Salvage Tambour Clock

[Philip Florio]

I'm making a couple of Tambour clocks for Christmas made with Walnut and Maple.

While using a straight router bit against the my mdf profile the piece got caught and flew out of my hands. My three finger still are sore from the kick along with a blood blister but I still have 5 fingers on that hand!

My question is how to salvage this piece. I went back to the bandsaw and changed the profile to get most of the rip out and then to the spindle sander and finished with a 3/8" roundover bit. Right now the deepest nick is about 1/8".

I'm thinking of an inlay on both sides. Placing it on its face on the spindle sander with a narrow drum, then to turn a piece of walnut and then inserting it in and sanding it down to match the profile.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Phil

[Dewey Torres]

Could you post one more pic of the whole clock as it is now?

[Philip Florio]

Here's a picture of the whole top part, the damaged side is on the left.

Trying to make lemonade out of lemons!
Phil

[Steve Vaughn]

Some sort of insert on each side sanded to profile would look right. I would think that something very plain (square or rectangular insert) in a contrasting wood would even look o.k. If you really want to get a little fancy you could cut an insert on the bandsaw with a small scroll protruding. Of course that wouldn't really fit the look.

Steve

[Joe Jensen]

Some sort of insert on each side sanded to profile would look right. I would think that something very plain (square or rectangular insert) in a contrasting wood would even look o.k. If you really want to get a little fancy you could cut an insert on the bandsaw with a small scroll protruding. Of course that wouldn't really fit the look.

Steve

I agree, either inlay something over the damage and duplicate on the other side, or put something on top of it.

[Brett Robson]

It seems to me that you could just cut the profile in a tad more to trim the damage out. The chip looks pretty shallow. As long as the profile on the other side matches, I doubt you'll ever notice!

[David DeCristoforo]

I really think your best bet is going to be to reshape it slightly. As long as you match both sides you will be fine. There's plenty of wood there. Just go slow when you rout the edge again so you don't blow it out a second time!

[Philip Florio]

I can't "bring in" the profile anymore than it is already. Before routing I drilled holes on the bottom to attach to the base. Anymore and the holes will come through.

I'm thinking now to use a minimum diameter Forstner bit, laying the piece on its face and drill the radius of the bit. Obviously the drilling needs to be precise and clean so there are no gaps. I need to sure up the back from tear out on the radius from the round over.


Phil

[mreza Salav]

You've got some good advice.
To prevent such thing from happening: use sharp (good quality) bits and (if you can) do it in two passes instead of one. I have ruined too many pieces (some of which had spent days preparing) on the router!

[Philip Florio]

I'm trying to figure out what went wrong.

I was only taking a small amount at a time. I even smoothed the surface with the spindle sander so there wouldn't be any ridges to be caught.

The only thing I could see is that the 1/2" straight edge bit was too narrow for the radius of the curve.

Guessing two blades were in contact at the same time.

Phil

[Lee Schierer]

I'm trying to figure out what went wrong.

I was only taking a small amount at a time. I even smoothed the surface with the spindle sander so there wouldn't be any ridges to be caught.

The only thing I could see is that the 1/2" straight edge bit was too narrow for the radius of the curve.

Guessing two blades were in contact at the same time.

Phil

To try and answer your question about what happened:

From what I can see in the photos, it looks like you were cutting into the grain of wood and it reached a point where the cutting edge hit right on the ends of the grain and it shattered (tear out) instead of cutting cleanly. When cutting circles in a single piece of wood with a router this can easily happen in two areas, sometimes violently destroying the piece. The trick is to learn where this is likely to occur and climb cut those areas of the curve. So in doing a complete circle like the inside where your clock works will mount you would cut the circle in quarters, two quarters being cut clock wise feed and two beein counterclockwise feed direction.

In cutting the tabour I would have started at the top as the clock stands and worked first cutting toward the left going down the slope to the foot, then starting again at the top I would have made the second cut to the right. One side would be a climb cut, the other would be a regular cut. Just be sure when climb cutting to hold onto the router and make sure your work is clamped in place as it will try to self feed.

[David Keller NC]

This is one case where using hand tools is a whole lot safer than using power tools - both to you and the piece. One method would be to bandsaw the profile, then round it over with a radiused spokeshave, and sand it fair. Another one would be to use spokeshave to rough it in, then a scratch stock to make the profile and smooth it.

That said, it looks like you caught end grain with both wings of the cutter - using a much smaller bit (a 1/4" or even a 1/8") might've prevented the accident.

Regarding salvaging it, I'm going to suggest that you consider filling the walnut with epoxy mixed with sawdust, dyed near black with a couple of drops of aniline dye. Because the edges of the defect are not regular, the result will look like a natural knot in the wood, unless inspected really closely. If you drill it out and fill it with a plug, it'll have an obvious artificial edge, and is likely to look like what it is - an accident.

[Dewey Torres]

Any luck with the fix yet?

[Philip Florio]

So I finished the clock my bringing down the profile as much as I could without going into the bottom screw to attach to the base. I then used a 5/8's Forstner bit to remove the rest of the damage.

I turned some maple to fit into the cut out. I finished with lacquer.

The other clock on the right is the other clock with the original profile.

Phil

[Dewey Torres]

I’ve got to say, I like the fixed one better. Good solution.

[Todd Crawford]

I was thinking the same thing Dewey. Only thing I would have done differently is kept the distance around the outside of the face of the clock the same on the top as on the sides. But still lokks great and I for one think you should mess up more often! :)

[Steve Vaughn]

It looks like you meant for it to be that way from the start. Looks great to me.

Steve

[kevin loftus]

That wasn't a mistake, it was a design feature. :cool: