making a large cove on the table saw?

[keith ouellette]

Could anyone tell me a few of the finer points on doing this.

I have a 4" wide by 1+1/2" thick pine board. I first want to run it through the TS with the blade at a slight angle so I can taper the thickness. the shaded area on the picture is what I want to remove. ( the shaded square part on top is also removed waist when I rip to width)

so I will have 4"high total with the top inch being the full 1+1/2" thick and then tapering down to 3/4". I want the cove to be on the tapered part and then a profile (like a large ogee) above it.

can this work out? Is the 3/4" thickness at the bottom enough to except a shallow cove? What angle should I clamp the fence to in relation to the blade?

Or any other tips would greatly be appreciated.

[Mike Henderson]

This guy (http://woodgears.ca/cove/index.html)has a lot on cutting coves.

I usually just put the board on the table saw and sight into the blade and board. You can see what the blade will cut fairly well. Once you get it adjusted, clamp your guide boards on and make a test cut.

Mike

[keith ouellette]

Thanks mike. I read that info and then did some test cuts. I like how changing the angle of the fence can give wider or narrower coves. I never knew that. I thought it had to do with the blade height.

Here is what I ended up with after a few practice passes. The piece was ripped to thickness at 12 deg so I could make a bevel then I pushed it through to make the cove.

I'm pretty happy with it.

[Larry Rasmussen]

Hi Keith,
My cove will be quite a bit smaller, perhaps 1 1/4 inches wide. What I've been wondering is how smooth the cove profile will be. I read one comment recently that advised the guy to making a saw cut cove to get a supply of 80 grit sandpaper ready. I can get a router bit to do this too for $30 something from MCLS. I have my table saw apart and will do some experimenting when it is up and running. But for now I would really appreciate it if you would let us know if the table saw cove seems to need much sanding.
Thanks,
Larry R
Seattle

[keith ouellette]

Hi Keith,
My cove will be quite a bit smaller, perhaps 1 1/4 inches wide. What I've been wondering is how smooth the cove profile will be. I read one comment recently that advised the guy to making a saw cut cove to get a supply of 80 grit sandpaper ready. I can get a router bit to do this too for $30 something from MCLS. I have my table saw apart and will do some experimenting when it is up and running. But for now I would really appreciate it if you would let us know if the table saw cove seems to need much sanding.
Thanks,
Larry R
Seattle

Yes Larry. there is some sanding. I just made my cove cuts for the front and sides and then routed some profiles in the top and bottom.

I found that when I had the cove about the way I wanted it I raised the blade just a hair more (almost as little as possible) and then fed the work piece through very very slow. That eliminated a lot of saw marks.

I then used 120 grit on my 5" orbit sander (only about half the sander at a time on the cove ) and sanded. It didn't take long to smooth it out.

But I'm using soft easy to sand pine. Keep that in mind.

If I had a goose neck scraper I would use that first. That would be the way to go.

My cove is about 2+3/4" wide. so a router bit that wide would be berried in the wood. The only cove bits I have seen are to put small coves in the edge of a piece of wood. Mine is more in the center.