"Ripping" baseboard on a router table?

I need to "rip" some 3" high baseboard down by about 1/4". This is your basic home-center baseboard.

I don't have a portable table saw, but I do have a router table with 2 fences. I figure I can run the baseboard along a straight bit and remove the ~1/4".

The questions:

Can I remove a 1/4" in one pass or should I plan on two?

What size bit should I use?

Any other tips? (I'll use feather boards, etc.)

Note: I don't believe that quarter-round will be installed, so I need a good finished "cut". I'm traveling 300 miles to dad's house to do some chores, so I want to be prepared to knock this one off fairly quickly.

Thanks!

Reply to
DerbyDad03
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For pine, you could give it a go, but for a good finish guaranteed you may find a second clean-up pass is better.

I'd use a 1/2" or greater _HIGH_QUALITY_ (Amana, Whiteside, etc.) straight or spiral-cut carbide.

If there's quite a lot of this, an alternative would be to make a temporary saw table for the skilsaw, mounting it upside down and a fixed fence just a little proud of final width then cleanup w/ router or a handplane.

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Reply to
dpb

Academic: I'd take 3, ~3/64/pass Cutter: Straight, at least 3/4 x 3/4 w/1/2 shank. Practical/safety: High risk, the work may self feed, break the cutter or kick back. I'd saw the stuff. Safety?? See

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The questions:

Reply to
routerman

the last bullet point, "Full thickness router table cuts".

Reply to
Doug Miller

re: "I'd saw the stuff."

With what? I don't have access to a portable table saw and I doubt I could neatly cut a 1/4" off of a kitchen's worth of baseboard with a circular or sabre saw.

I guess I could grab $100 table saw from Harbor Freight but I don't really need one. My full size table saw fits my needs, but I can't haul it 300 miles to the job site.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Yes, basically an infeed and outfeed fence.

To do 2 passes I assume I should set the infeed fence to remove 1/8" of material, position the outfeed fence flush with the front of the bit, and run the material through twice.

Should I use a "down force" feather board on both fences or just the infeed?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I had already read the last bullet prior to your suggestion. :-)

If I am using the infeed and outfeed fences, leaving the 1/16" - 3/32" of material would required the fences to be even and I would then need to go back a remove the material in some other manner, correct?

Why wouldn't the 2 fence method, with the infeed fence 1/8" back from the face of the bit and with feather boards holding the material in place, be safe?

The baseboard is only, what, 1/2" thick? It seems that a 3/4 straight bit would remove 1/8" x 1/2" of pine without even knowing it was there.

I might be missing something...what would that be?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Yes, basically an infeed and outfeed fence.

To do 2 passes I assume I should set the infeed fence to remove 1/8" of material, position the outfeed fence flush with the front of the bit, and run the material through twice.

For best quality final cut and as others have mentioned, the last pass should be slight, take out the bulk with 2~3 passes and follow up with the last pass.

Should I use a "down force" feather board on both fences or just the infeed?

Down force if working with long pieces which may bow up at the cutter. Keeping the work flat against the table will yield safer, cleaner and smoother cuts.

Reply to
Leon

Yes, but that's not rocket surgery. :-)

1/16 is thin enough that you can break it off with your fingers. Then clean up the edge with a block plane.

You need to feed the wood past an exposed bit. I'd set the bit height to just clear the workpiece -- the less it sticks up above the work, the safer it is.

Greater risk of a kickback, too.

Just as long as it's not fingertips... Be careful of the exposed bit, and pay attention to the correct feed direction.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Thanks Doug. Your bit height suggestion was exactly what I was thinking.

This is by no means my first time using the router table, so feed direction and fingertip clearance is not an issue - not something I'd ignore, but not an issue, if you know what I mean.

I've done roundovers and rabbets for years, this is my first "ripping" so to speak, and only being done because of the location of the jobsite.

P.S. While I appreciate everyone's concern, why is the use of an exposed straight bit any different than using a double roundover bit like the one shown below? In my mind, it seems safer since the material is not "trapped" between any flutes.

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

---------------------------------- I'd do it in two passes using split fence.

-----------------------------------

3/4 with 1/2 shank.

-----------------------------------

-------------------------------------------- Multiple featherboards to eliminate kick back and keep board against fence.

Guard to cover the cutter exposure.

You are basically performing a jointer function with a router.

Plan accordingly.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Yes

Yes. At *least* two (I'd probably use four). Remember that router bits don't normally slice, they chop. They exert a lot of force when chopping and it is not entirely unknown for them to split off pieces that shouldn't have been split off.

I like 3/4" for trimming like that.

No need for feather boards IMO.

Then do it 1/16 at a time.

If you are going to install the baseboard and if you want to save aggravation, bevel the bottom edge toward the back of the baseboard. That way when you find the floor isn't flat - and it won't be - you can whip out your block plane and skinny down just the thin, front edge where needed instead of the whole bottom.

You don't need much of a bevel, maybe 4-5 degrees, and you can do it on a router table with a straight bit by sticking down a narrow, full width strip of laminate or hardboard on the table close to the bit with double stick tape. You then have three contact points for the baseboard...the router fence, the elevated strip and the table itself. The thickness of the strip and the distance of its front edge - the one away from the bit - from the bit determine the angle. Easy, peasy. What you *don't* want is a strip so wide or so far back from the bit that you can tip the work downwards toward the bit.

Reply to
dadiOH

DerbyDad03 wrote in news:444e4e2e-1a7e-4dca-b588- snipped-for-privacy@y21g2000vba.googlegroups.com:

Many circular and sabre saws have fence kits that may work poorly for this application. The ones I've seen just seem to be too small for ripping work.

Making a make-shift table saw could work. Mount the circular saw upside down on a piece of plywood, and use a straight 2x as a fence. You could even screw the fence down since it won't need to move.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

I've done that very thing and it worked great.

As for the router table.... I think some are making rocket surgery out of it.

With a 1/4" shim on the outfeed fence and a 1/2 straight bit (or any spiral cut version), there's not reason he can't take it all off at once. Assuming the trim is standard 1/2"-ish thick stuff, a good rabbeting bit could hog it out faster.

As for feather boards.... one on each side, pushing towards the fence is all you really need*. The act of pushing the stock through the bit will be enough to hold it down.

*and you wouldn't really "need" those, but they'd be a good set of helping hands.
Reply to
-MIKE-

Shim level, and tape the stuff to bigger stock and clamp a straight edge to it for a circular saw fence.

Of course this all depends on how wide your trim is.

I have done this for many trim pieces, including tigerwood flooring and MDF door jam extensions for 2x8 walls. It's awkward at first but I have never owned a table saw and probably won't. Good packing tape or ducttape (the grey kind that isn't for ducts) works well.

I guess I could grab $100 table saw from Harbor Freight but I don't really need one. My full size table saw fits my needs, but I can't haul it 300 miles to the job site.

re: "I'd saw the stuff."

Reply to
Josepi

I've done that and it works great. Carpet tape would do the job. You'd be surprised at the nice edge a new 7-1/4" fine blade can leave.

Reply to
-MIKE-

DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

...

Why not, pray tell?

In less than 30 minutes or so you could make a temporary table for the skilsaw upside down thru a piece of ply and have a quite serviceable temporary TS for the purpose....

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Reply to
dpb

With the two piece fence and a large diameter bit you probably could do it if the wood is pine and not more than the 5/8" or so thick stuff. Use feather boards to hold it tight to the fence.

Another option, if you have a portable thickness planner you could make a jig to stand the baseboard on edge upside down... angle it a bit to back bevel the bottom so it's easier to scribe to the floor. I think this would be easier if you have any volume of wood to do.

John

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

Do you have a circular saw equipped with an edge guide?

Reply to
Nova

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