Preferred Tool for Roundovers


Al Capwn

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So I am working on some shelf supports and have cut a radius out, but I would like to apply a roundover to the edges. What is the preferred tool of choice? Spokeshave, rasp, sandpaper? What about the Veritas corner kit? Since it is a curve, moulding plane is not likely to work.

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Depends on the size of the piece, size of roundover, the 'look' I'm going for and what tool I've got readily available...

The router is great if the piece is fairly large and can be held without interfering with the routing operation...

Can you provide a photo of the part?

 

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6 minutes ago, Al Capwn said:

Yeah, I do have that option, but since I am apparantly not safe or unlucky, I think I want to save that operation for straight pieces.

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There's very little difference in running a straight piece and a curved piece with a router. With a table or freehand with a bearing. 

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So, likely it is me trying to take too much in one pass, but it is "grabby". The last safety straw was when it turned a piece into a frisbee and took a big bite out a piece. Been sanding away the chew mark.

So...in order to protect me from myself, I figured I might slow down and just smooth em over by hand. Rather than trying to freehand the roundover on the router table.

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A router in multiple passes if you're a power tool guy.  The key is to take small bites, especially on the last pass.

Combination of spokeshave and rasps if you're a hand tool guy.  If you're new to spokeshaves, pay particular attention to the grain orientation and take light cuts.

Or just rasps if you'd like.

 

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Hard to judge size from the photo...

But more importantly, if an operation makes you nervous, then that's just fine... This is woodworking, there are always more ways to skin a cat...

How are you with hand tools? As mentioned above, a spokeshave can make quick work of this... If the part was small, that's how I'd tackle it...

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If it turned into a frisbee then, you were more than likely climb cutting.  You'll need to pay attention to the direction of travel and the rotation of the bit.

I would do those on a trim router with the piece securely attached to my bench.  

Frankly, this is how you learn to use the tools you have.  Get your homework in and practice.  Gaining confidence with the tools will improve your game.  Think safety first and then learn the tool.

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I'm with the above comments in that a router is the way to go for consistency.  If the pieces are as small as they look, like Kev said I'd take the router to the piece, rather than the piece to the router providing you have a sharp bit.  Put the pieces in a clamp, secure the clamp to the bench and take multiple passes.    Double stick tape would probably work, but consider the clamp a belt and suspenders approach ?

At the end of the day though, if it's not something your comfortable with stick with what you are.  A rasp followed up with hand sanding will also get the job done ?

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To answer size, the blocks are 6x6 inches. Not tiny, but not large either.

I kept the piece on the correct side of the router, but since it is an arc, you kinda have to ride the piece around. So, maybe by doing so...I dunno. It was more kickback, which to me tells me too much of the bit caught. Usually climbcuts rocket forward, whereas this ejected more sideways.

In terms of hand tools, haven't touched any of those I have mentioned. Which is why I figured I would ask around and see what the hand tool de jour for this type of operation is. The router was the obvious choice, but for this task I have decided to take a step back and consider other options before I hurt myself doing something dumb in my approach.

I have done long trim pieces, since I have the table, fence, and featherboards to keep my soft pink bits away from the sharp metal.

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4 minutes ago, Tom King said:

That should be big enough to clamp it somehow, but not large enough to bother with a router table.

I also have a small cheap-o HF trim router. The only thing that concerns me is small bases = tippy. Tippy puts me right back to the main concern I have. However, yes, the piece is clamp-able and I could take a small router to it, rather than try to cut it at the table.

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My suggestion would be a rasp followed by a file or just sandpaper.  Practice on a piece of scrap if you want, but really, a rasp is pretty easy forgiving and unless the pieces are installed right next to each other, slight differences in the round overs won't be noticed-except by you. One tip is to mark a line where you want the round over to end, it really helps. 

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4 hours ago, Barron said:

My suggestion would be a rasp followed by a file or just sandpaper.  Practice on a piece of scrap if you want, but really, a rasp is pretty easy forgiving and unless the pieces are installed right next to each other, slight differences in the round overs won't be noticed-except by you. One tip is to mark a line where you want the round over to end, it really helps. 

...and indeed I did. I figure that it would be useful to have, and not too cost prohibitive. Ended up swinging by Woodcraft and picking up the Shinto Saw Rasp as well as some card scrapers, because who doesn't love card scrapers?

151297.jpg

It's been pretty great so far - just transferred the radius from the other piece with a pencil and went to town with the rasp until I hit the line.

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