I have spent a few hours reading old posts on Woodweb and have noticed quite a few people stick first and then cope and then quite a few do the opposite.

I don’t make a ton of doors, but I have always done the sticks first and then cope.

I see a theme coming from the posters that coping first yields a nicer job.

I couldn’t find many current posts on this, so was wondering what everyone is doing these days.

I just want to do the best job possible so asking for everyone’s advice or opinions as there is a fantastic abundance of knowledge on this site.

The equipment I have is two shapers, a coping machine and I found an older Unique 250 door machine, but I never set it up yet.

Run some test pieces. The difference comes out based on chip out or splintering of the 1st cut. The difference can be in the type of tooling and fixturing in other shops compared to how you do it. So it's all about you and your techniques and your equipment.

I do sticking first, but they only reason why is because I run those cuts with full length rips.

It does save some handling, and not having to monkey around with figuring out how to send short parts through the power feed

I run left and right heads on two different shapers for coping so the backer can just be square. With double profile parts, you can still cope after sticking, but you need a profiled backer to prevent blow out.

I've got a pmk machine just waiting for the electrician to come sling some pipe, so those two shapers will be sold off.

I've worked places that have done both. I prefer sticking first in long sticks/full rips.

Karl, Which PMK machine did you get?

We run sticking first in full lengths

Thanks for the insight, I was wondering what the purpose of a double coping machine is? Does it do a better job for tear out or is it just more efficient by cutting two copes at a time.?
Seems like a dumb question, so sorry about that.

Cope first, stick second.

Cope first, stick second for clean up..

I suppose as a production aspect running the lengths on a molder and then just coping after would speed things up in a door shop. You can use a coped fence that the pc gets put into to reduce the tear out of the cope that has the profile on the backside of the push through the cutter. But I assume it would have to be refreshed often as any variance would make for a sloppy looking cut.

I've done it occasionally because of length issues with a center stile that has the stick cut on both sides. Sometimes it works good, others it works OK.

I cope before stick. Cut my styles first and what doesn't make styles is used for rails. I bought a Weinig molder for sticking but didn't like the results in long lengths. Having left/right cope cutters would have made a difference. I can feed down to a 160mm rail with a power feeder thru the stick shaper. There are a few doors that have shorter rails and for those I have a Unique 250 door machine. Don't use it for anything else though. It's whatever works for you and your production machines.

I ran cope first, then stick. I also found a power feed with tracks on it and used an out board fence. Every once in a while a piece would go wonky but not that often. Double profile, like bar panel parts were always a pain but I still coped first. 2 old shapers with new bearings, all constant diameter tooling with insert carbide tips made all the difference as well.

I use a small 3 wheel 1/4HP Delta stock feeder on a normal fence which is setup to remove 1/16" of stock so I can have a sawed edge that gets cleaned up by the cutters. Essentially a profile jointer.

Thanks for all the help, I try to be a bit of a perfectionist, but when you talk to folks who have been doing this their whole lives, you always hear about little ideas and tweeks that make your task easier or have better end results.

One thing I don’t understand is why the short pieces when sticking, is it not easier if you have a drawer off by itself to stick a longer piece to make up both sides of the drawer and then cut the piece after?

I was looking at an older SCM shaper, it only has the forward speed. Seems like for most shaper operations that would be sufficient?

Jeff, you can add a reversing switch to most any shaper. For doors unless you have bits that are designed to run in the opposite direction you won't need it.

I don't run long lengths of stock because the material I get isn't suited for that. It's not flat or straight enough. I crosscut stiles first, short lengths. Rip, joint one face and plane for thickness. I understand that is a lot of work but I never have warped door issues doing it this way. I also use an outboard fence on my shaper as opposed to setting an inboard fence and taking a little off. This allows me to run short rails because there is no space in the fence. It also means the width of the stile or rail is exactly what I set the fence at.

I'm a small shop guy. Leo & Bruce described my process well. The profile definitely makes a difference as Leo noted.

I believe which way you go is driven by being a specialized door company or a typical shop.

The door guys are running vast quantities of material thru dedicated machines all day. They get them setup so there is no blowout on the cope cut if it's been profiled. They can effectively run long lengths of sticking material and chop it up into stiles or rails. They also tend to send them thru wide belts to flatten. So straight is not that much of a concern.

Small shop guys tend to pick thru their material. This stuff for frames, this stuff for door stile/rails, this stuff for door panels.

Door shops aren't that choosy. They've got miles of the different wood on hand and do not choose based on grain or color.

I have some shapers that dont reverse cause of the type of spindle nut. Sure a tool and die maker could modify them run a slot and have an allen key but spindles would have to come out.

I dont do the volume of doors you guys do so do it the old way with mitered profile.

Karl has it down if you have seen his you tubes.

When I had room for two shapers I set up one for coping and the other for sticking, and coped first. Now with one shaper I run all the sticking first, then cope with a reverse profile backer on the shaped edge. As long as I run ample lengths of sticking I don't have to worry about re-setting the cope cut in case of an error, and I don't have to stick short pieces, which can be problematic.

I get a reliable crisp cope cut by using a fresh backer on every cut- I run several lengths of the reverse profile and clamp them between the workpiece edge and backer fence, swapping and cutting them shorter as needed. A little extra work but justified by the results imo.

Hen Bob

I did the HSK spindle model.