routing warped wood on the router table

[Roger Feeley]

If you have a piece of wood that's warped, it's hard to route it right on a table. One way is to machine it so that the convex side is down and just keep the part closest to the bit flat with the table. Probably the 'right' way would be to forget the table and go handheld.

So, ignoring every really good solution, I made a long piece of beveled oak for a french cleat. The piece will be flat when I screw it to the wall but it was hard to get the bevel right since the concave side was down on the table. So I had to press down really hard.

It occurs to me that I could make a little elevated table right by the router bit extending from the bit forward. So now the work sort of teeters on that auxiliary table. Think of it like another bearing but this time it's on the z axis.

I think I would have more control holding the piece on that than trying to control a handheld router.

thoughts?

[Bob Jones 5443]

Thoughts? Yes, several.
1. It sounds like you’re trying to rout a full width 45° bevel on the edge of the board along its length. Is that correct? Why not use the table saw?
2. I’m in the camp that it’s dangerous to run warped boards on a router table, or the table saw, for that matter.
3. No jointer?
4. You say warped. Is it twisted (wind)? That would add another level of complexity.
5. If it’s only bowed across its length, you could crosscut it in the middle and have two much less bowed pieces, safer to rout. Your French cleat wall won’t know the difference.
6. Does your router table have a fence that you can attach a vertical feather board to? Or just clamp a hold-down block over the bit? It sounded like you were holding down the board with your hands over the bit. That would invite trouble.
7. Do you have a bench, vise, and hand plane? Much safer, and quieter, too.
8. Use a different board.

But a “long” warped board on a router table? Sounds like a risk of kickback.

What are the board dimensions? L, W, thickness.

[Roger Feeley]

The board needs to be 68” long to hit studs. It’s about 3/4 thick and 2.5 wide.
no twist.

yeah, I know I got myself into this pickle. but the question was about a solution. Which is to effectively turn a 24” wide router table into a 3” wide router table.

[Tom Bender]

This works fine. It's just a piece of Purpleheart taped to my mini table.

Router 4.jpg

Oops, picture upside down

[Wes Grass]

Assuming it's going to have holes in it to screw it to the wall, why not screw it to the edge of a 2x4 to straighten it out while you rout it.

[Mike Henderson]

Assuming it's going to have holes in it to screw it to the wall, why not screw it to the edge of a 2x4 to straighten it out while you rout it.

I like this answer. What I often try to do is route the profile on a large piece of wood and then cut off what I need. But Wes' solution is even better. If you can't screw it, glue it and then rip off what you need.

Mike

[Mark Daily]

Wouldn’t the “right way” be to use wood that isn’t warped? Lol!

[Roger Feeley]

This works fine. It's just a piece of Purpleheart taped to my mini table.

Router 4.jpgM

Oops, picture upside down

Yes! That’s what I was thinking of. My router table has a slot fur a miter gauge and I would leverage that.

[lowell holmes]

I take warp out of wood on my thickness planer. I put the high side up and take light cuts until that face is flat.
I then mill it to thickness. If need be I will glue thin pieces together for thickness.

[Tom Bender]

Sure sure, only rout straight, but what about complex curved table legs or boat parts? Maybe it's time to try to a more advanced technique. It's really simple and lets you work with imperfect wood. Ever resew with a point fence? Same thing.