router question from a newby

[Denis]

The other day, I was watching the router workshop show and the younger guy was routering some holes into the side of some wood to match the holes on the other piece of work... This was for the sides and back of a drawer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | side of a drawer much wider than this | | of course | love my straight line! | |

--------------------------------------------------------------------- original piece without cut looking at the end of the work

--------------------------------------------------------------------- same side of the drawer much wider than this of course ___________ { }

-------------------------- ------------------------ end result looking at the end of the work

Now he approached the work from the right side, and started cutting in while following the jig he had. As he went through the wood and cut into the right side, he followed across the back of the "hole" and came out the left side.

My question... would the bit not have a tendency to cut out on the left side and possibly break a corner of the wood piece as it comes out? Would it not be safer "for the wood" to make a slight cut kind of grinding into the left side of the hole to take away the possibility of the piece breaking off?

I apologize for my lack of knowledge in terminology, but I am a clueless newby with deadly dangerous tools in hand, and insufficient knowledge to use them safely. I am learning so much from you guys that it is not funny! And sorry about my lack of artistry, Dammit Jim, I am a technician not a doctor! !

Thanks!!!

[nospam]

having the router blow out chunks of the edge of the nice piece of wood you are working on can be a real problem. sometimes the solution is to start from both edges, like I think you are suggesting. other things to do that can help: keep your bits sharp. go slow and don't try to cut too deep in one pass. use a sharp knife and cut across the wood fibers at the line of cut where they want to blow out. sometimes masking tape helps.

if you are in doubt, try the setup in a bit of scrap. that should give you a pretty good idea of whether or not what you are thinking of doing is going to result in blowouts.

hey, we are all clueless newbies here.... just some of us have been so for a long time....

you're welcome

[Denis]

They did fit one into the other. There were 3 or 4 of these holes in each piece of wood, and he fit them together in the end. I imagine he would have glued things up at the last part of the project, but he did not put them together all the way just so he could take them apart after confirming that they fit together. I "think" it was a mortise and tenon joint...

There were 3 or 4 of these holes in the end of the piece of wood that mated to another piece to fit into it nicely.

Grin... I did mention a specific lack of artistry!

I will have to try it out. I do think it was blowout that I was asking about. I guess my question now is how prevalent is blowout, and why would a pro WWer do this on TV if it is a chance that it could happen? I try and watch some of these shows to learn, but the difference between the tools they have versus what I have is like a new Lamborgini compared to my old POS 1987 Ford Escort.

Of course I will have to buy/build a jig of some sort to try this... On these fancy tv shows they have all the toys, and I have Mastercraft/mastercrap tools as that is what I can afford.

As I get more proficient, and get more money in my pocket, I will upgrade and then have to buy a new house as this one has no place for a garage, and no place in the house for doing woodworking. The basement suite does have a kitchen that is not in use though... that is where I have built anything that I have needed..

Sigh... To have 30 x 60 shop and all the fun tools would be great, but the lack of knowledge is really my biggest hazard right now. The woodworking course I took 4 years ago is a vague memory and it is time to take some courses...

[nospam]

here's a picture of a mortise and tennon joint.

wonder if what you were looking at was a dovetail: >>>I will have to try it out. I do think it was blowout that I was

prolly he had tested his setup before the cameras started rolling and was confident it was ok. or it could be that it DID blow out and the post production crew took that part out....

it's the tool companies who sponsor those shows, so of course the lesson of the shows is gonna be that you have to buy a buttload of their tools to do anything. it aint so....