Argggggggggggghhhhhhh

[Stephen Musial]

Sorry - had to vent.

I'm trying to mill makore for some trim and it is the most tear-out prone wood I have ever seen.

The problem is that it's only 1/4" thick and I'm trying to mill out 1/8" to get a cap moulding to edge a chess and cribbage board like the bottom piece:
http://hybridtt.com/images/End%20Moulding%20%28End-cap%29.jpg

Since it's only 1/4" by 1" tall, I have to mill it all at once because there's not enough meat at the top to keep it from tipping back into the bit in multiple passes. 1/8" x 3/4" doesn't seem like much but this stuff tears out something horrible. I tried it on the router and on the jointer (using the rabbeting edge) and had to run six 2' pieces to get enough usable material for one 18" x 8" cribbage board. I had every featherboard I owned in use to keep it tight to the bit but it didn't make a difference. Tonight I'll try a dado setup in the tablesaw and see if that works any better for the chessboard.

The game boards are figured flatsawn sycamore, mottled makore and waterfall bubinga veneers. Makore was the only solid I could find for trimming - all the sycamore was quartersawn and looked completely different and the only bubinga I found was 1500.00 at Rockler :eek: The makore veneer is really pretty stuff plus I have another big package of pomelle makore but in the future, I'll be using walnut, maple or cherry veneers with it to make the solid framing easier.

There, now I feel better.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

Good:D, and fill better too.:D:D:D
Ed.

[david kramer]

Sorry - had to vent.

Since it's only 1/4" by 1" tall, I have to mill it all at once because there's not enough meat at the top to keep it from tipping back into the bit in multiple passes.

Can you run your router like a vertical jointer? i.e. have the outfeed edge of the fence aligned with a straight bit and run the piece through vertically? That way you should be able to make light passes, with the help of a couple of featherboards to keep everything tight.

You could also pass the piece between the bit and the fence, but I try to avoid doing that whenever possible.

[Dino Makropoulos]

The problem is that it's only 1/4" thick and I'm trying to mill out 1/8" to get a cap moulding to edge a chess and cribbage board like the bottom piece:

Since it's only 1/4" by 1" tall, I have to mill it all at once because there's not enough meat at the top to keep it from tipping back into the bit in multiple passes.

There, now I feel better.

Stephen,
If you know the problem...(tipping back) do something to solve it.
One easy answer is to make an anti-tipping back support.

Same thickness of removed materials with a rounded edge for easy transition.

Good luck.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I have found when I need to make L-shaped pieces that exceed the cutting beight of my TS or RT the following has worked for me. (and I seem to need to do this quite often) The caveat is that you need to have stock wider than the final piece.

1. Cut the piece extra wide and mill it into a U shape (or upside down U shape) leaving the proper amount on onside and a small leg to hold it up on the other.side
2. Flip the piece on its back and cut off the extra leg to make it into a L shape.

If you can make the piece slightly more than twice as wide, then it can be cut down the middle and make two at once.

With the size that you are working with, a stacked dado with a ZCI in the tablesaw should work pretty well.

[Matt Benton]

Do you have any hand planes?

[Stephen Musial]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was all ready to try the dado in the tablesaw last night. I got the kids in bed and went out to the shop. Ripped down 6 pieces (I only needed 4) and went to put the dado cutters in. Now, I've only used them on the RAS, never on the table saw and after putting them on the arbor, the little 2 watt light bulb went off over my head. This insert isn't going to work with this 3/4" dado set. Hmmm, zero clearance inserts - that's one of those things I've thought about and never really gotten around to making.

So after looking for a cat to kick and not being able to find one, I decided to try the jointer again. This time, I took the guard completely off and tried it again, but instead of a feather board, I held a push block over the cutterhead and pushed as hard as I could while still allowing the piece to be pushed forward. HOLY CRAP - IT WORKS!! And look at me - I'm stronger than a featherboard! If I let up pressure just a a little bit, I could hear and feel the chatter start so I'd push down harder. All 4 pieces milled up without a hitch and now I have 2 extras (along with the offcuts) if I ever decide to use makore trim again.

I don't know if I ran every piece against the the grain the first day and got lucky last night and ran every piece with the grain (chances seem pretty slim) but when I used the RadiPlane to ease the edges, there was definite tearout if I went the wrong way.

When I get home, I'll post some pictures of the difference between using the router and the jointer.

[Myk Rian]

You could also pass the piece between the bit and the fence, but I try to avoid doing that whenever possible.
That is a definite NO-NO!!

[Stephen Musial]

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8356/badkva.jpg

Bad

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/2381/gooddvp.jpg

Good

[Stephen Musial]

And here's the almost final result

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/3037/chscrb.jpg

(I really need to learn how to take pictures)