Roundover teak discs?

[Keith Pleas]

Any suggestions for rounding over the outer rim of these teak light trims? Router seems it would chip out. But controllable sanding approach isn't coming to me.

[Larry Browning]

climb cutting? Move the router clockwise around the discs. Or is it counter clockwise? I can't ever get that straight in my head! Anyway go backwards. It should produce a smoother cut. Also, use a sharp quality bit.

[Lee Schierer]

You'll want to do a combination of regular cutting and climb cutting if you use a router. The end grain areas are going to be a problem where the router bit will be hitting the ends of the grain and when it will be lifting the grain. Basically half of each circle will need to be regular cut and half cut with a climb cut. On a table mounted router you would rotate the piece counter clockwise to climb cut. Be aware that the part will want to self feed when climb cutting so a good grip and light cuts are the way to go.

[Phil Thien]

Round objects shouldn't chip-out, right? Am I crazy on this? The path you're routing is always falling away from the bit, right?

Much like putting a chamfer on the end of a board allows you to plane the end-grain without tearing-off the last bit of the board.

If I had a spare with which to test, I'd give it a shot.

[Peter Quinn]

Circles definitely tear out easily with a router. You always want to be moving down hill relative to the grain direction, which makes roughly half the circumference a climb cut. How big is the router over? Small ones are a breeze, much over 1/4" I'd plan to take it in stages, don't push all the way to the bearing, sort of skim it the first go round, then make an additional pass or two depending on how large the quarter round is.

[Keith Pleas]

Circles definitely tear out easily with a router. You always want to be moving down hill relative to the grain direction, which makes roughly half the circumference a climb cut. How big is the router over? Small ones are a breeze, much over 1/4" I'd plan to take it in stages, don't push all the way to the bearing, sort of skim it the first go round, then make an additional pass or two depending on how large the quarter round is.
It's for my own masterbath, so it doesn't have to be any specific radius.

I was really looking for something not routing - but everyone replied with a routing suggestion so I guess I'll go that way - probably use a 1/4" roundover bit and take several passes. Worst case is I wreck one of these and have to build another.

[Andrew Hughes]

Teak machines very nicely and smells great,I don't think you'll have any trouble with chipout.Maybe need to clean the bit after several.

[Keith Pleas]

I went with 1/8" round over. No problemo. Now to some final sanding, oiling, and installation!

[Tom Ewell]

Now that you got 'er done, looks good.

I thought you wanted to round over, not just edge relief and was going to suggest a lathe if you didn't want to do a heavy cut with a router.

[Phil Thien]

Circles definitely tear out easily with a router. You always want to be moving down hill relative to the grain direction, which makes roughly half the circumference a climb cut. How big is the router over? Small ones are a breeze, much over 1/4" I'd plan to take it in stages, don't push all the way to the bearing, sort of skim it the first go round, then make an additional pass or two depending on how large the quarter round is.

Outside circle, no. Inside, more-so but likely not as much as a rectangle.

An outside radius presents the least amount of surface to the bit, and the little end-grain corners of stock that normally blow-out on a rectangular workpiece can't on a circle because there aren't any corners (it is a circle).

Inside is a bit of a different story (no pun intended) because now you're presenting more stock to the bit, but even so there are still no relatively unsupported corners.

So outside is easiest, but inside is still likely less prone to chip/blow-out than a rectangle or any shapes with sharp corners.

[Keith Pleas]

And here's the finished work:

[Andrew Hughes]

Not sure what they are for but sure look nice,I wish teak wasn't so expensive I would use it more.

[Keith Pleas]

Now that you got 'er done, looks good. I thought you wanted to round over, not just edge relief and was going to suggest a lathe if you didn't want to do a heavy cut with a router.
Love an excuse for a new tool! I've had a couple of Shopsmiths over the years but not a "real" lathe. ?

That would certainly have helped with the discs - did all but sanding with my bandsaw.

Got a chance to use my scroll saw on the cutouts. In hindsight should have drilled rather than cut with bandsaw and glue back. Only went thru 1 blade on 4/4 teak.

[Keith Pleas]

Not sure what they are for but sure look nice,I wish teak wasn't so expensive I would use it more.
They're for the lights in our master bath. We did a big remodel last year and I decided to do the trim myself (I have a lot of teak) but got distracted. For, um, months.