Ginger Bread Trim for "That Old House"

A friend asked me to copy a couple of pieces of warped & dry-rotted ginger bread trim that he took off of his 100 year + old home. I used a section of 2X10 fir, some red oak & some good 1/4” birch plywood. For tools I used Graph Paper, Radial Saw, Table Saw, Jig Saw, Router Table & a Planer. I first cut out the scroll work. Then I planed & cut the base stock to size. I used the Table saw to cut the step on the block. Then I turned the head of my radial arm saw at an angle, clamped a temporary fence & cut the cove. A 3/8” round-over bit & oak was used to make the 3/4” half round bead that is on the top & bottom. Then I cut the bead off of the oak stock. The beading was glued to the block with Tite-Bond III glue. Finally the scroll work was glued & brad nailed to the block. I primed the block front & back with exterior latex primer because I believe that one of the reasons the trim didn’t last longer is that the original blocks weren’t painted on the backs of the blocks which allowed them to warp faster & take on more moisture. The beads on the original blocks were cut into the blocks themselves… But I noticed that the beading was a weak point on the originals & decided to laminate an oak bead across the grain of the block to give that area some added durability.

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri "The New Show-Me Woodshop"