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Coping saw vs jewellers saw

Updated: 21 October 2026

The product photo shows a narrow bow, a wooden handle and a thin blade, and amazon.co.uk puts coping saws and jeweller's kits in the same frame-saw browse path. If you choose from the picture alone, you can order pinned blades for skirtings when you meant plain-ended wires for silver, or the other way round. The blade ends decide what fits, and the job decides which family you should buy. This page is that fork, not a ten-row table. Prices and ASINs sit on the [frame saw comparison](/hub/power-saws/frame-saw). Peter F. compared the stored listings. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

The product photo shows a narrow bow, a wooden handle and a thin blade, and amazon.co.uk puts coping saws and jeweller's kits in the same frame-saw browse path.

Our top picks

Eclipse Eclipse 70-CP1R

Best overall

Eclipse Eclipse 70-CP1R
9.0/10about £10.89
View offer
Generic Generic ADJ-SAW-144

Rank 2

Generic Generic ADJ-SAW-144
8.8/10about £13.99
View offer
Eclipse Eclipse PS51

Best value

Eclipse Eclipse PS51
8.4/10about £11.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.The blade decides
  2. 2.When the coping saw is the right frame
  3. 3.When the jeweller's saw is the right frame
  4. 4.What to buy if you do both

The blade decides

Coping blades are short wires with a pin at each end. They hook into rotating holders on a C-shaped frame so you can turn the blade to cut along the bow for internal shapes in timber. Jeweller's or piercing blades are plain-ended wires clamped between wing screws or thumb nuts on a spring frame. Workshop Heaven's note is direct: pinned coping blades and plain-ended jeweller's blades do not fit the other tool. A kit advertising 144 blades in sizes 4/0 to 2 is jeweller's stock. It will not feed the Eclipse 70-CP1R or the generic 14 TPI coping set. The pinned blade supplied with a coping saw will not clamp in a piercing frame, however fine the teeth look. A fretsaw uses the same plain-ended idea as a jeweller's saw, with a deeper throat for larger sheet. It is a third shopping category if you outgrow a bow of about 75 mm (3 inch). It is not a substitute for pins on skirtings.

When the coping saw is the right frame

Choose a coping saw when most of your cuts are wood trim, mouldings, or curves in timber where a pinned blade can follow a profile. In this amazon.co.uk set the clear coping listing is the Eclipse 70-CP1R at about £10.89, with wood on the surface line, one pinned blade, and a frame that allows any blade angle. The review line is 4.5 from 1,107, which reflects second-fix use, not jewellery work. The generic coping set at about £13.99 adds five 14 TPI blades and mentions soft metal and plastic, but it has no review line on the captured page. Soft metal in an emergency is not pierced silver. For skirtings you still want pinned wood-oriented teeth near the mid-teens TPI band that UK woodworking articles cite for coping work. Skip the coping saw as your only frame if you plan to pierce sheet, cut wax models, or saw internal windows in thin ply from a drilled hole. Those jobs need plain-ended grades and often a bench pin. Coping suits external profiles on boards you can hold in a vice or against a bench hook, not a kerf started through a small drill hole in a ring blank.
Eclipse Eclipse 70-CP1R

Testsieger

Eclipse Eclipse 70-CP1R
9.0/10about £10.89
View offer

When the jeweller's saw is the right frame

Choose a jeweller's piercing frame when most cuts are thin metal, wax, fine plywood, or patterns that start from a drilled hole. The Eclipse PS51 at about £11.99 is the fixed piercing bow with one 32 TPI blade and 4.2 from 347 reviews. Adjustable kits with thumbscrews and 144 plain-ended wires sit between about £9.99 and £22.99. They bundle practice grades and show thinner or missing review files next to Eclipse. Cooksongold's piercing guidance targets sheet around a millimetre and finer, with grades such as 2/0 and 1/0 for everyday bench work. That scale is the wrong language for coping TPI on skirting boards. How the numbers run is on jeweller's saw blade size. Jeweller's frames in this set do not rotate the blade along the frame the way the Eclipse coping saw does. You steer with bench support and stroke, not by twisting a pinned spigot. Skip the jeweller's frame as your only tool if you are fitting skirtings this weekend and expected one frame saw to do everything. Plain-ended wires snap quickly if you force them through 18 mm timber. Load-bearing carpentry belongs to a larger saw or a joiner.

What to buy if you do both

If you cope mouldings and pierce metal in the same month, budget for two frames. One bow cannot clamp both blade types. A practical split in this set is the Eclipse 70-CP1R for wood and the Eclipse PS51, or a reviewed adjustable kit, for metal, plus a bench pin for piercing. Buying the highest-star coping saw alone because it leads the table leaves the silversmith work unserved. If you do both rarely, buy the frame that matches the job you will do first, and add the second family when the wrong blade type costs you time. One pick per family, with a skip line, is on best frame saw.

Common questions

What is the actual difference?
Pins versus plain ends, and the frames built to hold them. Coping saws rotate pinned blades for timber profiles. Jeweller's saws tension plain-ended wires for sheet and pierced work.
Can I put a coping blade in a jeweller's frame?
No. The ends and the holders do not match. Forcing a cut risks a snap and a skewed clamp.
Which one copes a skirting?
The coping saw with a pinned blade, such as the Eclipse 70-CP1R in this set. Jeweller's wires are the wrong scale and the wrong fitting.
Which one pierces silver?
The jeweller's piercing frame with plain-ended grades. In this set that is the Eclipse PS51, or an adjustable kit from the comparison table.
Is a fretsaw a third option?
Yes, for a deeper throat on larger sheet. It still uses plain-ended blades, not coping pins. It is not required for a first ring-sized project.
Which Eclipse listing is which?
The 70-CP1R is the coping saw for wood. The PS51 is the piercing saw for fine metal. The amazon.co.uk titles spell this out if you read coping versus piercing.
Will 144 fine blades help my coping saw?
No. They are plain-ended jeweller's wires. They belong in a piercing frame, not in pinned spigots.

Related pages

Frame saw buying guide

Frame saw

Best frame saw: one coping pick, one piercing pick

Jewellers saw blade size: pick 2/0, not coping TPI

How to use a jewellers saw: fit, tension and teeth

Sources

Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Prices are the stored figures for this set.

  1. Cooksongold, a guide to sawing and piercing (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  2. Jewellers Academy, choosing a jeweller's saw (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  3. Common Woodworking, buying a coping saw (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  4. Workshop Heaven, jeweller and coping saws (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  5. HSE, PUWER overview (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  6. HSE, maintenance of work equipment (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  7. Consumer Rights Act 2015 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  8. amazon.co.uk Best Sellers, Frame Saws (retrieved 21 October 2026)