To install trim, baseboards, and other structural elements, measure the length/height of the 90-degree corner you want to cover, cut the outside corner guard moulding to your measured length, drill pilot holes through the moulding, and hold the moulding in place on the corner to be covered. Use a miter saw for precise angle cuts and measure from the outside edge of the corner, back along the wall, to the end.
To achieve a seamless outside corner finish, learn how to cut molding corners using the coping technique. Fasten the outside corners together with glue and one-inch-long 23-gauge pins, the same fasteners used for wood. To fasten the trim to the wall, use 2 1/4″ screws.
For a clean inside corner, use test pieces of baseboard molding to prepare the corner for the permanent base before nailing anything to the wall. Cut a corner moulding on top of a piece of 1×2 so it’s in position when cutting it on the miter saw.
Inside corner molding is designed to cover the corners of walls, beams, and other structural elements. Draw a line top and bottom on the wall and ceiling, then do the same on the other side of the outside corner. Mark the moulding top and bottom. Use a wood filler or ready-mixed lightweight filler as a first pass on both inside and outside gaps, and then on the outside corner. Master this skill to achieve a professional look for your next molding installation.
📹 How Pros Cut Molding Inside Corners
When installing trim such as baseboard and crown molding, master craftspeople use this method – and you can too! Coped …
📹 How To Cut An Outside Corner TRIM! (Trim Tutorials #11)
In this video, “How To Cut An Outside Corner TRIM! (Trim Tutorials #11)” I will show you how to Cut An Outside Corner on Trim like …
30+ years of new home trimming I used this method. Today you will see guys using disk sanders which if you have all day to do the job and are artistic, it may be fine. Piece work doesn’t allow for such things along with the patience. Most coping saws sold today, IMHO, have not enough teeth per inch for an easy cut so I find more teeth per inch are worth the money. Great job, sir.
I’m a carpenter from the U.K. and I fit skirting boards and crown Mouldings often but this article is honestly the best to explain how it’s done properly. I use a jigsaw with a scribing blade rather than a coping saw but same thing applies. Thought it was great how you showed up close and explained clearly. Great article bud
Nice article Jay. I saw some articles carpenter fixers were using an accessory for a cordless jigsaw to cope moulding etc. So your article came up in my feed. Years ago I did a job with my brother who is a carpenter setting skirting. I had bought a kapex mitre saw. The mitre saw has an attachment that reads angles. So I set the angle on the places I needed to cut and set the angle of the mitre saw accordingly. I guess the Germans and festool think of things more thoroughly and build their tools all around each other to been compatible. I’m just wondering if many Carpenters or anyone fixing crown moulding etc use this method or resort to coping like you demonstrated. Thanks for spending your time presenting this article. I notice how skilled you are and at times you worked so fast I’m amazed at your speed. Did you have to clean up using a file? Actually I like using a file for shaping. Since I’m a plasterer that’s all we do is shaping so our skills are tuned for this type of application .
How much practice do you think will be needed for a complete beginner to make those coping cuts? We had someone fit molding and they used end and corner pieces to hide the joins which I dont want to do if I can train myself to learn to do it the right way like you from the start. I am literally about to learn how to add baseboard to start with and am a bit intimidated. Excellent article and definitely a huge inspiration and help.
Thank you. Finally an explanation I can understand. You’re the first one to explain “why” you need to make a back cut. Thank you for giving me that “light bulb” mental moment. Now not only do I know what is meant by “back cut”, but now I know why some people say 30 degrees, others say 35, and still others say 45. It doesn’t matter exactly what the angle is, just that there is a back cut of some kind so there’s no material to interfere or prevent the front of the board from mating along the contours of the other board it’s joining to. Excellent.
We just did our Great Room and I asked Hubby how he did it – looked so good! He explained but I didn’t believe him. Had no idea what ‘coping’ was. He flipped this article on his iPhone and we watched and WOW was I impressed. He said he learned that technique from His Dad 60 years ago and has done it that way ever since. I LOVE THIS GUY DirtFarmerJay – makes ME want to try it!!! SUBSCRIBED!!!
Carpenter for 21 years here. Basically you’re correct. One thing I’d modify is the angle of your back cut on MDF. It doesn’t leave much on that leading edge. Tends to break away easy. Change it up to 10-20° instead. Go 45 on hardwood/poplar. Last…the direction of the blade in the coping saw I and many other guys have the other way where it cuts as you pull. But that’s one of those things that can be done as you see fit. As long as it works thats all that matters in the end.
Thanks, Jay. My husband is completely disabled, so, any work that needs to be done, I either do, as best I can as I’m also disabled, or hire out. I’d much rather try to do this myself. Those corners were just like you said. They perfect, my walls were not. I’m really glad I found you in You Tube. Thanks for the help.
Thank you so much for the awesome article! Great explanation! Quick question: I have heard that, after you’ve coped the joint, you can spackle the joint gap and do a gentle sanding to get it just perfect. Is that true or is there another method that is preferable for really getting in there and finishing the joint?
Thank you sir! What you are describing is craftmanship! Something that I learned in a “tech” school… in high school. Coping is by far a superior looking joint, and super easy to do. Sadly the “craftsmanship” of this country is dying…. disclaimer…. real wood CAN be tricky if you catch a grain with the saw…however a utility knife can save the day by cutting the grain.
For baseboard i cope with a protractor. as i do my measurements i also write down the angles then go to my miter saw and make my cuts. sometimes depending on how the tapers did their work you may need to shim a little like with crown but overall it’s much faster than coping and looks just as good if not better.
Yeah, you can do it that way. However, before the days of power tools and router jigs an internal scribe cut was done quicker than you demonstrated. First the skirting board would be marked on the face square from the bottom edge, this mark would be the thickness of the skirting board back from the edge. Then a panel hand saw would be used to cut square from the bottom up to the moulding. Then the saw would be twisted in the cut to break out only the short grain square cut piece, (it also works with mdf, just a little more force required) leaving the moulding section left. Then the board would be flipped up onto its edge with the moulding edge on the saw bench. The panel saw would then be angled from the face to the back edge on an easily aligned 45 degree line to cut only the moulding section on a 45. Then the board would be placed face side up again to use the coping saw to cut only the mould profile. Crucially, this way you are only using the coping saw to cut only the mould profile, not the whole width of the board, as the rest is cut with the panel saw, which is better as it cuts a straight line far quicker and easier. If you want to see this demonstrated let me know and I will upload a article of it being done.
I have never understood why anyone does this technique when it is so easy to find the angle of the corner you are trimming with the use of a protractor. Sure not every corner is 90 but it takes way less time and effort to set my saw to 42 degrees each side than with there and cope a joint with a hand saw for several minutes. It’s a waste of time. Especially when the joints will get caulked and painted anyway then hidden by furniture and personal belongings.
As a finisher for almost 13 years now.. coping is best served for hardwood baseboard and baseboard over 5 inches. Crown moulding can be done both ways with varying levels of success. Here’s the deal – for paint grade baseboard, you don’t cut your inside miters at 45 degrees. You cut them at 42-44. I swing my saw where ever is comfortable in that range. My inside miters are always tight and if there is a wall with some off looking angle I use my miter angle/degree finder and it turns out nice. Coping takes a while and is often not worth doing if you’ve got 35-40 inside miters some typically small pieces behind doors (1 or 2 inches long), that would be a pita to cope. When you’ve been doing it this long it’s easy to remember – undercut your inside corners, overcut your outside corners.
I’ve seen piece-working, (housing tract) finish carpenters, coping base and crown, and literally flying through each unit. Some carpenters using nothing but a hand-saw, miter box and a coping saw (because they claimed it was faster than dragging cords and setting-up power tools etc.) Some were hand nailing. Of course this was a long time ago and back when you would still see yankee-screwdrivers and such. I’m not entirely convinced that they weren’t at least as fast, as how it’s being done today with power saws, coping bases, nail guns etc.
Dear Sir I have watched this article for hours, but nothing work, all I am doing is wasting wood and getting very tired. I am 75 year old so I guess I am to old to learn a new trick but with out copping the molding I am not going to be able to use the bathroom. I am willing to pay you if you show me how to cup my molding, Thanks, Juan.
Jay, I hate to break it to you, but professional trim carpenters rarely use coping saws anymore. They are just too slow. Try using a cordless jigsaw with a coping foot or a cordless angle grinder with a flap disk (40-80 grit). It’s the same reason why framers don’t use hand saws anymore. Edit; am professional carpenter.
It should be noted that not all base trim can be coped because the top corner may come back too far leaving a slight gap on top of your trim no matter how tight it is. In that case, you want to find the proper inside angle and make your miter cuts accordingly. Also, you really don’t need to worry about coping with a smaller trim that is 2 inches or so because it is easier to hide gaps with chulk. (The smaller trim is the standard in most new houses in my state. ) The key is to find the proper angle before cutting. Inside corners are usual a degree more or less off from the standard 45 but will leave an obvious gap if not corrected.
I use a jigsaw with a special “coping foot” that isnt flat, it is curved. This enables you to handhold the guide of the jigsaw and use a scroll blade to get real close to the line. I then use varying files for the curved profiles, including a triangular shaped file and two round files of different diameters. I never have to use a coping saw, but I do love to see one used. I am terrible with a coping saw.
Jay, I have four inside decorative baseboard corners to connect. PROBLEM IS… The exact molding profile I need is no longer available for my 27 year old home. (I added a small wall) This is leaving me with having to find the best way to mate two slightly different moldings and end up with a decent result. I was thinking that I might be able to transfer the older moldings profile to the new moldings surface but I can’t think of a good way to do this. I hope you might have some guidance for me. Thanks, Don
I tried it. It wasn’t just a failure it was a horrible failure. My molding was more intricate, it took 30 min. With a coping saw to cut it out and the average coping saw won’t cut nearly as easily as the one in the article. Then the cut piece didn’t fit, not even close. Much larger gaps than any mismatched miter I’ve seen. The other piece was on the wall and not coming off without ruining it and damaging the wall so I had to salvage it. Another hour with sandpaper and files and I got the pieces to fit with what I thought I could fix with careful caulking. I’m experienced and good with tools and crafts. I’m careful and pay attention to detail. Two 5 second miter cuts would work far better than this. People that aren’t careful- don’t even think about trying this.
I’m doing something wrong, I have a chair rail straight on one wall. now I’m trying to cope the perpendicular piece into that corner. I’m not understanding how to cut the piece I’m inserting into the perpendicular one. Here’s the chair rail I’m using homedepot.com/p/FINISHED-ELEGANCE-390-11-16-in-x-2-5-8-in-FEMDF-Chair-Rail-Moulding-10001628/202738245
New diy’er. Working on my faux window casing (just framing the outside) of two windows that meet in the corner. Making the header for both windows meet at the corner since the wall is so narrow between where the windows meet. I cute at a 45 degree angle flow but there’s a little bit of a gap at the bottom. Stumped on what to do. If I cope it seems there would be a chunk missing in the corner underneath. Am I right? Thought about pre assembling and putting up on the wall but there would be some gaps on the wall. Maybe shims or would coping work?
Thank you so much for your time and effort to explain your way of doing it but coping is just time consuming.Using the “OBTUSE” angle method solves any angle problems.and this is how it works; If your angle is a 100 degrees,you divide 100 by 2 which equals to 50 then you minus 50 from 90 degrees which equals to 40…so you cut your angle at 40 degrees and have a perfect cut and save yourself a lot of time.
I am sorry but I am going to be a little bit negative. After perusal 1/2 dozen of articles of this ilk, I have observed that the molding being cut is very plan, that is, without very much profile. I would like to see one of these pros tackle something more complex in order to see them use a combination of the coping saw and files, or any other combination of tools, to accomplish the mitering.
It’s the correct way to cope a joint but the saw is set up and being used improperly. The teeth should be facing the handle and cut on the pull stroke. Cutting on the push is the same as pushing string The cut should be handle beneath the stock, cut on the down (pull)stroke. Much easier to see and follow the profile line and you’ll break far fewer blades
Let’s imagine that I have a 12-feet long baseboard on the long side of a wall and a small baseboard (less than 1 feet) that will connect to the long baseboard. Does the 12-feet baseboard needs to be cut at 45 degrees first and cope the small baseboard to fit with the longest one OR can I leave the 12-feet long with 90 degrees angle and mold the smallest one to fit?
Being a Master carpenter,framing company owner,trim company owner. Not all “pros” cope our base in every corner. Wastes time. An opposing 45 and 44.5 usually work out well. I haven’t coped crown in 20 years. Not even on cathedral/vaulted ceilings. The time it takes to cope your corner could be spent on making a few test pieces at various angles. If the moulding has acclimated it should not shrink and leave gaps. If you cut your moulding 1/6 heavy it negates shrinkage. The biggest problem with base creeping is the fact that the drywall was run horizontally and the factory edge left in finished along the floor,causing the moulding to tip in and gap in the corners. Strips of cardboard folded in have negates the need to mud in or cope for that reason. Good article though. 35 years in trade, never a call back on trim work.
This is too scary for me. Why can’t you just measure the inside corner and divide by 2? As long as the wall intersection is level that should work. I have a gauge that measures in 1/10th degrees. Or if it doesn’t want to snug into the corner take the miter saw and cut of a sliver. It would take me forever Still fascinating perusal you do this.