I plan to rout a 1/4 inch groove halfway through the two vertical sides of a desk and put in a half shelf of 1/4 inch oak. I want to roundover the outer end to fit the rounded part of the routed groove instead of notching the end or squaring the end of the groove. What roundover bit should I use? I was told by one person to use a 1/4 " roundover and by another to use a 1/8". Which one? Or is there something else I need to use?
Thanks
You'd use a 1/8" radius bit. However, you won't be able to use it with the built in bearing as it will ride too low on the second pass - you need to use a router table. Alternatively, you could use a bull nose bit that will take off both top and bottom in one pass. Need a router table for that too.
hopefully, i; 'm correct about this, and not talking through my hat. A 1/4 bit has a radius of 1/4, meaming that on a piece of 1/4 thick wood, it will completely round the edge. making the edge look like 90 degrees of a cylinder. To round over half the width of wood, use a bit that has half the radius.
in practice, many times I end up using a roundover bit twice on each edge.... it works ok
I'm amazed at how confusing this sounds. Maybe; "I want to round the edge of the shelf to match the rounded ends of the routed grooves" or simply "I want to round the edge of the shelf?"
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