# Tearout routing small pieces of red oak



## the_nite_owl (Oct 19, 2009)

Hi All.
I am making up a bunch of oven rack pullers to give away as Christmas presents.
I am using red oak. After I cut a blank for the puller using a template I made up and a straight edge top bearing bit I switch to a roundover bit to take off the edges on both sides. 
The grain on the oak switches back and forth and often when routing the ends of the puller on the router table it will take a chunk out of the wood.
Some I have managed to fix with a lot of work on the drum sander but others get trashed when the half the end gets knocked off.

For this type of wood am I better off with a faster or slower speed for the router? I am not taking off much wood and I have tried taking it off in lighter passes but I think it is more the direction of the grain coming around that curved end that it just digs into.

I have most of them done already but I'm still a newbie and figured this would be a good question to ask and know for the future.


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## Drew Eckhardt (Aug 2, 2008)

the_nite_owl said:


> Hi All.
> I am making up a bunch of oven rack pullers to give away as Christmas presents.
> I am using red oak. After I cut a blank for the puller using a template I made up and a straight edge top bearing bit I switch to a roundover bit to take off the edges on both sides.
> The grain on the oak switches back and forth and often when routing the ends of the puller on the router table it will take a chunk out of the wood.


Are you having problems trimming to match the pattern or on the round-over?

While common straight bits without shear angle work fine 90 degrees to the grain and going into the grain like this ->//// you can't run them like this ->\\\\ without a high chance of breakage. When cutting things like short radius curves that would result in going the wrong direction you need to flip the work piece over.

If it's not symmetrical you can flip it over and switch to a bottom bearing bit; if it is symmetrical you can attach it to your pattern the opposite way around.

Round over bits aren't as bad because shear angle means the entire edge isn't hitting the work at the same time. Spirals work better because each cutting edge has only a single point in contact with the work. Larger diameter bits aren't as bad because the cutting edge isn't exiting at as steep an angle. 

If you're having problems on the round-over, taking a few passes with larger guide bearings will help. Scalloping the work with periodic indentations and then running over the entire edge will limit the size of the pieces which break-off.


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## Duane867 (Oct 25, 2008)

You can also sandwich the work piece between two pieces of scrap on the trouble ends and run the bit right over all three to prevent tear out. Scrap on one end, work piece, scrap on the other.
Some time you just about have to do this with small pieces. 
Rout all end grain 1st. Doing so will enable you to remove light tear out when you make a pass over the long grain.


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## the_nite_owl (Oct 19, 2009)

The problem has primarily been on the round over pass. I tape my template to the wood and pre-cut pretty close on a bench top band saw so there is little material to remove when I use the straight bit. I do get some chipping with the straight bit especially on the long runs but it is shallow and gets eliminated when I do the round over.

The biggest problem I have is tools I guess. I need to get a better and greater variety of router bits and a set of bearings to adjust for depth of cut. I have an old set of bits I got from sears about 10 years ago and a few specific bits picked up at the hardware store and home depot.

My question still stands about router speed though. Will it tend to reduce tearout at a faster speed or slower?


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