Michael Drew
12-03-2010, 6:19 PM
I just had a piece of hickory jump on me while attempting to follow a patten with a flush trim bit on my router table. I'm wondering what might be a better way to accomplish what I'm trying to do.
I'm building a shelving unit that's going to be a spice rack for a friend. It's all 3/4" and 1/2" hickory. The shelves are 1/2" thick about 10" wide by 5" deep and they fit into the verticals with sliding dovetails. I wanted to put a small 3/4" X 1/2" lip on the leading edge of the shelves to keep the little jars somewhat secured. This isn't a big deal for most of the shelves, but the center shelves are radiused to give the cabinet a unique look. I planned to just cut the lip pieces and glue them to the shelves and this works fine for the straight shelves, but not so simple for the curved shelves.
I figured I'd make a curved template the same size as the required lip pieces to match the radius of the shelves, then rough cut the little trim pieces with the band saw, then stick them to the template with some double sided tape and flush trim them on the router table. This has proven to be a not-so-brilliant idea. As soon as the bit starts to cut against the grain, it grabs the piece and wants to send it across the room. I've been thoroughly spooked. I was using good rubber souled push blocks, safety glasses, was standing away from the projectile zone but still, I got the the piss scared out of me. I've tried sneaking up on it, and going with a smaller, 1/4" bit, but that didn't work either. I have a few of these to make and didn't really want to have to change from a bottom bearing bit to the top bearing bit on every board, which would allow me to flip the pieces over and go with the grain. I'm not coming up with a better idea that this though. Figured I'd ask you guys how you would do this. I do not have any spiral bits, and have not ever used them. Would they be better suited for this type of cutting??
I'm building a shelving unit that's going to be a spice rack for a friend. It's all 3/4" and 1/2" hickory. The shelves are 1/2" thick about 10" wide by 5" deep and they fit into the verticals with sliding dovetails. I wanted to put a small 3/4" X 1/2" lip on the leading edge of the shelves to keep the little jars somewhat secured. This isn't a big deal for most of the shelves, but the center shelves are radiused to give the cabinet a unique look. I planned to just cut the lip pieces and glue them to the shelves and this works fine for the straight shelves, but not so simple for the curved shelves.
I figured I'd make a curved template the same size as the required lip pieces to match the radius of the shelves, then rough cut the little trim pieces with the band saw, then stick them to the template with some double sided tape and flush trim them on the router table. This has proven to be a not-so-brilliant idea. As soon as the bit starts to cut against the grain, it grabs the piece and wants to send it across the room. I've been thoroughly spooked. I was using good rubber souled push blocks, safety glasses, was standing away from the projectile zone but still, I got the the piss scared out of me. I've tried sneaking up on it, and going with a smaller, 1/4" bit, but that didn't work either. I have a few of these to make and didn't really want to have to change from a bottom bearing bit to the top bearing bit on every board, which would allow me to flip the pieces over and go with the grain. I'm not coming up with a better idea that this though. Figured I'd ask you guys how you would do this. I do not have any spiral bits, and have not ever used them. Would they be better suited for this type of cutting??