cove molding on inside corners..do i need to cope?

18 years ago

i've just finished installing a beadboard backsplash in my kitchen, and it was a pretty straitforward job for a novice like me. now, i want to install cove molding underneath the cabinets and i'm having a hard time doing the corners (they are inside corners). i've tried using the mitre saw, but it's just not working out right. i have a feeling that this is the sort of scenario where coping is necessary, but i really don't have any idea how to do it. i can't cope with the coping...lol!!

can anybody give me easy tips on how to deal with these corners?

thanks!

jiggreen

Featured Answer

tonbiak

18 years ago

I think that your issue with the cove molding is the same as I had with crown molding atop the cabinets. I asked the question in this forum and in the kitchen forum and got a good explination of the real issue over in the kitchen forum. My issue is the spring angle and the information over there explained how to determin if you will need a special miter and bevel cut and you may still need to cope the back side of the piece. I would go over to the kitchen forum and search crown molding. I did a google search on "cutting crown molding" and there were some sites that had good illistrations of cope cuts and how to make them. However, none of the sites gave me a clear explination of the spring angle and how it affected whether to use a 45 degree miter or a different miter and a bevel cut.

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Comments (7)

jiggreen
Original Author
18 years ago
nope, i don't need to cope, i just need to put the darned molding into the mitre saw going the right way!! i just got one of the corners done and it looks really good..i guess i just needed to step away from it for a couple minutes and clear my brain!!

thanks anyway!
jiggreen
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brickeyee
18 years ago
A 45 miter only works on perfect 90 degree corners.
For any other angle things get rather dicey, and coping provides the best appearance.
Fine Homebuilding has had an article recently on installing and coping crown. There is a really nice coping foot for jig-saws that speeds things up a lot.
kudzu9
18 years ago
jiggreen-
Coping is a superior method, even for corners that are a perfect 90 degrees because there is seasonal expansion and contraction or wood, and a coped joint will hide this, while a mitred joint may show a gap. To make a coped joint, you cut one piece at 90 degrees and butt it into the wall. Then you take the other piece that you're matching up in the corner and butt a piece of scrap up against it and trace the profile as best you can with a pencil. Then you get out your trusty $10 hand coping saw and cut carefully along the line. This is the hard part, and the only way to get it right is to practice. Once the profile is cut out it helps if you get out a utility knife and whittle a little bit away from the coped end (coming at it from the back and whittling against the cut end to almost the front edge). This helps the joint to be tight because there's no interference along the cut line from any of the wood behind the visible front edge. If you are real good, the pieces will marry perfectly. More likely, you may have to fiddle with the cut line a little using the utility knife. If it's really crappy, you may have to try again. That's why it's best to leave the other end a little long, so you can still use the piece if you have to recut it and make it a little shorter in the process.
brickeyee
18 years ago
That is the hard way to cope kudzu9.
It is a lot easier to miter the piece to be coped, then cut away to the edge formed by the miter.
See Fine Homebuilding for a recent article on coping and installing crown.
homebound
18 years ago
I saw that article, too. Easy method, but did you find their explanation confusing? In this case I think YOU described the method more clearly in one sentence than their article.
abnorm
18 years ago
Here's a great online tutorial.......

Here is a link that might be useful: AlterEagle