Rick Voss Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Greetings; I'm getting ready to start on a new project, and I'm trying to get all my plans in perspective. In this project I was planning on using dental molding, and the question arose, which is the best grain direction for cutting this molding... If I cut across the grain I risk having tear out, even if I use a backer strip of wood behind the cut. would it be safer / wiser to cut with the grain? I know that is not the norm for this molding. But this project is a large ladies jewelry armoire,and the molding is very small probably 3/8" tall. that was what made me wonder about tear out. The wood I'm using is Peruvian Walnut, and like all walnuts the grain is fairly open. So any suggestions?? Has anyone gone through this before? Dustmaker 1 Never look before you leap.... It'll ruin the surprise.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iSawitFirst Posted September 22, 2010 Report Share Posted September 22, 2010 It seems to me that the grain direction would look best running vertically. That means you'd be "ripping" the dentals and the end grain would be on the top and bottom. To my eye, you could get away with a little tear out at the top and bottom of the dental, certainly better than on the sides. Try taping the cut line before cutting to help with tear out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rgraham888 Posted September 22, 2010 Report Share Posted September 22, 2010 I would make the molding overheight (that is, about 3/4" instead of teh 3/8), and then trim it on the table saw, molding side up, so that any tear-out would end up on the back side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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