Making Invisible Molding Seams – Scarf Joints
When you’re installing any kind of trim: baseboards, casings, rails, or crown molding, sometimes you are working with a VERY LONG wall and you just can’t manage to get it covered with a single run of molding. In this case, you’ll need a seam and most of us want our seams to be invisible. Scarf joints make seams nearly invisible!
How to cut a scarf joint in crown molding.
Leave the saw set up for whatever corner you just cut, it doesn’t matter what the settings are as long as you cut both ends of the seam with the exact same saw setting.
- Set up your miter saw with both a bevel and a miter.
- Cut both ends of your seam with the exact same setting.
- Apply glue to both ends (CA, wood, or hot glue work well).
- Slide the two pieces together
- secure with painter’s tape or a couple nails
It’s that easy. Once you use a touch of wood filler and paint, that seam should be nearly invisible. This method not only works for crown molding but also for baseboards and any other molding you’re installing in long runs and have to have seams.
Wood filler works fine in many cases. However, there are times that wood filler will not work and you will still see a faint shadow. What I do is use drywall tape and joint compound to hide the seam. After sanding, priming and paint, the seam is completelyi invisible. I did my vaulted ceiling with this method and it works. I had a fair amount of joints running along one of the walls due to using scraps of crown rather than buying an additional 8 foot piece. Saved a couple of bucks and it really looks like one continuous piece.
OK…my “wordworking” is not working–it should say woodworking! That scarf joint term had me so boggled I couldn’t think/write straight! 🙂
Another post to add to my “how-to” section from the master! Scarf joint? I find this funnier than some of the other odd/inappropriate words used in wordworking. “So how bout that scarf joint, eh?”