How To Cut Mitered Outside Corners

Carpentry to me has HIGH HIGHS and LOW LOWS.

Last week when I shared the wall o’bookcases, I mentioned that after many exasperating years, I finally learned a great trick for cutting perfect outside angles that is simple and really worked for me.

Have you ever heard the expression “Mickey Mouse job”? This is what my brothers, skilled tradesmen, call do-it-yourself home improvement projects that LOOK like they were done by someone with absolutely no clue what they were doing. (Hi. That is usually me!)

For a novice woodworker, it can be really frustrating to get it right and make your work look great. Everything can be going along wonderfully until you get to the finish carpentry and then it looks like Mickey Mouse did it with his ginormous 4 fingered white gloved hands. Something like a poorly cut baseboard that has a big gap can make your end result look very amateur —– and there you have your Mickey Mouse job.

It’s so interesting to me how every seasoned carpenter develops his or her own little tricks and ways of doing things. For example, ask a few carpenters how to best find an angle when cutting outside miter corners, and one might say – use a protractor, another – digital angle finder, and another might say use scrap wood as a template and cut the pieces until you get the best fit, then use those angles for your molding.

I have tried all these methods, and it’s always a trial to get those outside mitered corners right.

I saved the baseboards on my bookcase project until the very end because I knew getting those exposed outside corners (on either side of the doorway) to be perfect was important to the final product. After a few failed attempts using other methods, I tried this simple idea of overlapping strips of paper (adding machine tape is suggested, but printer paper measured and cut into strips worked for me).

With this method, my very first attempt:  an almost perfect corner.

I filled the hairline crack with wood filler and – done. Except for that gap where the other end fails to meet the wall. Okay – so I’m not perfect, okay???? Jeesh.

Second attempt, other side of the doorway.

If it sounds like I’m bragging about my awesomeness, let me be the first to tell you that I have wasted many pieces of expensive trim over the years trying to get molding angles right. In this project there are lots of other gaps and “oops” (that I have hopefully disguised pretty well).

I wanted to share this quick and easy method with anyone who might be cutting baseboards because it really and truly worked for me!

Am I being dramatic??

Sorry, this kind of stuff gets me all fired up. If it gets you all fired up too,
watch the video on Youtube and if you try it, let me know if this method works for you!

And have yourself a wonderful little weekend!

xoLisa