cutting coves with a table saw

[paul wiser]

saw an interesting cheese board that had coves cut on the four under sides of it. can anyone give me a heads up on how to do it? or a link to a web site with a video. thanks:confused::confused:

[Loren Woirhaye]

http://woodgears.ca/cove/improved.html

[Prashun Patel]

Aug 2010 Wood Magazine did an article on this. I built a similar jig. Rockler sells one too. Beware the dust. It's a doozy. If you REALLY need to do this, it's doable, but IMHO, it was more dust and effort than it was worth.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Coves can be wasted out with normal rip cuts at different depths. Then you can move over to the angled fence method and it goes quicker and with less mess.

[Eric Shapin]

Check out below video. Note that I used 2 magnetic feather boards to guide the workpiece against the angled fence. Used it to construct moldings for the top of a book case. I thought the effort was well worth it (but, yes, it generates a fair amount of dust).

http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/coves-on-the-tablesaw-the-parallelogram-cove-jig/

[ShawnE Curry]

Of course, you can also cut coves with a router and a cove / dish cutting bit. Probably a better and more versatile method than the table saw, especially for going around curves or creating 4 sided channel for a cutting board.

[Eric Shapin]

Disagree with prior poster re. router coves being "better and more versatile". Re. versatility, the range of cove sizes are nearly unlimited on the table saw, and it is unlikely that one's router bit collection contains cove bits whose sizes equal either the scale or the # of cove sizes attainable on the table saw.

Re.. "better" on the router - that depends on the task at hand. There are certainly cove styles and basic situations/setups that scream for either the router or the table saw as a unique solution.

[Lee Schierer]

I've used my TS to make coves a few times. You must take very light cuts, which requires lots of passes across the table to get to your final depth. The deeper the depth the more cuts and time required. You can speed this up by hogging out as much of the waste as possible with a dado blade or rip cuts or even a router. Be aware that the surface finish of the cove is going to be fairly rough so you will have a lot of hand sanding to do. I had the best results with an ATB tooth blade.

[glenn bradley]

I do it. Follow the examples given by some of the magazines and use dust collection and things will go well. I don't seem to have the dust problem. The blade is captured and your dust collection should pull everything (well, maybe not everything :rolleyes:) away from the cutting area. On my hybrid saw I would rip some of the spoil out as mentioned. On my 3HP saw I just take multiple passes. A high tooth count blade yields a better initial surface that reduces sanding/scraping but, requires a slower feed rate.

View opposite the operator position:

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From the operator position:

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For more aggressive coves I use the dual fence method often shown.

[Prashun Patel]

My jig was the parallelogram, so i couldnt put the guard on. Thats why it was dusty i guess. I loved my gooseneck scraper for smoothing the curve.

[John TenEyck]

The TS is very versatile for cutting larger coves; not so much for small ones, but that's where a router shines. I see the overlap as pretty small. I used the TS to make a short piece of crown molding for a guy who needed some to match an existing piece.

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John

[Rick Potter]

You can stack several skil saw blades together to make a dado set for coves. A Sears molding set with the fingernail shaped cutters works pretty smoothly. Keep them sharp, and take small cuts.

I like the look of a 43 degree angle on the fence, and a 10-15 degree blade tilt. Makes a very nice ellipse.

Rick P

[Todd Burch]

I made my first cove cut on the tablesaw in shop class when I was in the 10th grade, back in the spring of 1978. At the beginning of the school year in the fall, the instructor ("coach") demonstrated all the tools and mentioned that by angling the fence on the tablesaw, you could cut a cove. That's all he said.

When I was finishing my bookcase in the spring, (which I still have), I wanted the front lower molding to have a profile. So, I clamped some scraps across the saw and started cutting. Another student saw what I was doing, and went running to "tell on me" to coach. Coach came over and watched, and went back to his desk, seeing I was doing nothing wrong. A crowd gathered and they were all amazed I knew 1) that this could be done and 2) that I knew how to do it. I thought to myself "duh - every one of you was standing there when coach said it could be done!" I just had the guts to try it. No big deal.

The only way I've ever shot myself in the foot by cutting coves was not running enough stock through. If you think you'll need 2 pieces, run 3! You'll thank me for this tip.

Todd

[Grant Wilkinson]

I do a lot of picture frames with cove profiles. I use the angled fence technique with a home made jig similar to this Rockwell one
http://www.rockler.com/cove-cutting-table-saw-jig

For a blade in my table saw, I went with this after a lot of sanding using rip or cross cut blades
http://www.cmtutensili.com/show_items.asp?pars=RIC~235.ric

This leaves very nice finish since it does not flex like a blade and the carbides are rounded.

[glenn bradley]

I loved my gooseneck scraper for smoothing the curve.

Amen to that. I had very rarely used my goosenck previously. It excelled at the coves.