How Would You Do This?

Mike Finley

How would you vertically cut a piece of 5 1/2" tall base board that is on the wall without removing it, making a perfectly smooth and finished cut and not marring the painted wall it is attached to?

Floorwizard

Do you mean Horizontal? is this baseboards running Horizontal to the floor?
I maybe would try undercutting with a jamb saw, but I doubt it would look good.

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Tom R

4" diamond or woodcutting blade in your hand-held grinder, and a 'steady' hand for the main cut, then a chisel or utility knife and a hammer to finish at the top and bottom. - - Do a practice run first a few inches over on your piece that will be removed.

Mike Finley

I got some fine tips elsewhere, everything worked out fine.

I used a fine toothed Japanese pull saw. I scored the molding with razor blade, and then carefully used the pull saw to cut the molding. I taped a piece of sheet metal to the wall to protect it from any mistakes of the pull saw.

Worked like a charm. :Thumbs:

hatchet

I love those pull saws - we've got one nicknamed "Wang" (for the sound it makes when tapped)

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WIT Construction Co.
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sunnyholme

I uses a cordless sawzall with a fine tooth blade upside down (not The normal way you would put a blade in)
It works great if you start really slow barely touching the wood.
Never had a mess up!

Daniel :Thumbs:

PipeGuy

I was leaving the jobsite today, after dropping off payroll, and found myself blocked in by a van with the license plate "TRIMCO" that was backed to a dumpster unloading some stuff. I remembered your question so I walked over and said hi to the driver. As you might guess, it turns out he was a trim carpenter. I posed your question to him.

A sawzall was his answer - use a bi-metal blade for a smoother cut. He said he's done it plenty of times but you have to take care. I can't speak to the quality of the method, but there's another answer for you.

hatchet

The way I look at it - with a power tool there is always a chance of the blade bending or catching something. And we've all seen what a sawzall does when it gets a little out of track. I choose hand tools when quality is a priority.

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WIT Construction Co.
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Mike Finley

Anybody who can use a recip saw to do finish work my hat is off to them. As professionals we develop trade specific skills that are surprising to others, even still, I can't imagine anybody being able to do finish work with a recip saw. (At least not with the ones I own) Besides the problem of the blade not being even a little bit secure or accurate, the bigger problem is how do you get it to cut the molding while the saw is parallel with the wall. With the ones I have the tool itself would keep the blade from being able to cut all the way through. If you overcame that, you still have the problem that the blade can buck on you. In order to cut cleanly it needs to move back and forth right to the bottom of the base board which means if it moves a millimeter farther it hits the floor. Anybody who uses a recip saw knows exactly what happens when the tip hits, the blade bounces the tool bucks and its a nightmare or destruction. Remember this was a piece of finished molding that was attached to the wall, and you only had one shot at it. I'm keeping my Jap pull saw for these things, it worked wonderfully. I think you were the one that turned me onto it Hatchet! :Thumbs:

Hammertime

Actually what I use is a rotozip. I know sounds crazy, right? Well, rotozip didn't make a circular saw blade for its device. I don't know if they do now. But what I did was I found a small makita cordless saw blade. The diameter doesn't fit exactly to lock in place. So I found an oring that would fill the rest of the opening to have the blade snug in place after tightend down. It was tricky at first to get the blade to sit evenly on the mounting wheel so it will turn evenly. After a few tries I found my way to make it even so Everytime want to cut something that my other saws are too big I grab the rotozip. I can mount the blade on fast all it took was a little practice. It actually comes in handy with alot of work and tight places being the saw itself is small. It's just like having a blade on a grinder. I just don't have my grinder with me all the time, but I always have the rotozip. Just have to be careful. I"ve cut base molding without removing. I've cut crown molding. It's not as hard as it sounds. As with any tool just takes some concentration, practice, and patience, and a steady hand. I mean, I've done cuts with a skill saw that people say, " how the hell did you do that?" I've even done cutouts for sinks in counters with it. I'm comfortable using it now so I have no problems. Again, with any tool just takes a lot of practice. Fortunately I took to it right away. Maybe cause it was my idea...who knows.

mtp

:w/stupid

eddiemac

I did this using, of all things, a 7.2 volt B&D mini circular saw. It is useless for most anything else, but for little precision cuts like this, it works out OK.

I see you got an answer, but I thought I'd toss in my 2 cents. It actually looks like ,your answer is better than the solution I had. Why didn't you post this question a few months ago?

fvmerl

I know this is way out of date but someone may look this up someday. The Fein Multimaster is not a cheap tool but once you have one you will find so many uses for it. The blade vibarates, it won't cut your hand because the skin moves with it but put it to something solid and it cuts right through. It doesn't cut fast but you can put your vertical line on the baseboard and cut exactly on the line. The blades are only 1/64 of an inch thick. There is one blade that is a semi circle. Teeth run half way around the blade and the rest is flat. Imagine a circle with teeth for 180 degrees and then cut the blade in half where the teeth stop. This allows you to cut the baseboard with the teeth while the flat side is against the floor and it won't harm the flooring. I bought one years ago for one job and since then seem to use it about once every week or two.

tinner666

I've even used it to cut moldings at a 45 degree bevel without touching the wall or paint. Then used the cut-off piece to cut the new molding for a tight fitting, normal looking scarf joint. Baseboards, crown, or anything else.

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ODDBALLS

I used to work with a retired er nurse. He used a cast saw to do fine cuts. It sounds like the cast saw and the Fein Multimaster are the same.

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A.W.Davis

It seems there are many effective methods to doing what Mike stated.

I think what it boils down to its what you are taught and how you refine your method to work for you effectively! I use a rotozip with the speed turned down and have never had any issues. Sometimes depending on the situation I will mark the area that needs to be cut accordingly take my rotozip and back bevel the cut 1/8" away from my line then take my dremel attachmenta and use a heavy polishing wheel (sanding wheel works good to)to sand to the line.....it takes a little longer but no mistakes will be made!!

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PrecisionFloors

Fein Supercut. The only tool for that kind of job Mike

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KillerToiletSpider

I watched a carpenter trim baseboard that was installed using a jigsaw, and a roller skate. He had jig built on top of the roller skate that allowed him to bolt the jigsaw in level, and adjust the height, and then he would roll it across the floor cutting as he went.

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tcleve4911

Fein .....be that way.........

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PrecisionFloors

Holy crap, I just noticed how old this thread is.....

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