If you've been down to your wood store looking for trim you probably came home either WAY lighter in the bank account or with the idea of making your own. Making your own trim is an option if you have a router and some bits for it. You can get creative and do all kinds of profiles or you can be satisfied with the profile of the bit you have. Whenever possible, I try to go with whatever is on the bit because I have found the more cutesy I get, the more likely I am to have a problem. Multiple bits and a few saw cuts can make some really nice molding...as long as everything goes the way it is supposed to. Generally, I can expect the opposite, if it can go wrong, it will. I am a firm believer in keeping things simple if at all possible.

 

 

The profile of your bit will cut the opposite of what you see, meaning the radius you see on the bit will be a full radius on the work as shown below:

 

 

OK, so it isn't a knock your socks off look but it will certainly do for what I want. This will be simple trim around a window so it doesn't need to be great and it will be painted to boot so a quick pass with the sander is good enough.

 

 

Elevating the board you are routing by placing it on thin boards then clamping it down will keep your router bit from digging into your work surface. Speaking of work surface, take a good look at this 'make do' workbench. Whatever works is often the best solution.

 

 

The look I wanted was the flowing, routed all at the same time, rounded corners. When the trim isn't attached but already cut to fit, clamping as IF they were joined THEN routing gives you the look, just take care to make them match here so they WILL match when actually installed.

Routers are great tools and can do a lot to fancy up a plain board. So, there you have it, one more way to save a few bucks by making your own trim. Give it a shot!