How to Cut Crown Molding Laying Flat – With Easy Reference Templates
This tutorial explains how to cut crown molding flat, on any miter saw (provided your molding isn’t wider than your saw’s cutting area). It’s easy to get confused about which side of what corner you’re cutting by the time you take your length measurement and get to the saw. Creating a set of templates will give you a visual guide that you can use in the room to mock up the corner you’re working on – and take with you to the saw.
*This tutorial assumes you have 90° wall to ceiling joints and wall to wall joints. If you are working with a funky wall corners or vaulted ceiling – this tutorial will not be helpful.
Spring Angle
First off, it is important to understand that crown molding is manufactured with varying spring angles. It is essential to know the spring angle of the crown molding you are using because it determines the saw settings you will use to cut the molding. Check out this post if you need help Finding the Spring Angle of your crown molding.
Saw’s Miter and Bevel Settings
I am demonstrating settings for 38° spring angles in this post. If you need to create templates for 45° or 52° spring angles, use the appropriate substitutions below.
45° Spring Angle Substitutions
Crown molding with a 45° spring angle is traditional choice, great for ceilings 9′-10′ heigh.
- Left bevel set to 30°
- Miter cuts will be R and L 35.3°
52° Spring Angle Substitutions
52° spring angle crown molding is generally chosen for heigh ceilings, 10′ and above.
- Left bevel set to 25.8°
- Miter cuts will be R and L 38.2°
Constants
These two things will be true for every cut:
- The left bevel will remain set to 33.9• for every cut. (Your saw might say 33.8 – and that’ll do just fine.)
- The backside of the crown molding will always lay flat on the saw surface.
Variables
These two things will change depending on the cut you are making.
- The miter will flip between left and right – but always at 31.6•.
- The edge of the molding that rests against the fence will flip between top and bottom. (Remember the decorative edge is the bottom.)
Inside Corners – Outside Corners
The reason crown molding gets so confusing is because you are accounting for the angle between the wall and ceiling and the angle between the wall and wall for every cut.
Make your Crown Molding Templates
Cut each template about 8″ long.
Remember that you will only flip your saw between right and left miter – AND flip your crown so the edge that rests against the saw fence changes.
Cut each template according to the instructions I’ve included below each picture and then write the instructions directly onto each template. In SHARPIE!
Outside Right
Outside Left
Inside Right
Inside Left
Now you should have four of your very own crown molding templates that are going to make your job so much easier!
I’ve been doing this for a good long while and I still need templates. My brain is very visual. It doesn’t translate, “left outside corner” into any kind of usable information. I HAVE to look at my visual guide – EVERY SINGLE TIME. They’re still handy after all these years!
Also, if you corners are out of square, you’ll either have to make micro adjustments to your saw settings to get a perfect corner joint– OR, you can use my little trick to fix gaps that you might end up having.
What a huge difference in your in your tutorial vs. the world of other tutorials out there. Bravo! Now I know why I purchased a compound miter saw. It took me two long days of trial and kj;bivucp]-py; to finally try your site out. Your guide made everything work for me. Seeing, hearing, reading . Perfect!!!!
*Beadbord, not headboard??♀️
YOU SPEAK MY LANGUAGE!!!! My husband and I bought a 1960’s Tri/Split-Level home last year that was in desperate need of some renovations. We contracted out some of the work, but did a lot of it ourselves. You don’t realize how much trim is in a 3500 sq/ft home until you take it ALL down paint it and then (attempt) to put it back up…?
Several rooms had Crown Moulding; in some rooms it was 3 1/2 inches wide, and in other rooms it was the smaller, 2 in cove type Moulding. We also installed headboard and trim in several rooms. But in doing this I would say to my husband (Who has never done a project like this before) “We need 2 left inside corners and 2 right inside corners.” After about a day of this he said to me, “I have no idea what you are talking about when you say ‘inside corners and outside corners’!??♂️??♂️??♂️ I’m not sure that I was able to clearly explain to him what I meant. We still have trim work that needs to be done this summer; hopefully your article will help me explain what I mean by inside corners and outside corners!
You have saved me!! After reading countless instructions, watching instructional videos, and going through too much wasted molding I still don’t understand all these concepts. (My fence wasn’t tall enough to prop the molding up & I didn’t want to spend $100 on crown stops for my new saw.). With these templates I don’t have to! I only have to follow my new (perfectly cut) templates. Thank you for breaking this down for us amateurs!
The problem with that is a lot of people have miter saws that only bevel in one direction and that have a short fence so you can’t cut tall crown, even on the angle. This method is one that works with any saw.