Whether you’re an architect, an interior designer, a builder or simply an observant individual, you know how significantly moulding can impact the appearance of a room. A well-designed, flawlessly-implemented moulding can provide the perfect finishing touch, while a poorly designed or executed one can absolutely destroy an otherwise picture-perfect space. As a result, the Millwork operation here at J. Gibson McIlvain Lumber is under very careful scrutiny. You might even say we’re a tad on the obsessive side — and we’re okay with that.
First Things First: Hardwood Selection
Even the most carefully chosen and expertly implemented moulding profile will be lacking, if you don’t start with the right hardwood species and quality. Some species are great for interior moulding applications but aren’t well-suited to exterior work. Others are perfect for outdoor use.
Knowledge of the natural resistance to the elements, combined with properties such as texture and grain, plays a major role in hardwood selection. Our staff begins selecting just the right lumber for your millwork by listening very carefully to the details of your project before making any recommendations regarding species, moulding profiles, or finish options.
Next on the List: Moulding Profiles
Whether you need a historic profile replicated for restoration work or a completely new design, our millwork staff is up for discussing the details, from quirk beads and fillets to bullnoses, coves, and astragals. And they can tell you how those types of details will hold up with the species you’ve decided to use.
In addition to our extensive millwork catalog, we also offer custom knife creation services. The four basic steps in creating a custom knife are as follows:
• Blueprint Presentation
• Plastic Die
• Metal Knife
• Moulding Product
Once you provide us with a drawing of your custom design, we’ll form a plastic die from which we grind a metal knife (and any knives needed in the future). The knife is inspected multiple times before we use it to run your finished moulding. After your moulding is run, we carefully inspect it to ensure it matches your original specifications.
An Important Part of the Equation: Millwork Equipment
Our millwork operation is fully equipped to grind custom knives and complete each step of the milling process. Our equipment includes 4 moulders, 3 straight line gang rip saws, a resaw bandsaw, a planer, 4 radial arm saws, 2 chop saws, a jointer, a precision end-trimming saw, a table saw, a shaper, a belt sander, and a panel saw. But that equipment alone can’t complete your moulding for you: it takes careful fine-tuning by expert machinists. Here at J. Gibson McIlvain, we take quality control very seriously.
We’ll talk more about that in future posts. Until then, be thinking about your next moulding profile and let us know what you come up with!
