Chipout

[Don L Johnson]

I'm using a small roundover bit to ease the edges of a bunch of dining room chairs. On my first prototype chair, I experienced a couple of chip outs. The chair is Mission style, so has a straight portion and then around a 10* bend. The portion that is above the bend seems to have the tendency to chip out. I'm thinking of getting one of the new Frued Quaracuts. Is the router bit my problem...will that bit help with the chip out problem...or is it a matter of what direction I am running the bit??? If it is only a mater of direction, I have a difficult time figuring out grain direction...is there an easy way? Thanks. Oh yea, the wood I'm using is walnut.

[Bruce Gray]

For mission style pieces, the edge ease is generally very small, like 1/16" radius or less. For this small cut, I would think that you you could get away with a "climb" cut direction for your router. Climb cutting is ususally a very bad practice (as I can personally attest) but it does help much with chipout.

Having said that, what I do with mission/craftsman style pieces is simply to use a radius hand plane. It's quicker, doesn't burn the wood, and has a low risk of chipout if you always plane in the direction of the grain. This is one style that's readily available:

http://www.woodworkersshop.com/ProductImages/hand_planes/w1100.jpg