When putting up CM in a simple 4 sided room, what's the best way to deal with the last piece - i.e. does one use a coped joint on each end?
I was considering putting up the first piece with one end coped, and fitted over a small piece of scrap on the adjacent wall, the scrap being a proxy for the last piece. Then when I get to the last piece, slip out the scrap and slide the real piece in there. Am a little concerned about it being too tight, though.
Any tips would be appreciated.
Depends on the size of the room...if one piece will do both wall lengths, then that's the way I tend to do it. If need two or more pieces, I make the joining miter to length. Your "split it in" way is possible, too. Just don't nail the other piece in all the way to the end and you'll have plenty of slack unless it is a wide mould...
And, if it is more than a couple inch wide, you using support blocking, right? :)
The beauty of using the coped ends on both ends as your last piece is you can get a really tight fit. In a 12' room, I usually cut it about an eigth inch long. Nice and snug! Happy coping. SH
Has anyone found a good coping tutorial online? i've tried and tried but have yet to experience much success in coping...
Would cope the same corner on all the pieces, such as cope the LEFT end on all the pieces
John
There is only one good way to learn that "art form" and that's practice,practice,practice on scrap.
You need:
A good coping saw. A set of rattail files. A Dremel tool is wonderful.
The difficult part is "following" the profile with the coping saw blade. The molding needs to be held in place while that happens. Cut it close but NOT on the profile edge. Use the files and Dremel tool for that.
Patience is a real virtue in putting up molding.
DO NOT PRACTICE on the finished product.
fred wrote:
Start on the opposite wall of the door. Butt both of these ends to the wall. then work counterclockwise around if you are right-handed (clockwise if left-handed). Then next wall will be coped on one end and butted to the opposite wall. And yes, the last wall will have two coped ends. HTH
How do you do that??? :)
He means "one piece of molding goes up on that section.
Both ends will be cut off with NO miter, simple butt joints against the wall.
Duane Bozarth wrote:
you pretty much have to make two copes on the last piece in that situation
LonE
What you describe will work. I double cope the last piece, only because that's the way I've done for 43 years.I have seen it done your way, came out very well. mike
I haven't seen anything online but it just takes a little practice. I always cope on the same end as I go around the room (until I get to the last piece) putting the first piece up with no cope on either end. This does make you cope both ends of the last piece, assuming it goes up in a single piece. To make the cope, cut a 45 on the miter saw first and follow the edge of the cut with your copeing saw. The biggest problem most people have, with the cope not fitting, is that they do not have enough undercut. Crown molding requires a pretty severe undercut as you follow the detail. Just lean your coping saw at an angle as you saw. If you have followed the edge of the cut pretty well and the piece does not seem to fit it's probably because there is not enough undercut in one or more places on the coped piece. You can't get too much undercut (unless the blade starts coming out of the front of the molding) but if you don't get enough undercut the joint will appear open because the installed piece is hitting the back side of the cope. If this is the case just lean the blade over a little more and take more out of the back side of the cope.
On one of the TV shows I saw that someone had invented a machine that would saw copes for you. It had some kind of small circular type saw mounted on the machine and the saw would move in all directions. The roundness of the blade would create the undercut and the machine would follow a piece that you had already coped. It kinda worked like a key duplicating machine. I found it on the Internet a while back but I figured I could cut a lot of copes for $2400.
Mike
I use a Dewalt miniginder with a 36 grit sanding disc to do all of my coping. It helps to trim as much of the backcut away as possible on the miterbox beforehand. Then I swipe the side of my pencil over the profile of the finished cope to get a clear picture of where I'm grinding to, and let the dust fly. It's very fast, but don't try it for the first time on your last piece of walnut crown.
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