glenn bradley
07-30-2006, 1:56 PM
When you're a ham-hand like me, the idea of cutting a fairly wide rabbet on the underside of an ogee profile is a little intimidating. With only an 1/8" of material between the thin part of the ogee and the rabbet on the opposing side, I have an opportunity for error. This is compounded by the fact that the piece will be positioned with a good portion of it hanging off the table while routing. Also, the guide bearing is only contacting approx. 1/16" of material if I use it for my depth stop.
I was able to raise my confidence level by using my table saw fence as a depth guide of sorts. This also saves me from sneaking up on the final width 'freehand' or changing bearings to a smaller and smaller size to achieve the depth I'm after. I set the TS fence to allow a 1/16" or so of depth per pass. I keep the final depth-size bearing on to remind me how close I'm getting to being done.
You pros out there may see this as a lot of extra work for a rabbet cut but when you're a hobbyist like me, the cost in time of tanking a frame that took a couple of nights to get to the profiling stage is pretty significant.
Some day I'll be good enough to just grab a freehand router and knock this out, I hope. But, for now, "long way around the barn" or not; here's a shot of the setup.
I was able to raise my confidence level by using my table saw fence as a depth guide of sorts. This also saves me from sneaking up on the final width 'freehand' or changing bearings to a smaller and smaller size to achieve the depth I'm after. I set the TS fence to allow a 1/16" or so of depth per pass. I keep the final depth-size bearing on to remind me how close I'm getting to being done.
You pros out there may see this as a lot of extra work for a rabbet cut but when you're a hobbyist like me, the cost in time of tanking a frame that took a couple of nights to get to the profiling stage is pretty significant.
Some day I'll be good enough to just grab a freehand router and knock this out, I hope. But, for now, "long way around the barn" or not; here's a shot of the setup.