Roundover

[Tom Bender]

I round over most edges, it has become a reflex for me. Sharp edges just seem unpleasant to the touch. When accidentally bumped there can be injury to the knee or the edge. Also in many ways this makes the woodworking easier. Here's a sample.

Oak Desklet.jpg

I've left a fairly crisp edge on the indents in the drawer fronts and the pencil groove.

I'm looking for reasons to question my roundover practice as a way to freshen up my work.

I

[Lee Schierer]

Coincidently, I'm working on a night stand with a design similar to the table you showed in your post. I made a little champfer plane that I use to break the corners that I'm not rounding over. The corners appear to be square to the eye, but aren't sharp. Usualy one or two passes is enough. I get fine curly shavings with this plane.

[Paul F Franklin]

I lean the other way. I prefer crisp edges. Generally I hit all edges with two passes of a 180 grit sanding block at the end of sanding, and that's mostly because finish sticks better if the edges are ever so slightly broken. I made one exception on the desks I'm building and rounded the 4 corners of each top to 1/2 radius, and even that I hemmed and hawed over. In the end I decided they would be too prone to damage if left sharp, given they are the points of furthest projection.

Having said that, I think it's mostly a matter of taste and style.

[Dave Mills]

The most I round over is 1/8", and if I have something that begs for a bit of hand-made look, I put on a teeny (less than 1/16") chamfer with a plane, like Lee. But you're trading of the practicality and safety of that large roundover versus a styling decision. Current trend, to my knowledge, is for more square corners, even granite countertops are often much more square than the bullnose they used to be.

[Christopher Herzog]

A 45 degree chamfer is something that we do to break up the routine. Very slight and can be done with a router or hand plane.

[Frederick Skelly]

I don't use a lot of roundovers because they make me think of oldtime waterbed furniture. (YMMV and no offence intended to anyone.)

Instead, I usually break the edges with a block plane - from 1/32" - 1/16", or something larger depending on the piece.

Fred

[William Fretwell]

Tom the main reason not to round so much, for me at least, is you loose the definition of the edge and the definition of the piece. Think of it as ‘blurring’ the piece.

From the safety or comfort viewpoint imagine a very sharp 90 degree edge. The contact area is very small, take it down 1/16” at 45 degrees, the width of the contact area is now 1/8”. Even that 1/8” is far less dangerous. If the edges of the 1/8” strip are taken off even slightly it’s gets even better. The point being not that much need be taken off for comfort. I’ve never rounded anything as much as you show except the handles on my workbench.

[Mel Fulks]

It blurs the edges ,and it’s ok if you like that. Doesn’t take more time since a bigger ‘over can be done by router. The old carefully small
broken edge does take time. Before sand paper it was probably done with natural stuff ,like shark skin.

[Scott Winners]

I like edges broken a tiny bit and use a block plane for a small chamfer on corners as above. Depends on the wood and how much it will get banged around. On hardwood in a sitting room 1/8 would be plenty as above. On the Dog Fir chop for my leg vise, double or triple that, DF likes to splinter at corners and ends.

My wife likes round overs. There is no right answer here, I don't like sleeping in the doghouse. I really really like the stretchers and aprons on the piece you pictured. I wonder about using a much smaller round over around the top, but at the end of the day combining round and square none of us can please everybody all the time.

This one is a four legged stool I built. A bit tall for a saw horse, just the right height to turn upside down to dry my boots on. There are no curves, nothing round about the top. The legs are turned on a lathe, but I dug a little groove at the major diameter with a parting tool by accident, and then faceted the legs with a spoke shave.

20210106_193616[1].jpg

At the end of the day this piece I pictured meets my needs, it should last forever and I don't really care what anyone else thinks about it stylistically. But the round/square junction is a stylistic challenge.

I could maybe round the vertical corners of the top and cut a bead in the top to "tie in" with the beads cut in the legs; but I am not going to unless my wife suggests it.

It is a mind boggling hole to get lost in. If you are happy and the wife isn't complaining, go with it.

[Bill Carey]

It blurs the edges ,and it’s ok if you like that. Doesn’t take more time since a bigger ‘over can be done by router. The old carefully small
broken edge does take time. Before sand paper it was probably done with natural stuff ,like shark skin.

I don't use shark skin anymore, what the advent of sand paper, but every exposed edge of every piece of wood in every project I make gets hit with 220 sand paper to break the edge. And it is an aesthetic thing with me - I really dislike the look of mechanically rounded over edges, routed or planed.

[Gordon Stump]

I used to round over a lot with a 1/4" radius. To promote the thickness of the wood to my customers I just break the sharp edges with a 1/8" bit or with my flap sander. My stuff is small. The flap sander gives a nice 1/16" or less round over without having to sand. I think less round over is a more modern or industrial look.

[Tom Bender]

Thanks for the responses, food for thought. The thickness of the top of my piece is excessive and the roundovers could have been less, but I will have to think more about chamfered edges before I am ready to go that way. Stuck in a rut I suppose.

[Rob Luter]

With me it's all about context. I always break sharp edges, but Mid Century Modern calls for a different approach than Mission or Country. Scale is important too. I'll usually use a small block plane to knock off what I need and follow up with a sanding block to create a radius.

This Napkin Box was left crisp to match my Daughter's modern décor



This table had the edges eased a little more, but still fairly crisp for Arts and Crafts



This Step Stool has the standard Stickley/Arts and Crafts Edge treatment.

[Tobias Jones]

Honestly, I don't think you gotta rethink your question. Roundovers are pretty usefull, as you just said. In my opinion, it's basically a matter of taste. I definitely prefer "normal" edges because I like the clear structure in my furniture, but that's it. I'd also buy a round table if it pleased me.

[Mel Fulks]

Bill, I might be wrong about the shark skin being used for final smoothing. It’s pretty rough stuff. I’ve read that some made their own
sand paper. Sharkskin was probably a rasp. The horse-tail plant was and is used as a final smoother, grit is about 180 to 220.