Cutting coves seems like a job more suited to a shaper or perhaps a very large router. However; did you know your table saw is a great tool for this purpose? When building a piece of furniture you won’t find moldings to match the wood species you’re using so need to make your own. I use the same technique to create larger coved picture frame moldings — let me share it with you. As it happens all too often, an internet search will yield many methods, many of which contradict each other. My method simplifies the process, making it much easier to create coves whether it’s for a picture frame or molding for furniture.

All my jig requires is a straight, sturdy piece of material. Mine is Basswood 1″ thick x 2″ wide and 52″ long — cut-offs from frame making material. About 9″ from one end I centered a hole for a 1/4″ bolt. This is to attach a 3″x 6″ piece of wood; install a threaded insert for that. The purpose of the 3×6 piece is to let the cove cutting jig lay flat on the table; size yours to your saw, mine was a little over an inch thick. To keep it from slipping around while you clamp it down use double stick tape and apply a piece of sandpaper to it. This is the key part to simplify setting the angle for your cove. You will also need a block for the outfeed end of the jig to bridge the distance between the table top and the back rail.

Step 1:

Your first step is to determine how deep your cove will be and set your blade at that height. I use a Tenryu Gold Medal 40 tooth combo blade. I’ve experimented using 8″ dado blades as well but the Tenryu works fine. For reference, these pictures are from the infeed side of the saw. Make a mark where the tooth of the blade enters and exits (I put down a piece of tape). After lowering the blade use a shop made parallelogram set for the width of your cove. Angle the parallelogram until it aligns with the marks you made on the throat plate. Draw a line on the inside as shown by the arrow. Note: a parallelogram is relatively simple to make. Make it from straight material, mine is 3/4″ square material and the pieces are 16″ and 6″ long. Set the measurement between the two long pieces and tighten the screws.

Step 2:

What really simplifies this process is to using the jig I described above. Most methods have you try to place a clamp at either end of this long piece while keeping it aligned with the line you drew — no way; you’ll need another pair of hands. Align the fence to the line you drew on the inside of the parallelogram and tighten securely while putting pressure against the block to keep it tight against the table — this is where that piece of sandpaper comes in handy! My cove has a 3/8″ shoulder on one side so the fence needs to be shifted away from the blade. If you have set up blocks use them to draw that line then slide the fence to it and securely clamp it in place. You can also just make a mark.

Step 3:

Now it’s time to start the cutting. I always recommend having a short piece of stock to make trial cuts. Mark one edge of each board and make sure that all pieces are run in the same orientation each time. I put a couple of X’s on the edge facing me. For safety use a push stick and it also doesn’t hurt to have a feather board. This process creates a lot of dust so wear a dust mask. It’s safest to make very shallow cuts, 1/16″ or so. It’ll depend too on the species of wood you’re using, I’m using Basswood which is fairly easy to machine. Concentrate on having pressure above the blade to keep the board flat on the table. When you’re almost to depth take a light cut and use a slow feed to get your cove as smooth as possible.

Step: 4:

The final step is to sand your freshly cut cove! Which abrasive you need will depend on the smoothness of your cut and type of wood. For hardwoods a curved scraper might be your best choice but with the Basswood 150 and 220 grit sandpaper was all I needed. As a retired shop teacher I’ve found that old school, chalkboard erasers work the best, these are the last 2 that I have. I’d always ask other teachers for them and an untold number of students used them to sand lathe projects. You can also use round pieces of foam — whatever works!

The final steps to create this profile was to first use a Veritas skew rabbet plane to add a detail to the sight edge. This was followed by cutting the rabbet for the canvas to eventually fit into.

This is the method I use all of the time and certainly not the only way to go about it. For me, it’s relatively easy and quick for creating the occasional coves I need in my work. To do production runs of this process you may want to consider a more complex set-up. Appreciate any comments if you use this and it works out for you too.