a drill press with a hole saw to drill the hole in the center that will eventually frame out that fleurdelis accent that also needs to be carved. Now, speaking of carving, i take all the workpieces over to the router table, and im using a 3 8inch piloted ballbearing bit in the table and a guide pin to profile the best face out. So that way, it saves a ton of time in carving. Just make sure i use a push block to securely and safely make all those cuts. And once thats done, its back to the workbench for some hand carving. Well, power tools can only do so much, and a great set of carving chisels really will be the thing that brings the fleurdelis and the scroll accent to life. You just need to learn how to work with the grain and use sharp tools, and there you want to do downhill, just like that. And ill bring that up and the same with the scroll pediment. But lets look over here. Take a look at this the frame material. You can make your own framing. You can cove it out with a special bit, cut the channel and thats all done at the router table. Take a look. Using the router table with the router fence and three bits, i can profile the molding. The o. G. Cutter is used again to profile the inside edge all the way around the molding for the picture frame. Now, here you can see a straight cutter, and i make two passes with the straight cutter on the inside edge, as well. I want a groove all the way around the frame to accept the glass and the plywood. And then this 3 4inchacross bullnose, or roundnose, bit can be used in multiple passes to create the cove. In fact, if you move the fence you can make it as wide as you want. And thats the easy way to cut all the molding at the router table for either picture frames or, in this case, a mirror. Now, you take that wide board that we routed at the router table, and you take a look at it. You notice all the details are on the edges, right . And then the groove is left and right, as i flip this over. And so you always keep the board wide, profile it, and then you take it to the table saw after its profiled for safe cuts that way. You cut the strips in half. Thats 2 1 2 inches for the strips all the way around. And then you can use this little curved scraper to smooth out the ridges from that bullnose bit. And a little bit of sanding, and we have the mahogany frame. Now, look at this. You see this . This is a pocketscrew corner that you just draw nice and tight. And to make those pocket screws, you do it in the short workpieces. Lets see. You can see right here. I already have two that come all the way through. And lets do the other so you understand that technique right here. I bring it right up, clamp it in place, and now i use the drill and the stop a i drill the pocket screws. Once those are done, you know everything you need to know to make the frame. To sand all the parts down, i like to use a drill press with a flapwheel sander on it 80 grit to just mellow out the edges and feather in the carving. And then a little bit of random orbital sanding and final hand sanding with 100, 150, and 220. Then its time for the shellacking. Once i have all the parts sanded, i put two cleats on the back of the bottom and the pediment treatment, and thats just screwed onto the back of the frame. Its easier to do the shellac. This is a garnet sheac. Youve seen me use this many times before. Its a wonderful, rich color and it really makes this look old, and its a wonderful, safe finish to use. So ill brush this out allnatural bristle. No drips, no runs, no errors. You cant beat a good shellac, as long asts fresh. So ill just get it all shellacked and screw it together, and well take a finished look at the project. Three coats of shellac dry, and i can fit that into the notches that i made on the top pediment. And if you look closely at this Looking Glass, well, i think youll agree its one for the ages. It looks old and rich. And that mahogany came from an old piece of furniture that was broken down. So you can recycle wood if youre careful about how you salvage that wood from old pieces. Well, i really had fun with you today. Next week on the american woodshop, more classic furniture ideas. I hope you join us then. God bless you. Announcer the american woodshop, with Scott Phillips is brought to you by. Delta the heart of woodworking for over 85 years. Portercable the soul of woodworking for over 100 years. Woodcraft since 1928 providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen. Woodcraft helping you make wood work. Gorilla glue for the toughest jobs on planet earth