Coping With Your Table Saw

tcleve4911

Have you ever done coping with your table saw?

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dougchips

Do you have any pictures?

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Scott Young

only once.

it before i went to a collins foot and i broke the blade on my coping saw. i only had one room to do so i thought i would give it a try. it did ok.

tcleve4911

No pic's yet, but I'm taking some on Monday.

Have you ever seen the Copemaster? http://www.kinnunensales.com/KSR/ind...FQMLVAoddh5ybg

This is where I got the idea. You make your back cut on the miter box like usual, then lay the piece flat on your table saw bed . You "feed" the end into the blade, just nibbling away stock. The blade is set to around 2" high You have to go slow & not try to take too much material but the results are awesome!!!!

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tcleve4911

They sell a special blade for the Collins Coping Foot. Did you use that or a regular jigsaw blade?

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send_it_all

I havr done it once or twice. I wouldnt make a habit out of it because it is slow...but in a pinch it will do. I use an anglr grinder with a 40 or 60 grit flap disc. It takes me about 15 seconds to buzz through a 4 1/2" mdf moulding well enough to touch up with a file and ready to go.

RobertCDF

I did it with a chop saw once... and I will never do it again. It was very time consuming and it came out ok... (better than the existing stuff in house)

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karma_carpentry

I've seen it done but never did it. Yesterday I saw a guy cut a taper on a table saw by using one hand like holding a pool cue and the other hand feeding the stock slowly - no fence, following a line.

Only thing I ever cut freehand on a table saw is cedar shingles, but now you reminded me, I think I'll test it out for coping.

Everything you ever would read warns against it. But I have the devil on one shoulder.

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AbeBarker

Focus and feel the coping saw as it's part of your hand. Those other methods are crazy.

Scott Young

i use the t244d blade. i haven't tried others, i figured the man that designed the foot tried the others and found what works best.

Teetorbilt

Karma, I've been free-handing table saws since I was tall enough to spot the line.

Coping with one would be way too time consuming.

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mack9110000

I know coping with a t/saw would be too slow I've done it!The quickest method is definetly with an angle grinder,though it is a bit more dusty.I've tried all the methods mentioned here,apart from the "Collins Foot" but I can't get quicker than the a/g.

tcleve4911

Good replies from all - thanks
Doing this long enough, you realize that there are many techniques & ways of coping & it depends on the situation. 16' footers you'll want to run the machine thru the stock. Smaller pieces afford you the ability to to run the stock thru the machine.
I see a lot of posts about coping so I threw this one out to hear reactions to different techniques.

Being at one with your coping saw is great on MDF , pine & poplar but when we do oak, maple, hickory & ash, I am at one with power tools.

Angle grinder with a flap sander - I'll try that one next week.

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KentWhitten

dremel works good also

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Tom R

I've never done the actual 'cope' with the table saw, - - but years ago used to do the back-cutting of the cope with it.

Then after that I used to do a heavy 'reverse compound-cut' after doing the initial one, - - staying just shy of your your 'face-cut-line', - - making a thinnner cut of the coping and taking care of a lot of your backcutting at the same time.

But these days I just go back to the original basic cope-saw cut, - - realizing that all in all it's just a simple process of which the most important aspect is simply the angle you hold your coping saw at.

dougchips

I saw that tool at a JLC show a few years ago. I wish someone rented them since they are a little pricey.

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troubleseeker

I cut scribed fillers that abutt a wall like this all the time. Hold the piece and feed with my right hand and position my left hand at the front of the table so that I can use thumb as a pivot. With a little practice, it is quite easy to either cut a straight taper or follow a scribe as long as the contours are not too small for the saw blade to cut without binding. Although I do most of my coping with a jig saw, I frequently will use the table saw. I have never seen anyone else do this, and since everyone who sees me do it seems amazed by it, I thought I must be the only one doing something this "crazy". It actually works quite well on pieces that are moderate length and can be handled, obviously not good for long lengths.

Greg Di

Get a Collins Coping Foot and you'll love life...It takes a little getting used to, but now, I rarely cut anything with my regular jigsaw. It's so much easier to cut with the saw below the workpiece and seeing the blade come to the line, whether it's coping or scribing.

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