Crown molding cutting apparatus and method

An apparatus for positioning a workpiece at a stationary fixed location with respect to substantially horizontal and vertical reference planes intersecting one another along a longitudinal line of intersection at a right angle to one another, where the workpiece has bottom and rear reference surfaces thereof and a front face thereof all extending along a longitudinal axis of the workpiece, so that the workpiece can be cut by a cutting blade moving with respect to the stationary workpiece and the apparatus along a cutting plane passing through both the horizontal and vertical reference planes and defining a cutting line of intersection with the horizontal plane disposed at a desired cutting angle from the longitudinal line of intersection of the reference planes while the apparatus holds the workpiece in a tilted position at a desired tilt angle with respect to the vertical plane in an orientation with respect to the horizontal and vertical reference planes and the cutting plane matching an installed orientation of the workpiece, the apparatus comprising:

• a workpiece support plate pivotably attached along a pivot axis to a base adapted to rest on the horizontal reference plane, for pivoting motion of the support plate about the pivot axis to the desired tilt angle with respect to the vertical reference plane with the pivot axis extending parallel to the longitudinal line of intersection;
• and
• a releasable retaining arrangement operatively connectable between the workpiece support plate and the base for holding the workpiece support plate at the desired tilt angle from the vertical reference plane;
• the workpiece support plate having a workpiece support surface thereof adapted for engaging at least a portion of the front face of the workpiece while the bottom and rear reference surfaces of the workpiece are aligned with the horizontal and vertical reference planes respectively in such a manner that apparatus is stationary at the fixed location with the workpiece supported by the apparatus in the installed orientation of the workpiece at the desired tilt angle from the vertical reference plane with the longitudinal axis of the workpiece extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal line of intersection of the horizontal and vertical reference planes in such a manner that the workpiece and apparatus remain stationary with respect to the horizontal and vertical reference planes and the cutting plane at the fixed location such that the workpiece is oriented for cutting along the cutting plane by passage of the cutting blade through the workpiece along the cutting plane;
• wherein the releasable retaining arrangement comprises a brace member adapted for operative attachment between the base and the support plate and configured for holding the workpiece support plate at two or more different potential desired tilt angles;
• the brace member is pivotably attached to the base and has a distal portion thereof adapted for engagement with the support plate;
• and
• the support plate further comprises two or more recesses therein opposite the support surface for receiving and retaining the distal portion of the brace member when the brace member is pivoted with respect to the base to a corresponding position for holding the workpiece support plate at one or the other of two or more different potential desired tilt angles;
• wherein, the support plate further comprises openings extending therethrough from the support surface to each of the recesses, such that the distal end of the brace member is visible from the support surface of the support plate through the opening extending from the one of the two or more recesses in which the distal end of the brace member is received.