Cove Molding

[Luckbox72]

I am going to make my own cove molding with a jig on my table saw. My question is would it be better to use a cross cut blade or a ripping blade. I am thinking ripping blade since there is more room between the teeth for the saw dust.

 

[mkepke]

The conventional wisdom is to use a crosscut blade since more teeth should mean a smoother cut and less sanding.

Personally, I use a Sears molding head with 4 knives. It cuts fast. Maybe I spend a bit more time cleaning up the saw-marks, but a gooseneck scraper usually makes pretty fast work of it.

-Mark

 

[Joe Scharle]

My experience has been more teeth the less hand work. You're only taking 1/16" per pass anyway to be safe.

 

[AviOren]

I could not get a smooth surface while coving on the table saw even with Lonnie Bird's coving cutter. So I ended doing it with a spherical router bit on the router table.

See Lonnie Bird's Crowm Molding Cove Cutter here: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/cmt-cv-1.htm

See the coved surface: http://picasaweb.google.com/PaEden/CovingTheMolding?authkey=Gv1sRgCI67qrTfwYizAg#

Router coving bit: http://www.eagleamerica.com/product/v130-2815/ea_-_molding_bits

Also see this thread:http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbth...mber=4732056&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I've read a couple of articles that suggested using a dado set to get a smoother cove. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't give you first hand experience. But it sounded interesting.

Bill

 

[Gofor]

More teeth, smoother cut, to a point. I would try it first with a test piece with about a 50t. Cross cut profile works fine. Just don't try to hog it all out in one cut unless you use a full-kerf blade, and then it is best to do a light final cut with slow speed of feed (not so slow it burns). The idea of using the two outside cutters of a dado stack is a good one because it will be stiff, but I have not tried that. Depends on if you can get the radius you need.

You are putting some side pressure on the blade, so if you are using a ZCI, best to go with your stock insert, or accept you may get some blade rub against the off side and have to make a new one if using a regular blade.

I have only done it a couple times, (using full-kerf) and still needed to do some sanding. Make sure you use a wide push block like you would use on a jointer to keep it down and keep the delicate body parts safe from the blade.

Definitely a doable procedure.

Go

 

[toolferone]

I do agree that more teeth are better, but what kind of teeth is the question. In looking at Lonnie Byrd's set, you don't see any sharp teeth. The classic crosscut blade has a Hi-ATB tooth. Meaning a sharp point. I think maybe a TCG (triple chip grind) would be better. A blade for melamine, plastic or even non-ferrous metal would be a good choice. Most of these blades are a negitive hook angle which might help it some too. I might need to experiment on the truck sometime inbetween events while I am on the road.

 

[mkepke]

I do agree that more teeth are better, but what kind of teeth is the question. In looking at Lonnie Byrd's set, you don't see any sharp teeth. The classic crosscut blade has a Hi-ATB tooth. Meaning a sharp point. I think maybe a TCG (triple chip grind) would be better. A blade for melamine, plastic or even non-ferrous metal would be a good choice. Most of these blades are a negitive hook angle which might help it some too. I might need to experiment on the truck sometime inbetween events while I am on the road.

Hi - I mentioned in an earlier post that I use a Sears molding head cutter to cut my cove molding. I use 3 @ 1" wide cutters with a thumbnail profile.

Someone else mentioned blade-plate stiffness - not as issue with the molding head cutter as the plate is 1/2" steel. This is actually the reason I switched to the molding-head cutter.

Here's an example of cove cut using this type of cutter:

-Mark

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

A cabinetmaker friend uses an LRH Magic Molder which is similar to Lonnie Birds crown cutter but is smaller in diameter and uses replaceable carbide tipped inserts. Since the insert tips do not stick out as much as those on the Sears molder, it is much safer to use. His inserts are sharp. Depending on how much stock he must remove he either starts the cove with a dado or regular blade and finishes with the Magic Molder, or he uses the Magic Molder from the start but only takes a little off during each pass. His finished cove looks really good and needs little sanding.

 

[Gofor]

I do agree that more teeth are better, but what kind of teeth is the question. In looking at Lonnie Byrd's set, you don't see any sharp teeth. The classic crosscut blade has a Hi-ATB tooth. Meaning a sharp point. I think maybe a TCG (triple chip grind) would be better. A blade for melamine, plastic or even non-ferrous metal would be a good choice. Most of these blades are a negitive hook angle which might help it some too. I might need to experiment on the truck sometime inbetween events while I am on the road.

Tom, Thanks for the tip. :icon_thum Have not done any molding recently, but do now have a TCG blade (LU82M010). Will use it the next time I do a profile like that.

Go