corner of base molding

[Eric and Megan Swope]

Hi everyone. Recently, I put down a tile floor in my powder room. When taking up the old base molding, I noticed the corners were not mitered at 45 degree angles, but rather the one piece was just cut with straight ends that were flush to the opposite walls, and the other piece that would meet it in the corner was cut with a curve, and the curved end fit over the piece that had straight ends, giving it the illusion that it was mitered. Anyone ever heard of this technique for molding? What is it called? The only way I figured out to do this, was to take the two pieces, hold them perpendicular to each other, like they would meet in a corner, and trace the edge of one on the other and use a jigsaw to cut it. Any information is appreciated. Thanks.

[John Willis]

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 01:14:32 GMT, "Eric and Megan Swope" scribbled this interesting note:

You have to learn to cope. No. Really. You have to learn to cope! Just do it! Cope. Now don't get angry, I'm telling you to learn to cope!

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[John Willis]

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 01:14:32 GMT, "Eric and Megan Swope" scribbled this interesting note:

(saw, that is!:~)

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[Evodawg]

Its called a cope cut and yes this is the way its done on molding. You need to do a search on google "coping baseboard or molding" it's much to hard to tell you here when someone has already explained how its done. You need a coping saw and a miter saw.

Rich

[John Willis]

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 01:14:32 GMT, "Eric and Megan Swope" scribbled this interesting note:

Ok, I'll take it easy...

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[MG]

The question is why? Why a coped joint is preferred to a mitered one?

I have tried both and found the coped joint much more difficult to execute, particularly if the moulding is complex.

Granted that if the joint is out of square mitering can be bad. I am sure that there are valid practical and historical reason but can't seem to see one now.

MG

[kzinNOSPAM99]

natural wood movement due to changes in humidity and temperature across the seasons cause miters joints to open up more significantly than coped joints.

any reading on coped joints will have a more detailed explanation.

ml

[G Henslee]

Actually it has more to do with fitting to inside corners that are out of square.