Router use

[floyd mills]

Hi all, I have a miniature table top clock that I'm making. The so called wings (2) of the clock are to be 1/4 inch thick. I have a 4" square piece of oak cut down to .390 thick with a bandsaw. Can I get to the finish dimension of .250 on my router table, using a planer router bit, or can I use a different type? I'm a newb here, so easy on me.:):):)

[Robert Hazelwood]

Not sure how you would do that, and if it were me I would not use power tools to thickness a 4" square piece of wood. Except the bandsaw; I would run it through again to get it about 1/32" oversize (leave more if your saw doesn't cut fairly cleanly, but I doubt you'd ever need more than 1/16" for a 4 inch long part) and then hand plane to final thickness. It's too short for a planer or tablesaw, or router table IMO. Maybe you could rig up a sled for the planer or a handheld router, but hand planing would be easier for a couple of parts.

This is one of those times where you'd want to initially cut your stock extra long (say 4"W x 16"L) so that you have enough length to just send it through the planer.

[David Powell]

Floyd, I assume you are building the clock from an issue of Wood magazine. I've build several of those over the years and the best method for getting the wings to 1/4" thickness is using a bandsaw as Robert mentioned. Since you don't have a long enough piece to run through a planer to get to a finish thickness, I would also run it through the bandsaw again.

[Lee Schierer]

Hi all, I have a miniature table top clock that I'm making. The so called wings (2) of the clock are to be 1/4 inch thick. I have a 4" square piece of oak cut down to .390 thick with a bandsaw. Can I get to the finish dimension of .250 on my router table, using a planer router bit, or can I use a different type? I'm a newb here, so easy on me.:):):)

You don't say what type of wood these wings are to be made from. If it is solid wood, then a small sharp hand plane can easily get your 4" square down to the needed thickness. To make the piece easier to handle, you can adhere it to a larger piece of wood with some double sided tape.

[glenn bradley]

Agree that you can get closer to finished thickness on the bandsaw assuming the saw is well setup and cuts true at a height of 4". You will have to judge how close to 1/4" you can get on your saw. Once you are as close as you can get, a low profile stop at the bench and a small hand plane will let you finish up.

[mike stenson]

You don't say what type of wood these wings are to be made from. If it is solid wood, then a small sharp hand plane can easily get your 4" square down to the needed thickness. To make the piece easier to handle, you can adhere it to a larger piece of wood with some double sided tape.

This would be a lot easier and faster than jigging something up to allow a router to safely handle it.

[Pat Barry]

Router is worst choice possible for thinning tjis pieceof material.

[Jim Becker]

The only possible way to safely use a router to thin the material as described would be for it to be encased in a jig that holds it from moving laterally and that uses tape to hold it in place with the router suspended over it on a bridge, such as the arrangement often used for surfacing slabs, etc. That's a lot of work to setup if it doesn't already exist. Personally, I'd get new material, "leave it large", flatten and thickness and then cut the components to size. That's the safe way to do this.

[lowell holmes]

Why don't you browse this link?

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US739G0&p=router+tips+and+tricks