Watching The Paint DryReplacement Plinth Blocks
Should I stick with the old, beat-up “character” of the existing plinth blocks and just clean them up, or should I reproduce them?
The existing blocks had been accumulating paint and dings for 120 years. Although the paint can be removed rather easily with a heat gun and the dings can be filled with wood filler, I opted for the reproduction route. Reproducing the blocks allowed me to regain crisp, sharp edges compared to the worn and broken edges of the older blocks. I also had a closet doorway that lacked plinth blocks, and creating new ones meant I could add them.
I started by ripping a 5/4 plank of Douglas fir down to the 5” width I needed for the plinth blocks and cut as many blocks as possible to the correct height.
Using the best looking block from my existing set, I traced the profile onto the edge of each new block.
This was my first use of the band saw, so I cut along the pencil lines, but left plenty of room for mistakes.
Once the blocks were cut, I sanded the profile down to the pencil lines. A few cuts slipped into the final profile as I got too close to the pencil line and it required a bit of wood filler. Unfortunately, you can still see those lines in the finished product, but they are a vast improvement over the appearance of the old blocks.
