Install Crown Molding Faster With The EasyCoper
By Benjamen Johnson
Installing crown molding can be intimidating homeowners. For outside corners to match properly, you have to cut compound miters correctly. And if that wasn’t hard enough, inside corners should be coped, never mitered, as coping allows for slight movement of the wood and the cleanest overall fit.
The EasyCoper aims to simplify the difficult skill of coping, making it easy to create professional-looking joints without master-craftsman experience. All you need to know is how to follow a line with a jigsaw.
To use the EasyCoper, just cut the piece as if you’re cutting an inside miter and then cut the long point flat. Place the molding in the easy cutter jig until the piece is flush with the top of the jig. Then follow the profile of the molding with the jigsaw base resting flatly on the easycoper jig – and you’re done.
THe EasyCoper retails for about $35. If you’re putting up crown molding in more than one room, the time you save using EasyCoper should easily be worth the price.
EasyCoper [Manufacturer]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
September 14th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Has anyone tried one of these yet? I’m a big fan of coping, but it seems like this might be hard to finesse around the curves. If it worked well though, it would really speed things up. I hate getting a buddy to help hold and hang crown, and then having him stand around while I fuss with an inside joint.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:03 am
I haven’t personally, but a good friend (contractor) bought one and tried it for a while. I personally think it would work great, but he said that it was a waste of money. Given plenty of time for the learning curve, I think it could help save time, especially with hard wood trim. I’ve just used my scrollsaw with the table tilted and gotten pretty good results.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:55 am
If your more of a freehand type of guy, try the Collins coping foot for your jigsaw
http://www.collinstool.com/collins_coping_foot.htm
September 14th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
PutnamEco,
The Collins coping foot likes like it is worth a try. I’ve been looking for a way to speed coping of non-crown moulding. I was disappointed that EasyCoper didn’t make something that works with base, chair railing, etc. I would have posted that instead.
Yeah, coping is just a skill that you need to learn if you are doing any finish carpentry, but I just wish I could find something to make my current project faster: installing some chair rail with several shadow lines, a couple of hollows and 3 different rounds. It’s a pain to get the whole cope to match. I’m not to bad at coping stuff with a few broad and simple curves, but the complex stuff kicks my butt.
I was also thinking of using a scroll saw to do the coping on my current project. Has anybody tried that? I figure that if the piece if shorter than 3 or 4 feet it would work OK. I’m just dying to find an excuse to buy the Dremel.
September 14th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I’ve used this a fair bit — it’s not the Collins Coping Foot, but for the price it is a good value. Rockler blows them out for around $30 on occasion and it sure beats coping by hand! I’ve even seen them in trucks of finish carpenters that I’d never think would deign to use such a DIY tool…
September 17th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I have found that usinga table saw works best when you have smaller lengths. Has no one tried this before? I am a trim carpenter by trade, btw.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
miguel,
Are you just cutting miters with a table saw or are you coping the pieces too? I can’t imagine how you’d cope with a table saw.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
[...] We’ve previously posted the EasyCoper, a jig that takes advantage of your jigsaw to make coping crown molding easier. Now Rockler just discounted a more flexible solution — the Speed Cope. The Speed Cope handles more than just crown molding. It can be adjusted for base, chair rail, crown molding, or just about any other trim under 7-1/4″ wide. And where the Easycoper was a fixed angle jig, the Speed Cope adjusts to almost any compound angle. [...]