Round-over the lips of dog/hold-fast holes

[chris carter]

I notice most folks’ benches have the dog and hold-fast holes with a round-over. Presumably this is to keep from chipping the wood of the benchtop when you pound in a holdfast. I actually had that happen to me on my current bench and had to CA glue the splintered wood back into place (lucky I found it!). I’m wondering how people are doing the round-over. I’m talking about a roundover on the lip of the hole. I’m about to drill all the holes for my new bench and trying to figure out a good solution.

Option 1) Power router. I have one of these things. It scares the crap out of me and was part of my motivation for becoming a hand tool woodworker. I’d rather not use it as I don’t believe I should ever hold anything that spins that fast in my bare hands, but if I had to what size rounder bit? Smallest I have is 1/8^th inch roundover, which I presume is small enough. Although on a test hole it seemed rather extreme for the purpose (but maybe photos are not doing real life justice)…..

Option 2) I’m a decent whittler and have a whittling knife with a tiny wharncliffe blade. I could simply carve a bevel on the lip of every hole. It is very doable, although it won’t look as elegant. Or perhaps the lack of elegance will reinforce the hand-tool aspect (my new bench is 95% hand-tool built).

Option 3) huge countersink bit, like a one-inch one (I will have ¾” dog holes). I have a smaller countersink and don’t really like the look it leaves behind (which would normally be covered by a screw, so who cares). I also would rather not purchase something that I will use once and never again.

Option 4)??????

Looking for opinions/experiences.....

[ken hatch]

Chris,

I've used a Silver Burr for years to round over dog holes.

Here is the box it came in:

silverBurr.jpg

The Silver Burr next to a couple of dog holes:

silverBurrA.jpg

Piece of cake to use, just chuck it in your drill, stick in in the hole and a couple of turns it has rounded over the edge of the dog hole. No muss, no fuss.

ken

[Paul F Franklin]

I used this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's a 1/16 radius roundover bit with a solid pilot. I know what you mean about routers, but in this case, you are removing the tiniest bit of material and only a tiny bit of the very small bit is exposed. Of course you need to be careful, but this is not a high risk operation since the bit is buried in the dog hole the entire time. If it makes you feel safer, place the router over the hole before turning it on, and turn it off and let it stop before moving to the next hole. Each hole takes about 2 seconds if you take your time (not counting the time for it to spin down).

[Scott Winners]

I did use my electric router for mine. That machine scares the bejeezus out of me. I used a 45 degree chamfer bit with a bearing down at the tip, took off about a quarter of an inch and put the fool thing back on the shelf.

I would probably use that thing more if I had a shirt like my kevlar chaps for running a chain saw. I could by a shirt like that, but mostly I look for ways to get out of using the electric router.

[chris carter]

Chris,

I've used a Silver Burr for years to round over dog holes.

Here is the box it came in:

silverBurr.jpg

The Silver Burr next to a couple of dog holes:

silverBurrA.jpg

Piece of cake to use, just chuck it in your drill, stick in in the hole and a couple of turns it has rounded over the edge of the dog hole. No muss, no fuss.

ken

OOOOHHH! I got so excited when I remembered I had one of these abrasive burr balls (not as nice as yours, but still...). I ran down to the basement all excited. Only to discover mine was 3/4". BAH!

[ken hatch]

OOOOHHH! I got so excited when I remembered I had one of these abrasive burr balls (not as nice as yours, but still...). I ran down to the basement all excited. Only to discover mine was 3/4". BAH!

Chris,

Too funny. It is a handy gadget to have, I use mine for other things that need a quick chamfer, not often but enough to earn its keep.

ken

[glenn bradley]

I use a trim router and a 1/8" radius roundover or chamfer bit; I've done both with equal success.

[Derek Cohen]

I used the very large countersink from Lee Valley. It gets used for other jobs as well.

Regards from Perth

Derek