Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Insights on a very old moulding
Bjenk Ellefsen
>I recently acquired another complex moulding plane. I am quite the neophyte about moulding types and design and I am still waiting on a book on the subject. I used the plane in a piece of pine to look at the profile. The moulding is about 1 5/8 inches wide.
I am wondering where would this type of moulding be used ? Is this a baseboard type, inside the frame of a paneled door perhaps ?
Any insights would be welcome.
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>It looks a great deal like the moulding pattern on the knotty pine paneling on my parents' house - which was 1x10 boards, tongue and grooved and moulded on the tongue side with the pattern similar to that. I don't know if this was the standard use of such a pattern - it seems unlikely since the vogue for such paneling was in the 1950s, and there wasn't much use of wooden moulding planes in the 1950s.
It also resembles the moulding pattern on the rails and stiles on the doors of our Edwardian-era (1890) house.
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Bjenk Ellefsen
>Thanks Bill. Frank D. pointed out to me on another forum that it might be a moulding that was used in the joiner trade instead of cabinetmaking. So that is in line with what you have observed.
Here's another picture of the profile :
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Mike Fitterling
>Looks to me like the top of a baseboard. I've seen a pattern very similar to that in my boss's 1920s house at Mountain Lake, here in Lake Wales. (I know--what "mountain"? Bit of a stretch of the imagination.)
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Adam Cherubini
>This is a quirked ogee with astragal. Moldings have purposes, right? The Shakers were wrong. They aren't boastful in the eyes of God and they aren't extraneous (I know because God told me! - sorry just kidding!)
The purpose of an ogee is to transfer from one surface to another, one thickness to another. Its not for free edges. So one might see this molding on the trim applied to delineate a door casing. I would sooner use it as a piece of a crown with the astragal down than for a base mold. It could be used in the same orientation as a waist mold, possibly under a chair rail for example.
Adam
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Bjenk Ellefsen
>Thanks a lot Adam for your very informative post. The more I look into the subject of mouldings the more complicated it becomes. I have a set of H&R, a set of beads and four more complexe moulding planes. Its a lot harder to understand the types of mouldings used and how they were made than I thought.
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Sam Simpson
>Hi Y'all,
Bjenk, your molding is a typical bolection mold. Also spelled belection and balection. It is still used in many different forms today.
Regards Sam Simpson.
A Moulding Education *LINK*
Christopher Schwarz
>A good place to learn about mouldings is the link below. A lot of it applies to house carpentry, but a lot of it is universal.
Good stuff.
Neat link, thanks!
Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod
>
Excellent Link!
Bjenk Ellefsen
>
Re: Insights on a very old moulding
Bjenk Ellefsen
>Its funny that you mention a bolection mold. Minutes before I read your post I found a website from a manufacturer of moldings and the exact same profile and about the same width is presented as a bolection moulding.
Here's a poster of moulding patterns, Chris *LINK*
Andrew F in Australia
>
Cheers,
Sam - question re bolection moulding
Andrew F in Australia
>Hi Sam,
This started out as being a question to confirm a point, but when I looked up a few sites, it appears as though my training was incorrect.
I was trained that a bolection moulding was rebated on the side so that it wrapped over/around the corner of, say, a door frame, while an inset mould had a square back/edge and fitted against the inside of the frame. An inset mould is different to a bolection mould.
************
Is the correct definition of a bolection mould; one that rises significantly above the surface of a rail/stile, assuming that bolection mould is only used to retain a panel/glass in a frame or to disguise the gap between the bottom land of a rebate and the panel/glass?
************
This assumes that all glass panels should be retained by glazing beads/strips tacked into a rebate cut into the rear of the frame, while timber panels can be retained in a groove or held in a rebate with the moulding.
Appreciate your comments.
Cheers,
Andrew F
(who's learnt something today, and it's only 7am)
Link left off the last post to illustrate question *LINK*
Andrew F in Australia
>
http://www.annandaletimber.com.au/inlay.htm
Re: chair railing ?
Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI
>To me it looks like a chair railing. It could be used at the top of a baseboard or edge of door casing also. It could be used at the top of a baseboard and then flipped around to use as a chair railing, so the two would match, but you would use different thickness of stock.
Re: Sam - question re bolection moulding *LINK*
Gregory Shue
>I learned that a bolection molding was used to navigate between two parallel AND non-co-planar surfaces. It sticks out a bit from one and even further out from another. That's just what I've learned, although I'm sure there are many exceptions.
I would have to say that the molding in question looks like the beginning of an assembly, and it would be the part next to a wall. Whether it's a chair rail, an astragal around the bootom of a cornice, a wallbase, a door casing, or anything, this molding looks suited for the wall-adjacent end of the assembly. Just my two-cents!
GrandTradition.net
NICE
Christopher Schwarz
>
Same thing only smaller
Greg Betit, Vergennes, VT.
>I have this old plane that makes a similar molding...
Thanks Gregory
Andrew F in Australia
>and for those that didn't pick it up - the website that I pilfered the image of moulding types from (www.grandtradition.net) is Gregory's
Thanks for the response, Gregory. Much appreciated. I also used the images off your website on a design problem I had about 3 weeks ago.
With best regards,
Andrew F
Re: Sam - question re bolection moulding
Sam Simpson
>Hi Y'all,
Andrew, good to talk to you again.
When I go through the glossaries of my various manuals I notice some difference in terminology's as relates to moldings. The one I trust the most simply describes Bolection as :- "A molding in framed work which projects beyond the surface of the frame." This allows for the manufacture of the frame without molding permanently attached. The Bolection molding is most useful when making a door, in which case it is almost always a double sided molding which sits on the frame like a saddle (no glue) (usually with a centered tongue and grove) The panel then floats between the two halves. This allows for movement in both the panel and the frame to have no effect on each other or the molding. (no Mitre's opening and closing with the changing climate) In recent years it has become used as a single sided molding when paneling a wall. The frame and panel are attached to the wall and the Bolection mold is applied to hide the evil doings. Pins and glue are often used in the latter definition.
Regards Sam Simpson.
Thanks Sam,
Andrew F in Australia
>It definitely looks as though my training was wrong on this one.
Cheers,
Andrew