Half Round Profile - How to?

[Joe Pratt]

Novice woodworker here, I'm putting together a few pieces of mid-century modern furniture and need to create a half-round profile on the edge. Previously, I have used a quarter round to mill the top and bottom of the workpiece leaving a small flat in the center for the bearing to ride on. This worked OK, but required finessing with sandpaper to make it appear as one continuance arc.

Is there a better technique that I haven't yet discovered? The work piece has multiple complex curves, so setting up a fence for a non-bearing guided router bit is fairly impossible.

[Doug Garson]

Check out bullnose router bits.
https://www.amazon.ca/Yonico-13515-Bullnose-Router-Carbide/dp/B00KZM1BV0

[Joe Pratt]

Doug, that is the profile I am trying to achieve. However, there won't be anything for the bearing to ride against.

[Doug Garson]

You can add a template with double sided tape for the bearing to ride on, just make sure you take several light passes before the final pass with the bearing firmly against the template, maybe put a couple layers of painters tape on the template and remove them for the last pass. For smaller pieces you can also do it on a router table gradually moving the fence back until you get the full profile.

[Lee Schierer]

For making cuts like you want I use a round over bit and the fence on my router table and make the round nose in two passes. If you don't use a fence the bearing on the round over will ride on a non-flat surface making the second cut and will cut slightly deeper making the edge out of round.

[Frank Drackman]

Novice woodworker here, I'm putting together a few pieces of mid-century modern furniture and need to create a half-round profile on the edge. Previously, I have used a quarter round to mill the top and bottom of the workpiece leaving a small flat in the center for the bearing to ride on. This worked OK, but required finessing with sandpaper to make it appear as one continuance arc.

Is there a better technique that I haven't yet discovered? The work piece has multiple complex curves, so setting up a fence for a non-bearing guided router bit is fairly impossible.

I would measure the thickness of the piece that you want to put the profile on. Next get a round over bit, with bearing, that is 1/2 of the thickness. Since you can't use a router table use a handheld router. Using the round over bit at full height will get you the profile that you are looking for.

[Joe Pratt]

You can add a template with double sided tape for the bearing to ride on, just make sure you take several light passes before the final pass with the bearing firmly against the template, maybe put a couple layers of painters tape on the template and remove them for the last pass. For smaller pieces you can also do it on a router table gradually moving the fence back until you get the full profile.

I think templates and a bullnose w/bearing might be the best approach.

[Roger Feeley]

Joe are you limited to handheld routing? If you have a table, use a fence to set cutting depth. If handheld, there are fence like things you can mount on the router. In either case, the bearing would be just for show.

[Robert LaPlaca]

Joe your profiling the entire edge of the board with multiple complex curves, for this to work you will need a bullnose router bit with a bearing and a full size template as poster Doug Garson mentioned in posts #2 and #4..You can make the template out of some 1/2 or 3/4 MDF and double stick tape it to your piece that needs to be profiled..Additionally, the full size template also allows you to create many copies of your piece by using the template to template route exact copies..

[Jim Becker]

Doug, that is the profile I am trying to achieve. However, there won't be anything for the bearing to ride against.
Us a bullnose with a fence.

[Joe Pratt]

Joe your profiling the entire edge of the board with multiple complex curves, for this to work you will need a bullnose router bit with a bearing and a full size template as poster Doug Garson mentioned in posts #2 and #4..You can make the template out of some 1/2 or 3/4 MDF and double stick tape it to your piece that needs to be profiled..Additionally, the full size template also allows you to create many copies of your piece by using the template to template route exact copies..

Yes, I think this is going to work best. I was planning to template route the pieces with a flush cut before adding the rounded edge, but it sounds like I'd be OK jumping right to the bullnose.

[Doug Garson]

Just don't try to do it all in one pass and the lighter the last pass the better the finish.

[roger wiegand]

Template routing is a wonderful thing. I've been making some Greene and Greene inspired coffee and end tables and am developing quite the pile of templates. I bandsaw close to my final line and then finish with the router. I thinks it's easier with a table mounted router, but you can do it the other way around if your bit is small enough to hand hold. I like DeStaCo type toggle clamps for holding the work in place on the template; the two-sided tape I've tried was too hard to get off the workpiece or fixture and pretty slow when doing multiples. I got a huge bottom-bearing pattern routing bit from William Ng, "the big daddy", and it is just a joy to use for this kind of work.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Previously, I have used a quarter round to mill the top and bottom of the workpiece leaving a small flat in the center for the bearing to ride on. This worked OK, but required finessing with sandpaper to make it appear as one continuance arc.Isn't this what a spokeshave is made for?

[Phil Mueller]

I’d recommend doing it the way you did before leaving a small flat, then a card scraper with a half round.

425810

[glenn bradley]

Yes, I think this is going to work best. I was planning to template route the pieces with a flush cut before adding the rounded edge, but it sounds like I'd be OK jumping right to the bullnose.


I also vote for the template. The template can be sized for your router plate or for a template guide bushing depending on the overall diameter of the bit. Templates help us do all sorts of things from shaping/duplicating parts to machining to a precision line without a CNC. Take a look at some quality videos on the web regarding template routing. Stick to the trade-rag videos or known craftsman. There is so much poor info on the web to watch out for.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/1997/08/01/template-routing-basics-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnqP3qVjCLY

https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tips/techniques/routing/understanding-guide-bushings