Coping saws use thin blades to cut wood from a piece of trim.
Your home's walls may not meet in a true 90-degree corner. When you are installing trim in your house and encounter such a corner, it's necessary to make a coped joint between two pieces of trim. A coped joint has one piece of trim cut on a 90-degree angle and a second piece cut on a 45-degree angle with the raw wood of the miter removed with a coping saw. A coping saw has a thin blade held in place by a large, C-shaped handle.
Instructions
1. Measure the length of the first piece of trim entering the non-square corner, using the tape measure.
2. Set your power miter box to make a square cut on the piece of trim.
3. Make a square cut on the length of trim, hang the trim on the wall, and measure the second piece of trim entering the non-square corner.
4. Set the power miter box to make a 45-degree outside cut. An outside cut has the raw wood extended beyond the face of the trim.
5. Place the trim face up on a stable work surface with the 45-degree miter cut facing toward you.
6. Hold the coping saw blade at the area where the raw wood meets the face of the trim, tilt the saw blade on a toward the face of the trim and slowly cut along the profile of the trim.
7. Slide the coped piece of trim into the corner and check the connection between the coped trim and the square-cut piece of trim. If the connection is not tight, remove more wood from behind the face of the wood trim. Continue test-fitting and cutting the trim with the coping saw until you achieve a tight fit between the two pieces of trim.
8. Install the coped piece of trim onto the trim to complete the coped connection.
Tags: piece trim, , 45-degree angle, between pieces, between pieces trim, coped joint