Don'cha Hate to Move? Need Advice.

[David Root]

We just moved Saturday, still up to our keisters in boxes. Anyway. before we moved, I measured the dining room area for my wife's buffet & hutch and found it would just fit the alcove provided in the wall.

Duh! Didn't measure the width of the upper crown molding on the hutch. It's a tad wider than the alcove.

I have a router, but am not proficient with it, used it only for routing out pickup holes in a solidbody. I figure with the right bit and/or jig I could shave off a 1/4" from each side of the molding, then stain the wood to match.

All you router mavens out there, what's the best arrangement to do this safely and without turning the missus' hutch into a jigsaw puzzle?

[telentubes]

Do it by hand with a plane (sharp). Watch out for fasteners (pin nails, screws).

[KellyBass]

Is it possible that the molding is veneered? That can sure make stain/finish matching a nightmare. Don't ask me (or my wife) how I know this...

[cbass]

I'd probably hit it with my cordless saw holding it at the correct angle then clean it up with a belt sander or a hand plane depending on how concerned I was about dust .but then again I could probably do it with a chainsaw.(used to do timber framing)
Or go buy a japanese hand saw
or Take off all the moulding and replace it with something smaller

I aint got time to hand plane off a 1/2" of stuff

Also like Kelly said make sure its not venner

[xtian]

David, you know the drywall of the alcove is easier to modify and repair than the hutch, right?

[Phil_S]

I think we'd benefit from a visual. Can you take a picture?

I'm inclined to say, don't mess with the hutch. Cut a groove in the alcove walls instead. (Most fun you'll ever have with the router!) No one will notice once you paint it and put the hutch in place. This probably involves nailing up a bit of 1x lumber to use as a guide fence. I'd test this on a bit of scrap drywall first to make sure it can be done without tear-out.

You don't get a do-over if you put a tool on the hutch. cbass gives good advice on how to mod it, if you must.

[xtian]

Great minds think alike, Phil!

[cbass]

If its wider than the hole you would have to tear oout enough for it to slide in then patch paint .Its a pain in the ass to try to mud around something.Then if you ever move again the hutch is staying cause its built in now.
Good idea to not have to modify the hutch but I would not call it less work

[David Root]

Thanx guys. I'm not going to mess with the alcove, never even occurred to me. My wife would have me committed.

I do have an old german plane. Don't know which box it's in, but that might work.

So no-one thinks a router might be the ticket?

[cbass]

If you can rig up a straightedge or maybe use a pattern bit I'm imaginig the crown sticking up past the rest of the piece with very little area to stabilize your router on .Rigging something up may be more work than a handplane or hand saw

[ampmike]

Definitly a sicheation.Let me sleep on it??

[martin manning]

I would think nailing a temporary straightedge on the top (from front to back) to run the router base against, and using a straight-sided bit would work fine. Be aware that the miter in the crown molding won't be at the corner after the side is cut back. It will appear about 3/8" back from the front edge on the side. Be careful of tear-out on the left side (looking from the front). It would be a good idea to knock that corner off first using a hand saw.

[cbass]

I'm thinkin if you arent totally confident with a router Its a bad idea to try something like this.
Get that plane good and sharp and go to town

[passfan]

+1 on the hand plane. Routers spin at 10 to 20 thousand rpm's and it would be up around chest high with you on a ladder. The dust and mess would be everywhere and your wife will have a story to tell for a long time coming.

[cbass]

Pics would probably help with some ideas.I'm interested to see what you do