Making stopped chamfers

[Mark Bolton]

I cant imagine shoving that timber across a router table/fence. If the face of the timbers is not suitable to ride a bearing along we always do lambs toungue/stopped chamfers with a scrap of ply as a fence clamped to the timber and ride the edge of the routerbase along the fence. We use to do this all the time on heavy rough sawn or reclaimed hewn beams when we needed a nice chamfer but any type of edge guided fence or bearing was not an option. Scrap of ply and tack/screw your stops to the ply, clamp it, and route away.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

Thanks, looking at both Infinity and Whiteside cutting length jumps from roughly 5/8 to slightly over an inch with nothing in between. I'm not looking forward to using a 2.5 inch diameter bit without a table but it's nice to know it can be done.

[Mark Bolton]

Thanks, looking at both Infinity and Whiteside cutting length jumps from roughly 5/8 to slightly over an inch with nothing in between. I'm not looking forward to using a 2.5 inch diameter bit without a table but it's nice to know it can be done.

If you have the router you mentioned it will be no issue. Your not hogging off a ton of material with a chamfer. I wouldnt have any concern running a very wide chamfer (1" or so) with even a smaller router. If it worries you take two passes. Two passing may be better anyway if its a pretty heavy chamfer because the grain can split the corner off. You'll be fine. Tie the cord around your ankle if your router doesnt have a trigger so if you lose it when you run you'll unplug it from the extension cord LOL

[Mark Hennebury]

I don't understand why you wont just do it with a router. Seems to me the be the easiest. you can do it in several passes and from both directions so that you get both ends clean without any splintering.

[William Hodge]

I had to chamfer a bunch of Sapele posts, with the chamfers ending in lambs tongues. I did it with a straight bit, and angled the route. To finish the cut at the lambs tounge I nailed on a guide that the straight bit bearing would catch, bringing the router away from the work. For normal chamfered posts I just use a big 45 degree cutter in a router, and carve the end of the cut flat. Just stopping the router at a point leaves a rounded cut.

[Tom Bender]

You can do this with hand tools. It'll make a nice afternoon's work.