Hardwood mouldings

[Manny]

I'm looking for a source for hardwood mouldings, in particular a cornice for a bookcase I'm going to build. Rather than spend time routing/moulding 2.5mtres it would be easier/quicker to buy if available. I'm in South London.

Thanks
John

 

[Jake]

You could try Whitton/Whittham/something timber in Peckham. Upstairs, they have a good range of offcuts of mouldings, many in hardwoods. Pretty architectural in size and shape, so should suit, i.e. lots of dado rail/cornice/etc. This is my memory from one visit, so I'm hedging my recommendation severely.

 

[Alf]

South London Hardwoods should do, I would have thought?

Cheers, Alf

 

[Manny]

Thanks folks

S.L. hardwoods don't show any in their catalogue Alf, but Jason (on another forum) suggested Thames Moulding Company so I'll try them.

John

 

[jasonB]

SLH don't keep any mouldings but may be able to run some out for you but they have a limited amount of cutters, which are used for their own joinery works(JSM Joinery). Thames would be a much better bet as they have hundreads of cutter blocks all set up ready to mount onto their spindles but as I said on the other forum the cost will be a bit higher as it's only a small run but still less than SLH.

Still think it would be easier to run it out youself, a set of knives & limiters for your spindle will soon be recovered by the time you spend collecting the moulding, petrol etc. and you will be able to run it out of the same material as the rest of the bookcase.

You wil also then have the cutters for other jobs at no cost, I bought a Trend cove cutter for a job early on when I started out, cost about £50, but its been used on 20 or more jobs now so has easily paid for itself, set up time is only 5mins.

Just incase anyone is interested Thames site is http://www.thamesmoulding.co.uk/company1.htm

Jason

 

[johnelliott]

I think you might find it quite difficult to find cornice in hardwood off-the-shelf as it were. When I needed some I ended up buying vinyl wrapped mdf cornice from Howdens. I was painting mine anyway so it didn't matter. A decent sized cornice is quite a big moulding, and would be difficult to do in a home workshop.
John

 

[Manny]

Thanks for the advice

The cornice has to be a close(ish) match to the cornice on an existing bookcase, which is quite complicated and would have to be made up of 3 or 4 profiles. The client is willing to accept an alternative stock moulding if available. If I can buy a couple of metres it's got to be cheaper than purchasing 3 or 4 cutters, machining and glueing the cornice.

John in one of your posts you discussed painting your kitchen units, I did a search but couldn't find the post, could you advise me on the paint and method you use etc. or point me to that previous post - thanks.

John

 

[tim]

Manny,

Have you thought about building the cornice up from several smaller mouldings - these may be available as stock items and if not then they may be easier to make up with existing cutters.

Are you able to post a pic or drawing of the profile?

Cheers

Tim

 

[jasonB]

Manny, this is Johns method

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3337

And this is mine

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... highlight=

Jason

 

[Manny]

Thanks Jason

Just the info I need, client doesn't want MDF so I'll be using ply or blockboard for carcase with h/wood frame and mouldings, guess your method works as well with these materials.

Tim

Thanks for the suggestion, yes I've considered that and will probably will end up doing it that way if i can't buy suitable stuff. Haven't tried posting pics but might have a go.

 

[Manny]

Here's a pic of moulding

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/John49/IMG_0582.jpg

Sorry it's a bit out of focus

 

[Adam]

W L Wests do custom mouldings. You take a piece of moulding along, and they'll make a custom cutter. I doubt it'd be economic for a limited length - but they may well have something similar from a previous job. I get the feeling they do quite a lot of this type of stuff. They are in Sussex

Adam

 

[jasonB]

Thames will also do a custom moulding, but by the time you have droped of a sample & collected the moulding you could have made it yourself out of various profiles and as it is being painted no-one will know. It will also be very pricy for such a short run.

Jason

 

[Manny]

Yes I wouldn't consider a custom moulding as expense and time would be too much.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll offer the client a stock moulding from Thames and if thats not acceptable charge extra for running out an exact copy.