Moulding Tools

Measuring and Layout

• A standard, retractable tape measure suffices for most moulding installation projects. However, to ensure accurate measurements, the tape's length must span the room's longest wall. Ideally, a typical, square room consists of only right angles. However, mistakes during framing or drywall installation cause slight variations. To determine if walls meet at true right angles, carpenters press an L-shaped carpenter's square or triangular framing square against the walls. To measure unusually angled walls, carpenters use sliding T-bevels, construction protractors or specialized tools called angle finders.

Miter Box and Back Saw

• The miter box and back saw allow builders to manually create angled cuts for trim projects or mortises and tenons for joinery. Open on three sides, the standard, rigid-body miter box's saddle-like center generally accommodates trim and lumber up to 2 inches thick by 4 inches wide. Corresponding slits line both upright sides of the box. The blade of a back saw, specially designed for precision cutting, fits within the slits, which stabilize the blade's position and ensure straight cuts. The slits align at common carpentry angles relative to the work material, such as 90-degree angles and 45-degree angles. Alternatively, a two-sided incarnation of the miter box, called the adjustable miter box, allows carpenters to set the angle of a cut to a wide range of degrees.

Power Miter Saw

• The power miter saw spins a sharp-toothed, circular blade to slice through moulding and building lumber. Suspended from a retractable arm, the saw's blade lowers through a stationary base to "chop" through building materials. The saw's arm pivots and locks in place, allowing a carpenter to adjust the angle of the tool's cut by single degrees. An improved version of the power miter saw, called the compound miter saw, creates both miter cuts, which angle relative to a board's face, and bevel cuts, which angle relative to a board's thickness.

Fastening Tools

• Traditionally, carpenters fasten moulding to walls and ceilings with a finish hammer, finish nails and nail sets. The finish hammer has a smooth, slightly bulged striking face and acutely curved claw. The face reduces surface damage to trim during fastening and the curved claw reduces surface damage during nail removal. Nail sets are metal cylinders that taper to a fine point at one end. The tip of a nail set corresponds with a particular size of finish nails. The carpenter places the nail set's tip into a finish nail's head and pounds the nail set's butt with a hammer. Using a nail set, carpenters need not strike a hammer close to a material's surface.

Finish Nail Gun

• Professional carpenters often use finish nail guns to install moulding. Typically powered by an air compressor's pneumatic force, finish nail guns shoot nails with the pull of a pistol-like trigger. Finish nail guns accept small, finish-grade nails and brads. Additionally, a finish nail gun automatically sinks a nail's head slightly below the moulding's surface, relieving carpenters of manually setting nails with a nail set.