Wonderful advice. After 22 years of being in the carpentry trade I have tried coping lot's of different ways. One trick I found was to glue 80 grit sand paper to the face side of a piece of trim. After making your cope use the trip with the sand paper to fine tune to coped piece.
3:46 instead of working left to right, think about the direction of the joints overlap in relation to the entry. So if there’s shrinkage and a joint opens, an occupant isn’t looking into the open gap of the joint when they enter the room.
Coping is always interesting. To not do it and make tight joints are doable, but as Rob mentioned, over time your work may suffer from gaps and movement. And in remodels, if you’re not a crazy man you will have out of square corners everywhere. If you’re having trouble with your copes, try to find the new angle that makes the corner. A bevel square and an angle gauge can accomplish this. Or, get the coping saw as close to the profile as possible before getting out the files to bring it to completion. Coping can be tedious, especially when your boss is a total ass. To get real good at coping, take scrap molding home with you and cope off hours. Yes, I said cope on off hours! You want to be that guy, right? Practice, practice, practice! #imthatkindofcarpenter
Great video! As a carpenter I always use a coping saw first to get close and then use a few different files to bring it to the perfect profile. Rarely do I have a redo with that method. On standard 3 1/4 base i use nothing but a miter saw, stand-off block and a steady hand.
In 1995 my then-wife decided she wanted crown molding in our new 2,500 sq, ft, house. I was mid 30's, young and dumb, and agreed to do it on the entire main floor. I am not a carpenter, not in a trade. Actually in the food business. Went out and bought a DeWalt Miter saw, a coping saw and I have no idea how many feet of not only crown molding but the baseboards and shoe has to match! Fortunately, the guy at the wood supply store took pity on me and explained how to cope. The one tip he didn't give me was using the pencil to outline the cut. I could have used that tip back then Bob. The job turned out really well. We moved a few years later and I wound up replacing all of the baseboards, shoe, window moldings, doors, and casings in that house. Experience gives you confidence. Today almost 30 years later, I don't know that I'd have the patience or hell, the energy, to tackle that job again.
I’m so glad I subscribed to your channel. I wanted the best information on our planet and I think you do the best job providing us step by step instructions. Bravo 🙌
the best way so far i have came across is using flappy disk with angle grinder. it just melts the trim away, take a bit to get use to , but it work so much better than the saw.
If I'm in a hurry I've nailed and glued my inside corners, both sides being mitered. Going to try a flap disc on my angle grinder to see if that is faster for coping. Also going to try sandpaper glued to a scrap for finishing out.
Hey Rob, I love your tips and tricks videos. Also the tool test and reviews as well. But I have a question for you. You wouldn't need to cope miters. If you were using a Starrett miter angle finding guage would you? I use it and it is a very precise tool! It also makes cutting trim easy on tricky unplumb walls and corners. Again thanks for all the knowledge and wisdom of the trade.
A coped joint will look better long term. Once you have practiced coping, it is much faster, and better than a mitre. Also, your square cut doesn't have to be super accurate (on paint grade), because the painter will be caulking the top or bottom of the moulding to the wall. If you're dealing with a tall baseboard when mitering your corners you also have to worry about the walls being plumb, which they never are. Coping is a far superior method to inside miters.
cordless angle grinder with a bosch carbide tipped wood blade files away coping in seconds. much faster than the jigsaw upside down method and million times faster than a coping saw.thank me later
