Installing Crown Molding: Coping 

reading the comments I see a lot of ding-dongs and hate (as usual on youtube)... been a finish carpenter/cabinet maker for 15 years and I'm just trolling around looking for new ideas. Just want to say thanks for your kind tone and detailed delivery! Very easy to follow for the inexperienced and we need more people getting excited about carpentry. Cheers!

Thank you - this is by far the best coping demo and best explanation of the technique that I've come across. For any DIYers thinking about trying this for the first time, follow this demo to a T. And shell out for the Collins Coping Foot (and a jig saw if you don't have one); the money you spend on tools you will save in material you don't ruin.

I've been doing this stuff for over 35 years and that's a nice job there is manny ways to come up with the same results if the customer is happy and the job is good why all the haters commenting on this page most them know it all type guys will never be really good at there trades because they already think there better then the next guy therefore they stop learning better methods and just become another whatever kinda craftsman thanks for taking your time and making this video

Absolutely a fine demonstration of how a professional woodworker copes crown molding. I consider myself a pretty good woodworker already, but even I was amazed and I also learned something during this video. Thanks so much for your teaching.

Gary, yours is probably the best explanation and demo of coping with a jig saw that I've seen. I've had the Collins Foot for about 3-4 years now probably longer!) and have never regretted buying it. Once you get the hang of it it's so quick and easy. It may be worth pointing out in future videos that for best results, the jig saw blade must be very coarse, which is completely counter intuitive, Lots of guys comment on the foot but for some strange reason it hasn't yet caught on in the UK. Keep up the good work, you're brilliant. Regards Jim

Great video! Good to know that there are still people out there doing things the right way! And thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Nice job on this video Gary. It was very helpful.

this is an excellent demonstration. I really like the miter trick, I've never seen that before. One thing that should be pointed out is that the jigsaw is in the lowest orbital setting, for better control

Thank you very much for sharing your installing crown molding!👍

Wonderful! When explained properly everything is simple

Beautifully Done!!! Just came across your channel, well done and well presented.

Great video. Started using the Collins foot its great! The old coping saw is great for pine, but that hard wood! This is the way to go. I still use the handsaw and files to tune it in. Lots of Shoe maker comments. This was a excellent video!

Years of practice right there. Beautiful cuts.

You are the best Gary. Thank you very much!

At the very end when you made that notch well that's something I've never tried before thank you

I’m glad you’re on our side

Well done explanation, Sir. Thank you.

After 42 years of coping, I tried this a couple of times and immediately went back to coping with a hand saw. Then I saw a guy on RU-vid using a grinder with a flap disc I tried it and it works great and fast.

Excellent. Awesome instructional video!

Really nice instruction and helpful tips here! TY Sir!

Who knew Stan Lee was also a cabinet installer?

Excellent video. Thanks for the instructions.

Great stuff! I'm not a prima donna, traditionalist carpenter, so I appreciate your willingness to share some good tips that I have yet to figure out on my own due to inexperience. Plus, I'm just not as cool as some of these other tools. I think I'll still cope by hand, but I like your thicker overlapping miter and the butt-cope. I used to cope with a grinder which IS much faster, until I came to the conclusion that I'd rather work like a gentleman instead of choking on dust even when I got home like some Philistine.

I've used this Collin's foot and it works really well but you need a special blade in your machine

Finish carpenter in Massachusetts and I'll be using the overlapping miter. Thank you!

Pretty good. Amazing accuracy

Muy bien señor usted es un buen maestro felicidades Bravo

great video you are a master carpenter

He makes it look easy! A couple of observations - It seems like larger pieces of crown would be easier to cut with a bigger bearing surface for the coping foot. Typical 60's tract houses like mine have small rooms and maximum 10 ft ceilings so large crown molding would look weird. Small pieces are harder cut. Also I have yet to see a good demo of solo installation in a square/rectangular room with no outside corners, especially cutting the crown to the right length the first time knowing that the corner to corner length is not the same as the coped crown length.

i found a grinder with a sanding pad on it the quickest method nice video though

Very nice professional tips..thank you

Katz is the man

Butt cut works great for flimsy MDF... thanks for the tip.

Finally! Thanks!

18th Century lighting shone from below up. 20th *Century lighting shines down from above. But what do I know... My ancestors lived in tipis. I still love this guy's channel.

Being new to this info, this is a great video, but other videos never mentioned to do anything but coping the mitered angle and fit it up to the first piece of molding that was cut flat against the wall. This is the first one that offered needing to another step - either an overlapping miter, or a butt joint on the bottom of the coped molding. Kinda confusing. Thanks for the video.

Great video!!!

Gorgeous end of the video

Great video, where can I find info on how to build that jig?

Thank you!

Great video.

Clear and concise thank uou

I have been using a coping foot for about 4 years. There is no better tool when you have to work with large hard wood crown. Best advice I have is use a thick kerf, 6 inch blade, with course teeth.

Great lesson 👀👍

Isn’t the detail portion of the crown the bottom? Is this technically upside down and the client prefers it that way? Perhaps it’s a stacked crown?

Like me, some of you may initially think he is cutting upside down. He is not. It is pointed out in the prior segment that it is Windsorone Classical and the ogee is SUPPOSED to be at the top.

So....................Awesome……. Thank you very much. 🙏🙏🙏

David Collins should know that this is probably the ONLY video that shows the most comprehensive use for the coping foot - I've searched A LOT. Do you have a link as to how to build the coping jig? I can't find any reference to it. Thanks.

very good demo a dummy like me can understand (electrician) what blade do you use to coup ? thank you

Is that a Home Made Jig?Another thing Gary. the Collins Coping Foot. Does that work with a Bosch jigsaw? or do I need the Festool Jigsaw?Thanks!!!! You ake it look soooo easy!!! I'm done with a coping saw grrrrrr especially when coping Oak! You know exactly what I mean too lol.Great Videos!!!! I've subscribed to your channel. because to be honest, your the Best guy I've seen do coping!!!JJ50

Wouldn't ya know I have the Bosch 1590 & 1591EVS Jigsaws that the CCF Doesn't fit on?My question is, is this saw compatible? The Festool PS 300 EQ Trion Barrel Grip Jigsaw Model # 561443.I can't find the trion 300CF Model. This is the Only 300 Series I can find......anywhere. I'm a Crazy ass perfectionist and want to get my copes Perfect. After watching this vid, I threw my coping Saw up into a tree about 30 ft up in a neighbor's tree lol.I'll Never have to cope OAK by hand Again!!!!Thank You!!!!

Not fair ....on the tool .... but great Info..Lv your videos

Brilliant!

Very good, thanks

Great presentation, great work too, but your're installing the crown upside down. The ogee goes on the bottom.

I haven't coped crown in 25 yrs. I eve crowned an appointment inside corner that was a 45 without coping it. You just have to make a jig that puts the plane of the crown at 90 degrees to the fence and divide half the angle. Coping wastes time. You can see my crown work throughout the Grosse Pointes,Birmingham,and Oakland County communities in Michigan.

a grinder is much faster

Do you flapdisk now with a grinder instead of this way?

Professional I like it

didn't consider the "notch"...will try that and see how that works...

i like the grinder with a flap wheel

Hi master. How can I install it on a festool?

Why wouldn't you just put a piece of 3/4 on top of your jig from the top section then once you close your jig it locks it in place. Instead of wasting the time putting another piece of wood on top of it and clamping that piece down. It just seems to me that nailing a piece of 3/4 wide wood on that top Edge and then setting the crown underneath would lock it in place as well without having to use 2 clamps. Just a thought

Carpenters need to learn how to use a coping saw. This rig you have will cut that crown profile but you will be chewing all day long trying to grind out a piece of chair rail. Look for fine toothed blades and experiment with which one works best for you. Sometimes I use a sharpening stone to take just a slight amount of set off the sides of a new blade to make it cut smoother. Once you use a coping saw for awhile you can cut faster and better than anyone using a jig saw or a grinder. They will also be sunk if they ever have to put up chair rail.

I recently tried this and completely failed...what did I do wrong?

what blade did you use

A hand held grinder with proper disc is 10x faster and just as crisp!

Thanks

Everyone concentrates on the coped piece. I'm a complete novice. I have a 120 inside corner. At what angle do I cut the non-coped piece?

That's one way of doing it not the safest or best. Best is using and angle grinder with a sanding wheell. U don't need a jig or worry about chopping your fingers off. Plus it's faster and smooth

Educational

nice. too bad it's upside down

TRUE CRAFTSMAN!

What jig saw blades do you use?

Too all the people saying they could do it faster with a hand saw sure. He was also going slower and exaggerating for the novices who need instruction not the pros who can do it with eyes closed. Besides angle grinder with flap disk definitely seems the way tho go everytime!

You used to install crown upside down? Nice.

Good job

Wow

Coping saw is still the prefered way... I thought the festool would make it easier but its very clunky and too much room for error.

I must be using the Collins thing wrong, cuz I hate using it

Flap disc on an angle grinder. Fastest and cleanest copes

And ..of course pray your corner is 90 degrees....or the square butt joint and the 45 degree mitre will be useless.

I wouldn't go through all this trouble unless I was dealing with finished material... Too much time and effort.. Nonetheless good demonstration

I just press crown with leg at horse and cope crown. Would cope this simple profile in 20 seconds.

Damn...

I certainly found this video interesting. Just a couple of questions/thoughts. Is this video intended for the DIY guys or professional carpenters? I ask this because of some of tools used are somewhat specialized. Yes you can use a coping saw to cope the ends which is a slow process. You seem to advocate using a Collins Coping Attachment, which is fine but is a tool that has only one purpose. Also you use a barrel type jigsaw with this attachment (which makes perfect sense) to make your cuts. I would guess most DIY folks have the traditional jigsaw with a handle which I would guess is a bit more cumbersome to use. Plus you need to build the jig to make it work properly. Again, a very interesting and informative video but are some people being discouraged from trying this because of the costs of the special tools, especially if they are just working on their own homes. Just wondering. Jim

I think you are mistaken about the top and bottom of crown. Just google it. Maybe its personal preference that you like it upside down .

You need some skill to use that jigsaw to make that coping saw, could a bit dangerous for the average DIY as the tip of the blade may hit the back of the molding and that won't be pretty. For the novice, a coping saw is your best bet, slow and easy.

Ill bet he spent more time making his jig, then you will installing a couple rooms worth of crown. Not to mention the thousands of dollars in festool tools hes using. Excellent work though!! Hes a pro

I used to be a tool junky but I got over it. Festool= fuss tool = OCD. I wouldn't want anyone with Festool kit on my side in a crisis! :-) Make a coping sled for your mitre saw to suit the coving used (maximum 5 minute job)45 cut on the mitre saw.Undercut the 45 degree face by hand,with a coping saw with the board on a low stool held down with your goddam knee(you have 2 of them,one for left mitres and 1 for right mitres ;) and they are always on site) .Check for fit using an offcut then adjust/clean up with rasps if and only if necessary. One should be able to scribe accurately ENOUGH with a power mitresaw a coping saw and a few rasps after a bit of prctice and effort. All coving gets painted. All painted trim gets caulked before painting.The walls and ceilings are not going to be perfectly flat anyway so the caulk gun is already going to be used on the coving. Gaps up to ~1/16 " will be invisible at ceiling level after caulking so putting even 1 minute of time into being more precise means you are worrying about nothing & haven't understood what is actually REQUIRED. If your customer 'thinks' it looks a bit untidy....so what?Bet them 10 bucks per joint that it will look perfect afterwards and see how quickly they shut up! :-) Who (outside of politics) cares what the uninformed think anyway?

Wow. What a waste of time. I would have had it coped before you got done setting up your clamps and jig and if not certainly by the time you made all your relief cuts with your festool. The old hand coping saw is faster and has WAY more control than a power tool.

That’s great.... it must take you 3 weeks to do a couple rooms of crown.

Wow.. so now we know what Comedian John Stewart is doing these days..

safer ,quicker to use a coping saw

Everybody has there own way. I prefer the miter saw. And if I cope then I use a grinder. Miter = fast clean money.

Dude...the detailed edge is at the bottom so as to scribe flat edge for uneven ceilings or what not

Use a grinder would be way way faster

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But why??!!! I got this electric saw that cuts crown in about 3 seconds. Must take like 2 weeks to install a whole house of crown coping each inside miter. Good thing I work for fun and not for money haha

Using a grinder is way better than this.