Skirt steak is very flavourful just as it is, and I like just the straight chest-pounding carnivorous meat-torn-from-cow taste. You can almost feel your canines growing. All that fancy marinade is for civilized men, snarl. The issue is that it can be tough, and is easily overcooked because it is so thin. That's easily handled. If the piece is nice and fatty, I would oil and salt it well on both sides, let it come to room temp. Heat up a cast iron skillet on highest heat, until the dry skillet starts to smoke. Squirt in some oil, get that smoking. Drop the steak in the skillet, leave heat on high, walk away - don't poke and prod at it. Two minutes later, pick up the steak, drop a big pat of butter in the skillet, heat to medium-high, turn the steak over and drop it on the butter, walk away. Two minutes later, burner off, move the steak to a cutting board. Slice the steak about 1/8'' thick, across the grain (very important) and arrange on plate, sprinkle with fresh-cracked pepper. The outside of the steak should be deeply browned, the inside should be red and fairly rare. If you want more medium-done, then 3 minutes a side. If there is yummy juice and melted butter left in the skillet, you can pour that on the steak. Or, top with garlic aioli, rich pesto, or another robustly-flavoured sauce. Nice time to use the fancy finishing salts. If the piece is lean, like flank steak, then I'd do the same but with more butter (since the meat doesn't have that much fat of its own). Or do a marinade as suggested. The main thing is, don't overcook it.

Leave it. In Ma. we call it character.You got an old house, thats small stuff. From the sounds of it you got bigger fish to fry.But if you're anal , like myself, rip it down and start over.Carpenters don't use a lot of "filler"

Mill work shops have the ability, for a fee, to cut blades to match the profile that you want. They can then cut the board lengths that you need for your project. I suggest that you think ahead.... Are there any projects that you might complete in the future that might require this baseboard? How much will you need? Estimate, if possible. Then, have them mill enough to store for future use. I did this for a kitchen remodel and had enough milled for a bathroom remodel several years later. I stored it In my garage for eight years! Good luck!

Screw a 1x cleat to the soffit, then screw the rake to the cleat.