Coping Crown Molding

[oldhudson]

I have a crown molding project to do, new trim around a fireplace. In the past I've coped the stock by hand, with a coping saw. But I thought scroll saw with spiral blades would work fine, especially because it's so easy to adjust the angle with the Excalibur. Anyhow, I just wondered if any of you had tried this. TIA

[Sparkey]

I have only done it by hand. It does sound possible being as the blade tilts and not the table. I would give it a try.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Hard to hold the piece on the saw. I would use a sabre saw (jig saw) with a fine blade. Clamp the piece to the workbench and have at it. Alot easier than trying to twist a long piece of molding on a short table. 

Edited October 5, 2017 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[WayneMahler]

I do mine by hand. Seems to work out the best for me. There is a few videos out about doing on the chop saw although I never got the hang of that part. Seemed easier for me from hand cutting.

[Bill WIlson]

I  cope crown molding by hand with a coping saw, but have also wondered if it could be more effectively done with a scrollsaw.  For short pieces, it should work well, but for longer stock, I suspect it's far easier to do by hand.  You got me thinking though.  Using spiral blades and a support roller on either side of the saw, it would be feasible.  Only problem is I would have to move my saw outside to cut anything over 3' long. 

[amazingkevin]

On 10/4/2017 at 7:40 PM, oldhudson said:

I have a crown molding project to do, new trim around a fireplace. In the past I've coped the stock by hand, with a coping saw. But I thought scroll saw with spiral blades would work fine, especially because it's so easy to adjust the angle with the Excalibur. Anyhow, I just wondered if any of you had tried this. TIA

I did one crown molding job with plenty of inside an outside cuts in a kitchen.It really boggled my mind to cut something upside down and backward with a chop saw.But it came out perfect .I don't want to do that again,to stressful as crown is not cheap even though I'm not paying for it

[heppnerguy]

I still struggle with cutting picture frames so i would not even consider cutting crown.. I hesitate too much, I think. How can one learn if one is afraid to try??

Dick

heppnerguy

[CharleyL]

I have a Collins Coping Foot for my Milwaukee Sabre type saw and have been quite happy with the results that I can get with it.  https://collinstool.com/tools/coping-foot/ . When used with a fine tooth blade and a little practice it does a better job than anything else that I've tried and much faster than using a coping saw. I also found that darkening the edge of the mitered cut by just rubbing the side of a pencil lead along the cut line to darken it makes it easier to see exactly where you should be cutting.  You wouldn't think that a foot shaped like this would work so well, but it does.

You also need to learn to use your miter saw with a jig or fence that holds the crown molding at the correct rrect spring angle (as it would sit on the wall, but upside down, or if cutting it flat, with the 45 miter and head angles set correctly. I prefer to just use a temporary fence to hold the molding at the correct spring angle (but upside down) on the miter saw and just set the saw for the 45 degree, or other angle to match the wall corner. 

If doing any crown molding for the first time, plan on adding  extra length or two of molding into the job, so you can practice, because you will make a few mistakes before getting the miter as well as the cope cuts right. It will also help to watch a few Youtube videos before starting as well.  My biggest problem, when first starting, was to remember to treat the table part of the miter saw as if it was the ceiling, basically learning to work upside down to make the cuts. Learning to cope was easy for me, but I've seen others have a tough time learning to do it. For me, darkening the edge with the pencil lead made it much easier. The coping angle isn't important, as long as it removes enough wood so the facing edge matches the abutting molding and the wood behind this edge is removed enough so that none of it prevents the face profile from touching the face profile of the mating piece of molding.  Once you understand what a coped joint looks like, learning to cut it becomes much easier.

Charley

 

Edited October 7, 2017 by CharleyL