collins coping foot

[Richard McComas]

Has anyone used the collins coping foot for coping crown moulding. If so how does it work? Is it worth the money?

https://www.collinstool.com/collins_coping_foot.htm

[Chris Padilla]

Rich,

No experience but for $30...not too awful a gamble.

[Hal Hanevik]

I have one. The demo shows what can be done with one, but I would have to do a whole bunch more crown to become proficent with it. I can see how well it would work, just need to practice.
Hal

[Glenn Kiso]

Hi Rich,

I have the Collins coping foot on my bosch jigsaw. I left it on there since I have other jigsaws. The demos at the woodworking shows make it looks so easy, but I can never seem to get as good control during cutting. My cuts come out a bit jagged and occassionally, it'll kickback.. not enough to do any real damage, but still seems like a bit of a safety hazard. I called them up to see what jigsaw blade they use at their shows and even with those I still don't get spectacular results.

I hate coping, but I've gotten better results using a coping saw, rasp, and dremel. YMMV.

Glenn

[Paul Comi]

I have one of those on my Bosch jigsaw also. One thing to keep in mind is that when you use it you hold your jigsaw upside down with the blade cutting through the moulding pointing at your chest.
Whether you use a coping saw, a jigsaw with this coping foot, or whatever the technique is to cut the moulding as if you're going to inside miter a corner and then use the device to remove the "white meat" of the moulding. To finish off the moulding you then touch up with a file or a dremel.

I just did 6 rooms of crown moulding yesterday and coped the ends of 24 pieces in advance. Doing so many pieces gave me a chance to try a few different methods and frankly I ended up using my coping saw because it took me the same amount of time and I had more control over the results.

If you are not experienced with a coping saw, the technique that works great is to think of the saw as a hand held jigsaw that you hold with the handle below the workpiece with the teeth pointed down so that you pull down and cut through the workpiece. If you do that you will find quickly that its a great tool for this need.

Lastly, when coping mdf moulding like I did yesterday, a utility knife is ideal for cleaning up and backcutting the moulding rather than filing or using a dremel. Its clean, precise, and doesn't create any dust.

I have written a few articles about coping crown and installing crown if you want to check out my website. http://home.pacbell.net/paulcomi//Spectaculartrim/Woodworking/