Coping or scribing is the

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mate ...

technique of shaping the end of a moulding or frame component to neatly fit the contours of an abutting member. Joining tubular members in

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scal ...

is also referred to as a cope, or sometimes a "fish mouth joint" or

saddle joint A saddle joint (sellar joint, articulation by reciprocal reception) is a type of synovial joint in which the opposing surfaces are reciprocally concave and convex. It is found in the thumb, the thorax, the middle ear, and the heel. Structure In ...

. Most English-speaking countries outside the United States use the terms ''scribe'' and ''scribing''. Coping is commonly used in the fitting of skirting and other mouldings in a room. It allows for clean joints between intersecting members when walls are not square to each other. The other method of fitting these mouldings that is commonly used is the mitre joint, but this technique relies upon knowing the precise angle between the walls for neat results. Coping is only ever used for internal corners. External corners are always mitred. The main reason that scribed joints are used is that timber shrinks in width far more than it does in length. By using a scribed joint rather than an internal mitre joint, the effect of shrinkage is minimised. Also it is possible to arrange the scribed joints pointing away from the most common viewpoint (usually the doorway of a room) and so present the best appearance. Coping is also commonly used in

cabinet making A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (so ...

for mouldings and frame components. The rails in frame and panel construction are commonly cope cut to fit the profile of the stiles. The technique is also common in the construction of doors and windows. Scribe joinery is also commonly used in the building of log homes. The shape of the log underneath is scribed into the bottom of a log to be placed on top. This provides a tight seal between the two adjacent logs. It is also commonly used in the building of boats since there is rarely a straight edge but frequently many curves. Traditionally, coping would be performed using a

coping saw A coping saw is a type of bow saw used to cut intricate external shapes and interior cut-outs in woodworking or carpentry. It is widely used to cut moldings to create coped rather than mitre joints. It is occasionally used to create fretwork ...

. There are also mechanical means of producing coped joints, including matching rail and stile cutters for the router as used in frame and panel construction.

References

External links

Tube Coping Calculator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coping (Joinery) Joinery

See also

References

External links