The Test Cut

Hand Tools

Coping Saw

A coping saw -- the deep spring-steel frame is what gives it the reach to cut well inside the edge of a board, and the thin blade tensioned across it is what lets it turn a tight curve.
A coping saw -- the deep spring-steel frame is what gives it the reach to cut well inside the edge of a board, and the thin blade tensioned across it is what lets it turn a tight curve.

A coping saw holds a thin, fine-toothed blade under tension across a deep C-shaped frame, letting the blade turn tight curves that a wider-bladed saw can't follow. The blade can be rotated in its mounts independently of the frame, so the deep frame doesn't get in the way of the cut even well inside a piece.

Its signature job is cutting the waste out of the pins on dovetail joints by hand -- sawing close to the baseline, then paring the rest away with a chisel -- but it's the general-purpose tool of choice anywhere a curve is too tight or too enclosed for a bandsaw or jigsaw to reach cleanly.

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A coping saw -- the deep spring-steel frame is what gives it the reach to cut well inside the edge of a board, and the thin blade tensioned across it is what lets it turn a tight curve.

Product: A coping saw -- the deep spring-steel frame is what gives it the reach to cut well inside the edge of a board, and the thin blade tensioned across it is what lets it turn a tight curve.