Cove cutting

[MikeJhn]

How do you guys cut cove sections of about 75 : 100mm width?

I'v seen the Rockler cove cutting jig and thought I may make something similar, what do others think?

Link: http://www.thisoldworkshop.com/index.ph ... le-saw-jig

Mike

 

[custard]

I've seen this done, in fact I've seen even more elaborate hollowing operations performed on a table saw, including fully saddling a seat!

Yes it works, although you need a lot of clean up work afterwards with a sanding block, but it scares the pants off me so it doesn't happen in my workshop.

I generally cut coves on spindle moulder, but I have done the job entirely with hand tools and for the odd bit of furniture scale coving that's perfectly viable. In fact for a crown moulding there's something lovely about how the faint tooling marks from doing the job by hand picks up the light and adds a bit of texture to the job.

 

[Peter Sefton]

It does work, I have done it, but I wouldn't recommend it

The quality of cut is poor, doesn't do your saw blades any good and is dangerous.

If you haven't got a spindle moulder then hog out with a router and finish with a wooden moulding plane of the correct sole radius to match the job. You may need to make a plane but I usually get a car boot one and reshape the sole and plane blade to match.

Cheers Peter

 

[dkaardal]

We learned to do this when I was in high school back in Canada. Making your own jig is quite simple, but cutting the cove is a little time consuming. You don't cut it all in one pass, or the cove doesn't end up smooth. You can either start in the middle of your desired cove, run it through the saw so your cove is around 1" wide, then increase the angle that you present the piece to the blade and then widen the cove. 3-4 passes is usually enough, depending on the size of your cove.

When I took a cabinetry nightschool course many years later, the approved method was to keep the angle the same for each pass, but raise the blade for each new pass. That's the way I prefer to do them now if I do use my table saw - it's a bit quicker, and for each pass all your changing is the height of the blade so there's less chance of making a mistake.

I will say that I'd not try this on anything smaller then a good, strong cabinet saw. I'd do it on my 3hp delta unisaw, and in the school shop we had 3 or 5hp SawStop's or Powermatics.

If I had the time though, I'd use my wooden molding planes. I've got most of a set of hollows and rounds now, and it's just fun to use them. To finish a larger cove, I'll often cut a card scraper to match its curve. Give it a few passes with the card scraper afterwards and everything ends up nice and smooth.

All that having been said, I should point out that Peter Sefton is a professional and teaches as well - so my advice is to listen to his advice.

 

[MikeJhn]

Unfortunately doing this by hand is not an option for me, my hands are just not strong enough to hold or use a plane, I have been looking for a Router bit that may do the job, but no luck so far.

Thanks for all the advice it has been noted and taken on board.

Mike

 

[Nelsun]

IIRC, Matthias Wandel has pointed his cranial mass at cutting coving (and skirting) on a table saw.

*clickity*

Here you go

 

[user22161]

Here's one by Mark - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKiwTkX4EhE

 

[MikeJhn]

Mark's video is excellent as usual and the finished product would be easy to make into the Rockler version with the mitre slot clamps and feather board, think on.

The only thing that worries me on the feather board is its in the way of a push block and you may be tempted to push the stock from the end shredding your fingers in the process, seems a double push block is safer than the feather board, precautions taken to ensure the blade is not higher than the workpiece.

Mike