# Base board cope cut



## cbraby (Sep 12, 2004)

A friend wants me to help trim out his bathroom using antique replica woodwork. The base boards have a fairly intricate profile and are too tall to fit under my mitre saw. My brother is a carpenter and told me that they usually cope cut the corners rather than mitre saw the 45's. Is there a jig or a procedure to make these cope cuts with a router? It seems it would be more accurate to route than to use a coping saw.


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## BobandRick (Aug 4, 2004)

Yes you can do it with the router if the baseboard profile is not to fine. You need to have a guide and a straight bit that fits into the guide. Next you need to make a pattern that is exactly the shape of the baseboard profile and a fixture to hold the baseboard in solid position during routing. How many of these cope cuts are you making? Hopefully more than two or three...to go further I need to see the profile, can you post a photo?


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## cbraby (Sep 12, 2004)

Router Guys, Thanks, I assumed that was about what I was going to need to do, but I would probably use a bearing guided pattern bit since I have no guides (yet). The way the room worked out, I'll only have to do one corner, the rest butts up to door frames, bath tubs and cabinets. The profile is wide enough I'll probably be able to get all the nooks and crannies with a 1/2" bit, maybe a little smaller. 
I saw a coping jig in a router mag recently that used a 2 part epoxy like stuff to pour around the edge of the baseboard (after it is clamped on end) to make a guide. Looks like it would work, but it cost about $120.00. Too much for coping one corner.


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## reible (Sep 10, 2004)

BobandRick said:


> Yes you can do it with the router if the baseboard profile is not to fine. You need to have a guide and a straight bit that fits into the guide. Next you need to make a pattern that is exactly the shape of the baseboard profile and a fixture to hold the baseboard in solid position during routing. How many of these cope cuts are you making? Hopefully more than two or three...to go further I need to see the profile, can you post a photo?


 I would be interested with any profiles you might have on hand. I'm trying to picture what you described but it's not happen for me...... 

Ed


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## BobandRick (Aug 4, 2004)

For one cope use the coping saw. The epoxy on the profile would work well to make the pattern.

On the understanding of the idea of coping the end of the baseboard with the profile shape of the baseboard. 

1) Making the pattern of the profile is best done by cutting a 45 degree on the end of a piece of baseboard then by following exposed profile cut along the 45 degree angle to cut out the cope pattern. 
2) Mount this piece of base on a 1/4" plywood piece and with a flush trim router bit... cut out the shape. We now have the pattern we need to put the profile shape on the end of the baseboard.
3) Next we need to mount two square pieces (spacers) parallel to the edge of the 1/4" plywood pattern and perpendicular to the pattern shape. The spacers need to match the thickness and width of the baseboard, which are used to hold the base in position. Next we mount the spacers and pattern to a 3/4" base piece. We now have the fixture to hold the ends of the baseboards in position to cut the cope. The hold down toggle clamps will work well to keep the base in place while you cut the cope on the end of the baseboard. 
4) Set up your router with your smallest guide and straight router bit to cut the cope on the end of your baseboard. Cut the copes as required

Hopefully this clears up any problems from the last post.


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