Replicating the Original Woodwork

About half the original woodwork was missing or damaged beyond repair.  This included baseboard, door casing, plinths and rosettes.  Each door had plinths approximately 12 inches tall and center and top rosettes that were about 8 inches each.  For the main floor we needed 28 additional plinths and rosettes and about 70 feet of door casing. Initially we thought a friend could help us with the project as he had contacts in a mill shop but that didn't work out.  We probably could have found a shop to make the necessary knives and cutters to replicate the pattern but the cost would have been in the thousands of dollars by the time the manufacturing and milling was done.

The next option we considered was making molds and doing castings but the casting mix is about $70 a gallon - great for small jobs but not one that requires 28 castings.  Then one night my son-in-law walked in with a model he had come up with.  He duplicated the profile of the plinths and rosettes by judiciously using his router and table saw.

Profile created by combining 8 different shaped pieces

The bottom half was made by making a mold of an original plinth center (either a sunflower or knob) cutting the center and then casting a plaster replica.  We didn't make each plinth individually but made the top half  in one long piece and then sliced off each 5 inch wide piece.

Bottom half with plaster insert

An original plinth and the assembly stages

10 pieces to replicate an original

The next big project was replicating the door casing.  The casing is 5 inches wide and very detailed.  We decided the best way to duplicate the pattern was to mill three separate pieces and then glue them together.  Each of the three pieces required each edge to be routed or shaped.

The original, the three sections, the finished product

Building the inventory

The next project was replicating the baseboard which unfortunately varies in height throughout the house due to past removal and remodels.  Each room is uniform but there are differences from room to room so we made it extra wide and cut it to fit the room as required.  Again we did it in pieces in order to replicate the pattern as closely as possible.

An original with two pieces that will be mounted to
a backboard

Close up of trim pieces

Finish sanding

Time to paint

Original on top and new pieces on bottom

In a few places the baseboard wasn't long enough to meet the plinths because of adjustments to the wall.  The new baseboard wasn't a perfect match with the old so I used plaster to replicate the baseboard when only and inch or two was involved.  The next photos show how well this worked.

A 1.5 inch gap

Shaping the plaster

The finished product

One little project involved my band saw and files.  The piece was too small to be mitered so I cut the profile using the band saw and finished shaping it with files.

That corner needs something

The finishing piece

That looks much better

As I shared earlier I'm sure the mill work we did would have cost thousands of dollars instead of the several hundred we've spent.  If the wood had been oak instead of the inexpensive soft wood that's always been painted it wouldn't have been possible to go this route.

The casing and rosette on the left are replicas and the window has original woodwork