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Could someone please help ?
I have a rounded bay window and need to fit skirting board in it.
i have tryed bending the both pine & MDF and but both keep snapping, is there a way of fitting it complete or in sections ?

thanks in advance.

Have you done anything to the wood before fixing it? or are you just buying the skirting than trying to bend it? What you need to do to make a skirting board fit round a bay window is to cut grooves in the back of the board approx 25mm apart and to about a third of the dept of your skirting this will remove sufficient amounts of the timber to make it much more flexible athan if it were solid. There is a piece on here about how to do it, but it says you put the cuts into the front of the skirting which would leave you with lots of gaps to fill , if you cut it on the back it will help it to bend both ways ,and you will just have a few cuts in the top edge to fill.

Nick

Yeah cut grooves in the back of both pine and MDF, also tried soaking some water into the grooves to allow it to stretch but still no joy.

This is not easy and it is easy to make it look a mess.

You need the kerf cuts on the front, not the back of the skirting-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/WOODW ... G_WOOD.htm

Unless you make a large enough steamer, but this will be difficult.

ok thanks, ill try kerf cutting the front of the skirting this time.

It might be best if you practice on some scrap wood if you have some.

Doing this kind of thing is extremely difficult, unless you have years of experience.

Good luck with it

i have tried lots of different ways. if it is a good curve on it i have only managed it properly by using one method. the kerf cut method is fine for gentle curves but it does weaken the wood.
the only way i do it now is to bend over a weeks time. i advise using mdf. them make up a jig that you can adjust. give it a good hose down and gentle bend it and keep it under pressure evry day. dont be impatient or it will snap.
i do it over 4 or 5 days and it has worked every time.

another tip is to bend it slightly more than you need to give you some flex. when fitting it try and get someone to help. dont push it fully in in the middle and screw. drill and screw with a 4 " screw but dont tighten it, just get it gripping. then do one either side about 12" either way. then just nip them all up together a bit at a time to ease it in. i have spent a full week bending it only to snap it when i have put a screw in the middle and tightened it straight away.

good luck.

square the bay off and have a large windowsill

I bent some MDF skirting by putting a weight in the middle of the length and supporting both ends. If you are patient then over a period o a week it will gradually form the crescent shape. You have to experiment with the weight used as too much and it almost vee shapes and too little and it takes for ever. I would do a set of sections at the same time. The skirt moulding actually interferes with the bending process. It is okay for a one off but far too long a process for trade. Cut the scarfs before bending.

DWD

hi dwd. if you read my earlier post i have stated i did something similar. as for it not being a trade thing then i disagree. as a profesional, part of my job is to run my business including planning. whether it be starting to curl a piece of skirt a week early or ordering a drop and pick up of a skip whilst i am not there, it is not hard to plan ahead.
to stop the v forming just pull the curve down at 1/3rd places by tieing rope to somethiong to pull it out.

That was a very proper reply

I knew a bloke who would have said f*ck off you c**t read my post



DWD

you may have known someone like that dwd. i think that maybe you THOUGHT he was like that.
not me though, i think you may have noticed i am very happy over here.

as for me, i am profesional tradesmen so i have no bitterness towards anyone wanting to learn. i'll leave that to the jealous types

Shame, the bloke I thought I knew was a bit wild at times, perhaps a bit over the top even, but mostly amusing and more importantly laughed at my humour.

DWD

oh i still laugh at what i see

we all laugh at your "stories" DWD!