Cornice Moldings

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Jun 2004 by Whelan, J M

Today, if you need a strip of molding for a cornice, you select from the supply of machine-made examples at the lumberyard. Or perhaps you have a cornice plane and want to make your own. Get a clear piece of straight-grain pine and hone the cornice iron. But before starting the molding, plan your sequence of operations.

A cornice molding, such as the one shown in section in Figure 1 is mounted at an angle to cover the juncture of wall and ceiling. Each edge of the molding strip requires two bevels at right angles to each other. The top rear bevel mates with the ceiling, the bottom with the wall. Each has a corresponding bevel at a right angle, presented for room view.

Before using your cornice plane, consider how you are going to provide the four bevels. Cutting the four bevels before molding the profile means that the cornice plane fence would have to be guided by a sharp edge. This doesn't seem practical.

If you have one of the few cornice planes that include the front bevels in the molding profile, you have no problem. But most cornice planes do not. How do you plan to add the front bevels to the profiled strip? (Of course, those who are not hand tool purists head for the bench saw.) A conventional chamfer plane won't do. The molded profile has no flat surface to guide its fence.

Unless you are unusually proficient with a jointer, trying to cut the bevel freehand is asking for trouble. Do you make a jig to hold the molding at the proper angle, or eyeball the bevel and try to keep the jointer at that angle?

The Stanley no. 386 jointer gauge, made between 1911 and 1947, is an adjustable fence attachable to a Bailey type metal plane. This would solve the problem of cutting the front bevels, with its fence set at an acute angle to the plane sole and guided by the back of the molded strip. A photograph of a Buckeye knock-off of the 386 (attached to a jointer) is seen in Figure 2. Jointer gauges are not particularly rare tools. But how were the front bevels cut before such tools were available?

Early tool lists include a "spring plane," frequently in connection with a cornice plane. As an example, the Thomas Napier tool list published in 1786 lists "a spring plane to move any spring," as well as a common one.1 No depiction of this tool has been found, but it seems reasonable to believe that it was used in the same fashion as the jointer with a jointer gauge, and was of the type seen in Figure 3. This plane, however, is very rare. I am aware of only three: one in Williamsburg and two in private collections.

An unusual plane was reported by Phil Stanley,2 who concluded that it was used as a chamfer plane by keeping the slanted side of the plane pressed against the bench surface, with the work being fixed to the bench. Another example of this tool is seen in Figure 4. With the back of the cornice molding against the bench, this plane would cut the required bevels. Hut this plane, too, is rare. If either of these tools were commonly used to cut bevels on cornice moldings, one would expect that more would be found.

Having cut the molding profile and the front bevels, two final cuts are needed to create the rear bevels. These are butted against wall or ceiling and are less critical in appearance. They may be cut with one of the simple chamfer planes using the flat back of the molding as guide. Keep in mind that a simple jig or fixture will be required to support the profiled face of the cornice molding during these cuts, to avoid damage from contact with the benchtop.

There are many variations in the profiles of wide molders. Not all of these, while they are commonly called "cornice planes," can actually cut a usable cornice molding. Figure 5 shows the rear profile of a six-inch wide plane by Mockridge and Francis. The strip it molds must not be wider than the distance from the fence to the end of the right-most curve, for if wider, the iron could not cut (it cuts only the curved sections). The molding produced, while it could be mounted as a cornice, would be a most unusual one. It seems more likely that the plane was intended for another application.

Of the true cornice planes, at least some require that one of the front bevels be cut first. Have a look at the profile of your cornice plane, and decide how best to use it in making the molding strip.

It may be that a variety of procedures were in use, specific to the particular cornice plane available, to provide the bevels. It seems likely that most of these cut the front bevels only in the original stock. This leaves a short side surface at right angles to the rear of the strip, adequate for guiding the fence of the cornice plane. The rear bevels are then cut last.

If you can provide insight into how the bevels were cut on cornice moldings in early practice, please share it with readers of "Plane Chatter." Other examples of planes similar to those of the photographs would be most welcome. In fact, any unusual plane you have is a candidate for discussion. Reach me at jmwhelwdpl@aol.com or at 38 Colony Court, New Providence, NJ 07974.