EWP Cove
Back when I was a new finish carpenter working for Precision Interiors in Denver, Colorado, my beginer's mind was blown one morning by my good friend and and field supervisor, Ian. We were trimming out a custom home with knotty alder (affordable back then, scant nowadays) and were almost done. But, we were about 12' shy of finishing the baseboard and the cost of procuring more from the millwork company was big. And so, as a talented man with a formal education in furniture making, Ian decided we would make our own.
Although less complex than the baseboard we were making back then, a cove molding can be done with a straightforward tablesaw operation. In this article, I am making a cove out of eastern white pine (EWP) for an upcoming piece of furniture.
I owe a tremendous amount of who I am as a carpenter today to Ian. Get to work, Ramsey!
Rough cut board into continuous pieces.
Using a straightedge set to the proper angle, slow and steady to cut cove.
Multiple passes are required. Each raise of the blade should be equal to the height of a blade tooth.
Layout the strait cuts as needed for the molding you'd like. These will be run with the fence in place.
Two cuts made. Careful not to lose track of the orientation of the grain across the three pieces so the final assembly looks like one board still.
Starting to look like a cove after four strait cuts.
The completed cove moldings after the final two cuts, which made a fillet for the base.
