Custom Sanding Block for Perfect Coped Joints
Fine-tuning a joint with this homemade tool made from scrap molding and sandpaper is more efficient and effective than using a file.
If you’re coping baseboard and your cut is not perfect, you could use a rasp or knife to try and improve the fit, but there’s a better way.
David Johnson of Clinton, Iowa, figured out a way to make a custom sanding block for fine tuning the coped cuts on baseboard. To make it, take an extra piece of the matching baseboard and cover it with 180-grit, adhesive-backed sand paper. Once the piece of sandpaper is tightly adhered to the baseboard, you have a custom sanding block that perfectly matches the profile of the coped cut.
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This tip appeared in the Aug/Sep 1997 issue and I've used it ever since. The custom sanding block not only works for baseboard scribes / copes but also for chair rail and crown molding. The important step, as Kevin points out, is to press the sandpaper as tight as possible into each contour of the molding.
And you don't need self-adhering sandpaper. I use spray contact adhesive to bond ordinary sandpaper to the wood.
Great tip. Thanks for the additional info Mike Guertin on using standard paper and spray adhesive. Mike all of your articals in FHB are some of my favorites. Your asphalt shingle roofing book is phenomenal and so is your air sealing videos. However I hardly recognize you in your latest photos in the last year? What happened? Hair and beard gone wild! All your content still top notch though!
There are always thee little tricks and tips that make you think "how could I miss that". Terrific tip indeed.