Co p i n g w i t h Cu r v e s
Time for a show of hands. Have you ever said, "I can’t cut
curves because I don’t have a band saw, a jig saw or an oscil-
lating spindle sander?" If so, here’s a solution that involves an
unsung hero of the hand-tool world, the coping saw. Coping
saws offer a tremendous bang for your buck. Twelve dol-
lars for the saw and a few more for a package of blades and
you’re set. At that price you don’t have much of an excuse for
not having one, and in addition to making curved cuts, you
can use it to clean out the waste in between your dovetails.
The blade will fi t with the teeth pointing either way, so you
can cut on the push stroke or when you pull. I think it makes
sense to cut on the pull, as that puts tension on the blade. The
blades are thin and will bend, and are more likely to do that if
you’re pushing.
Clamp the work so it’s steady, and mark your layout on both
sides if you’re nervous about not cutting straight. Stay outside
the line and see how you do. I’m showing off here by cutting
pretty close; on the other curve I chickened out and stayed far-
ther away. Don’t try to force things; watch the saw cut rather
than try to make the saw cut.
It doesn’t matter how raggedy your cut looks, as long as you
stay outside the line. Clamp the block down to something
solid and pare down the parts that stick out with the chisel
held vertically. This isn’t hard to do; you’re only slicing off the
high points. This will leave a faceted surface, and the more
facets you have the closer to a fair curve you will be.
When you get close to the line, move the block so the edge is
out in space and re-clamp it. To fi nish the curve, you want to
pare downhill to the grain. To establish the curve, angle the
chisel slightly so that you are only cutting a narrow portion of
the width. This makes it easy to neatly follow the curve. Do
this on both sides, then make paring cuts down the middle to
reach the edges. In the picture above, the shaving stops about
1/16" in from the edges because I cut the edges fi rst.
To cut the concave arc, you’ll need to change the angle of the
blade in relation to the frame of the saw, and you’ll need to
work from both ends into the middle. I never remember to
change the angle until I get stuck, but you can do that fi rst.
In an earlier post, we had one reader that was confused
about instructions for cleaning up the inside arc. The block
is clamped securely to the bench and the bevel of the chisel
is is down. This lets me swing the chisel into the curve. The
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