When template routing does it matter where the bearing is?

[Aaron Karp]

I'm using a template and freehand router to trim a 1.25" thick canoe paddle that I rough cut with a jig saw. I already own a flush trim bit with the bearing at the very end, so if I adhere the template to the bottom of the workpiece and put the router on top, that should work. Is there any reason to buy a bit with the bearing in the middle (between the shaft and cutter) and put the template on top? Will it be more stable, accurate, or safe that way? Or is it just a waste of $50?

[Jamie Buxton]

If you out the template on top, and manage to tip the router, you gouge the workpiece. If you put the template on the bottom , that doesn’t happen.

[Michael Burnside]

Jamie makes a good point. Beyond that I prefer top/end on a table since excess is in the table and not proud wanting to bite me. That said, sometimes grain direction will dictate the bearing position to avoid tear out so I have both.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The videos often show dual bearing bits so that you can take advantage of routing to prevent tear out due to grain direction.

I use both single and dual bearing bits. I try to use my router table as much as possible!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

A bearing out on the end will not be as stiff as one on the shaft. It will also amplify any runout. Either way can work. For deep cuts with a long bit I like to have maximum stiffness and stability. This is tricky procedure. I never try to remove much material with a long flush trim in a handheld operation. For hardwood 1/16 is as much as I want to remove when the cut is over 1 inch deep (thick). I have done a similar operation on the router table and had the work piece whipped out of my hands and sent flying across the shop. It was terrifying and humiliating.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It wasn't until I saw Maurice's reply that I reread the OP's post.

I have a scar on my right wrist that took 14 stitches to close from a hand held 2 1/2 HP PC router with a pattern bit. I was routing half-lap joints in 2x4's for my horizontal lumber storage rack. The phone rang, I shut the router off and answered it. Our youngest son called to say his wife had come through her surgery just fine. I hung up and went back to my pattern routing. I shut off the router, flipped it over, unlocked it so I could go to the next 1/4" step, looking up at the phone thinking about that poor girls recent medical history, I pushed down on the router base. The bit hadn't stopped rotating yet. I pushed it into my right wrist and ended up in the ER.

My router collection has increased by 2 since then. I still route freehand, in fact, just used that same bit recently to do some routing on the end table I just finished.

I try to route as much as I can on the Norm Abrams router table V2 that I built a few years ago.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Yikes! A robo sander or template sander is sometimes the way to go, on end grain or tricky grain for instance. My mishap happened the first time I tried Walnut for something I had done many times with Mahogany. No injury, but the work and bit were ruined and the router now runs loud and rough.

[Cameron Wood]

For thick stock, it's safer to use both. Template and bearing on top, & rout part of the thickness, then flip the workpiece and trim the rest with a bottom bearing bit.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

For thick stock, it's safer to use both. Template and bearing on top, & rout part of the thickness, then flip the workpiece and trim the rest with a bottom bearing bit.

That is what I did on a curved front drawer on the end table I finished recently. I used a bottom bearing pattern bit to make an initial pattern cut into the drawer front and finished it with the bottom bearing on a two bearing 2" bit.

I used the same procedure last week when finishing my Moxon vise. Both done on the router table.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Template routing scares the crap out me, but yes, I still do it. I'll scribe a line on the stock from the template and band saw, jig saw, sand, and/or spoke shave the stock to the scribe line, so at best I am taking off a 16th or less.

Quite frankly, a sharp spoke shave is what I usually reach for and it is ridiculously safe.

[andy bessette]

Template on top of the workpiece running a 1/2"-shank follower bit with bearing on the end, all on a router table.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Thomas McCurnin's Spokeshave recommendation would be the traditional approach for a paddle (and other carving-shaving tools & techniques). I only use template routing for things that need to be reproduced as identical as possible. I think of my routing templates and fixtures as an analogue substitute for CNC. A router is not necessarily the ideal cutting tool but it is a tool that lends its self to being steered ideally.

[Aaron Karp]

Ok you all have more or less scared me off using a router for this. I don't have a solid router table, just a folding one from Rockler. And I don't own a spiral or compression bit long enough for 1.25" stock, just a straight bit. So I'm thinking Thomas may have the safest answer of using a plane or spokeshave (which I was going to use to carve the rest of the paddle anyway...was just trying to save myself some time). I guess another safer option would be to take a few passes with different length bits.

[Tom Bender]

Making a canoe paddle is mostly hand tool work. Skip the router and get on with it.

[Aaron Karp]

Providing some follow-up here: I ended up using the router but tried to make everything as safe as possible. I used a fancy spiral carbide bit from Whiteside and added a bearing with a larger radius for my first pass. That allowed me to take off the "high spots" that were deeper than 1/16" and then come back with the regular bearing and take off the remaining material. I took it slow and steady and didn't have an iota of kickback or tear out even around the end grain. I was doing this handheld, with the template on the bottom (just because of where the bearing is on the bit).