would you try this router bit set up?

[marc rosen]

Hey Group, I am making several cherry chairs and need to clean up the curved back and crest rails. I want to use a bearing guided router bit but the crest rail is 3 inches wide (tall) and the largest (longest) bit I have or can get is 2 inches. I was thinking about using a bottom bearing bit along with a masonite template to shape the lower half to two thirds of the rails and then replace the bit with a top bearing style and use the freshly routed face as its guide to clean up the remainder of the face. It makes sense to me and I will try a few test pieces but I wanted to run the idea by you all to see what you think about it. Instead of using a router I could sand and/or scrape the surface for final shaping but I would prefer to get the more uniform surface obtained with the router. Thanks in advance for your comments. Marc

[CW]

I've done that. Works great.

[marc rosen]

Hey CW, Thanks for the encouragement. Marc

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:40:11 -0800 (PST), the infamous marc rosen scrawled the following:

Durned Normite Elitist! Find someone with a tall shaper and feed them through that with guides. A long router bit is a lethal projectile waiting to happen, and that's why you won't find one.

If you can't find one, find someone with a Stanley #13 circular plane.

Thankee, Paddy!

-- What helps luck is a habit of watching for opportunities, of having a patient, but restless mind, of sacrificing one's ease or vanity, of uniting a love of detail to foresight, and of passing through hard times bravely and cheerfully. -- Charles Victor Cherbuliez

[Leon]

Absolutely doable. You have described the tehnique as if you have already done it.

Let me throw a few words of caution.

Cut as close to the line as possible with your BS, cut as little as possible with the router bit.

Pay close attention to the grain. You may need to back cut to prevent tear out in certain areas along the same cut, so stay focused. You can use masking tape to mark trouble areas. The less your router bit has to remove the better the result.

[Steve Turner]

Yes. What he said.

[DT]

Should work fine. I built a bent, laminated beam for my living room ceiling (kinda like the ones commonly seen in churchs). I progessively glued the pieces to each side of the center section, routing each one using the previous routed surface to guide the bearing. So I have a nice wide beam profiled with short bits.