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I know it's a long shot, but I'm hoping someone knows/can identify (or at least can point me in the right direction in terms of search terms) the style of this cap. I'm hoping to find a router bit/bits that I can use to duplicate it. I'm not sure if it's original, but it's from a house built in 1890.

I've done a bunch of searches, but I feel I lack the terminology to look for the right thing. Is there a term for the three "stairs" at the bottom? Any insight anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated!

Actual Pictures: enter image description here enter image description here My poor attempt to draw profile: enter image description here

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  • The stairs in the picture look smooth like circles like a triple bead moulding. Are they really square? yonicotools.com/products/…
    – Fresh Codemonger
    Feb 13, 2020 at 4:51
  • Definitely square! Possibly angled (the shellac/age makes it difficult to get an accurate sense) but definitely not rounded
    – David
    Feb 13, 2020 at 5:02
  • Looks like old time craftsmanship that may not have a modern day off the shelf equivalent. There are Millwork shops that can make a copy, first they usually have to manufacture a router bit or cutting knives for their molding machine.
    – Alaska Man
    Feb 13, 2020 at 19:27
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    My dad had a nice shaper that we stacked the knives to get these types of profiles. My advice would be to take it to a custom cabinet shop or someone that specializes in pre 1950’s wood work and they may have a similar set and be willing to make you some at a reasonable price. (You May find replacement of the room trim to be cheaper but I understand trying to keep the old quality look.
    – Ed Beal
    Feb 17, 2020 at 16:46
  • duckduckgo.com/…
    – jsotola
    Dec 7, 2021 at 8:15

4 Answers 4

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This could be built up from 2 pieces.

The top part looks like a fairly standard ogee profile. You could probably find an off-the-shelf piece of trim that would match this. If not, a trip to the local woodworking store (not a big-box) should result in a router bit that is really close to that profile. They may have to order it for you, but they'll have the knowledge to help you find what you need by knowing what to measure where. Bring a sample of the trim with you.

The bottom part could be milled on a table saw by making several passes. Depending on the depth of the steps, it could be a single pass with a regular, thick-kerf blade for each step, or possibly with just the chippers from a dado set.

It could also be milled on a router table using a straight cutting bit set at different height and cut depth as necessary.

Once you've got the two pieces milled, they could be glued together then installed, or they could be installed individually.

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Some of these mouldings can be recreated by multiple router bits -- your run the top half through one router bit and the bottom half through another router bit.

Bottom could be made by a triple bead router head, and the other half is a fairly standard profile -- possibly a cove, but hard to determine from your picture.

Going to a specialty woodworking store that sells router bits and has a dedicated salesperson might be worthwhile.

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The "three stairs" could be cut with a straight bit or saw (and a fence, set over multiple times) unless you are running enough linear feet to justify a custom-ground shaper bit. I'd just call them rabbets.

The part above that feels like some flavor of ogee moulding from the picture (less so from the drawing, which looks closer to a quarter round.)

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  • I am editing the fourth word in your answer from "would" to "could". One can be 99.5% sure that the original molding was formed in one pass using a shaper with special bit for that profile.
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Feb 13, 2020 at 12:50
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Millwork shops typically charge $100 to $500 to make custom shaper knives to match your profile. Alternatively, any cnc router can make any custom shape like that. Lastly, if you wish to, you can make a home made plaster molding to match using this technique:

https://www.oldhouseonline.com/repairs-and-how-to/knife-and-mould-plaster-technique-explained

https://youtu.be/pBMJMwRrX1Q

https://youtu.be/dDbywarcbVA

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    That’s not plaster mold and if the op wants original wood work look plaster would be the wrong method.
    – Ed Beal
    Feb 17, 2020 at 16:49

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