Made A Sticking Board

Lately I've been interested in mouldings (I can't help but use the English spelling).  And if you're interested in making mouldings, it's helpful to have a decent sticking board.

A couple years ago I made myself a very small, very rough sticking board.  I could fit a whopping 13" long board on it.

Original sticking board

The stop was a piece of plywood screwed to the left end.  The fence was a piece of pine with two slots to make it adjustable.  It had a cleat on the underside so I could fix it in the front vise.  I only used it once or twice.

To make my new sticking board, I first trued up a piece of poplar and added two thicknesses of 1/2" oak for a fence.

The new sticking board

The new board is 37" long and 7 1/4" wide.  The fence is 1" high and about 2" wide.  If I need a taller fence, I'll screw another 1/2" thick piece onto the existing fence.

On the end is a row of screws that are used as a stop.  The screws are placed 1/2" apart.  When not needed, they are screwed all the way down into countersinks.  When needed, I unscrew them a couple turns to raise them up a bit.

Screws as end stop

Two screws raised as stop for this piece of moulding stock

To keep it from moving, I fix it to the benchtop with two holdfasts and it is rock solid.

Holdfasts keep it immobile

Alternatively, I could fix it to the bench with the tail vise and a bench dog.

Holding it steady with dogs

I thought there might be times when I wanted to have the fence closer to or further from the front edge, So I made three sets of holes for the screws that attach the fence to the board.

The underside showing three rows of holes for fence location

Fence in most forward position

Some mouldings could need a profile on the far edge of the piece.  In this case, the moulding stock could be turned around and worked in the usual position on this board, or placed on the other side of the fence.

Working with moulding stock on far side of fence

I realize that the 36" capacity of this sticking board is still small.  When you want to wrap a moulding around a project, it's best to cut your moulding pieces from one long piece that was profiled as a single piece.  As I get more experience with making mouldings and actually start using them in my projects, I'll figure out what length might make more sense for me.

Here are a couple of profiles I've made so far.

Cove with fillets and ovolo with fillets

I just picked up Matt Bickford's excellent DVD "Moldings In Practice" and have been using what I've learned on some practice mouldings.  I'd been wanting to get this book or DVD for a long time.  I'll report my experiences next time.