Woodworker's Journal 2009-33-6, страница 32

Although the crown and waist molding can be formed in a variety of ways, the author prefers using antique molding planes — he simply enjoys them.

planes are so much fun to play with. But I don't think it much matters how a craftsman arrives at appropriate shapes, as long as those shapes can be arranged into harmonious wholes.

My waist molding, which wraps around the bottom of the upper case, is simply a little bubble of ascending beads marking and smoothing the transition between the lower and upper cases. The cornice molding on top of the upper case is a bit more complicated, consisting of three parts: a narrow cluster of shadow lines at the bottom, a simple cove in the middle, with a thumbnail molding at the top.

Molding installation on a solid wood highboy is inher-

The Moldings

ently tricky because the horizontal grain direction of the moldings is perpendicular to the vertical grain direction of the upper case side to which they must be fastened. Obviously, the moldings can't simply be glued in place, because after six months in a home with forced-air heat, cross-grain shrinkage of the upper case side would cause the glue to fail, and the moldings would simply pop off. This is not a problem on the front of the highboy's upper case, because there the grain in the case and the grain in the moldings run in the same direction. Here, I simply glued the moldings in place.

It is possible to circumvent the cross-grain problem by nailing the moldings to the case side, but that approach results in unsightly nail holes that must be filled. Plus, it puts the craftsman in the position of swinging a hammer at delicate molded shapes, something that should be avoided whenever possible.

I've developed a different approach that allows me to install my highboy moldings securely, without visible nail holes and without any risk of moldings popping off. I do it by combining glue and hidden nails.

Nailing works in a cross-grain application like this because nails are flexible. The shanks of thin nails can bend to accommodate movement, and the holes in the material through which those shanks pass can also enlarge to allow movement. In fact, it would be possible to fasten moldings to the sides of a highboy using a technique known as "blind nailing," which is nailing under a lifted sliver of wood which is then glued back into place over the nail head. (In fact, Stanley once made a plane-like tool — the #96 — for this express purpose.)

But blind nailing alone wouldn't work in this application because movement across the whole width of the highboy side would almost certainly destroy a tight molding miter at the front of the case.

My method involves both blind nailing and gluing. Let me explain by detailing the installation of the waist molding.

The only element of the waist molding that contacts the case side is a strip of l/4"-thick stock with a half bead cut onto the top edge. (That bead is the only part of this strip that is visible in the completed molding.) The front two inches of that strip are glued in place so that the inevitable cross-grain shrinkage will necessarily occur at the unglued

The author first glued and nailed in place the two side sections of molding, resting them on the blocks he'd clamped to the case (process described in the story's text). He then glued the front section into place, clamping it as shown here.

32 December 2009 Woodworker's Journal