# Chair Rail Molding Bit



## fax6202 (Oct 12, 2012)

I have started to try my hand at large moldings. Using the chair rail bit from Freud I am having some issues. My first pass is to take off about half of the material. The problem starts on the second pass, it just starts tearing up the wood from the start. i have no idea what is wrong, any suggestions??? Im pretty much stuck


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

N/a I would try taking less off to start. Also at what speed are you running your router and are you going in the right direction?


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## mikelley (Aug 2, 2012)

Also, what kind of wood is it and/or what is the moister content?


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## jschaben (Jun 21, 2009)

fax6202 said:


> I have started to try my hand at large moldings. Using the chair rail bit from Freud I am having some issues. My first pass is to take off about half of the material. The problem starts on the second pass, it just starts tearing up the wood from the start. i have no idea what is wrong, any suggestions??? Im pretty much stuck


You didn't say which Freud bit you were using so I'm guessing it looks something lke the one pictured. 
That is a pretty large bit. I would probably run something like that in at least 3, probably 4 passes. Max rpm around 13,000. Lots of support against the fence.


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## Dmeadows (Jun 28, 2011)

I think I would want to run the profile on a wider board and rip to width after routing. Looks to me like there would be little if any contact with the fence for 2nd or later passes. Use a tall subfence, if necessary, to have something to run the wider board against! 

Just my thoughts after looking at profiles of a number of those type bits. Like John I don't know which profile you have.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Router Forums - View Single Post - Mitered raised panel doors

http://www.routerforums.com/table-mounted-routing/23364-mitered-raised-panel-doors.html


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## fax6202 (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks for the input guys.

A few points, I have my tall fence on for this, I also needed the thickness so that the back side of the bit did not hit the fence.

mgmine - I am running it between 3 and 4 on my bosch router, not that fast, as far as the grain and going in the right direction, how do I determine that? I started on some oak, but being as it is a tough wood to route, I switched over to some Walnut, or at least some of the sap wood I cut out of the Walnut. I have a ton of Walnut and Oak as to test and test until i get it right.

jschaben - Yes that is the bit

DMeadows - you are correct sir, after the first pass the piece will not sit against the fence properly due to the profile, so I left a bit on the top and positioned the feather boards so that they were pressing on the top portion of the wood.

bobj3 - great work on the raised panel door. that is one large bit, but you have a horizontal router and the bit doesnt look to be taking of that much material. How many passes did you make.

My results from today. This was about 5 passes and it looks good, however there is definitely some chattering on the coved portion of the profile


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Dmeadows said:


> I think I would want to run the profile on a wider board and rip to width after routing. Looks to me like there would be little if any contact with the fence for 2nd or later passes. Use a tall subfence, if necessary, to have something to run the wider board against!
> 
> Just my thoughts after looking at profiles of a number of those type bits. Like John I don't know which profile you have.


Something like this Duane?


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## Dmeadows (Jun 28, 2011)

harrysin said:


> Something like this Duane?


Hi, Harry. I was thinking wide, not thick. But your way should work also! Just need support somewhere to keep the work piece oriented properly.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

Going too slow is as bad as going to fast so you might want to try speeding it up. It looks like you only have one feather board. I would use four, two to hold the piece tight to the table and two to hold it down to the table any bouncing around will result in a bad edge. Also run the wood wider and cut it down to size as suggested.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

This is the same topic I posted about last week (although you did a much better job of explaining it)...it seems that using a wider board in order to keep a flat face on the fence is the only solution that worked for me...I considered using a "temporary" fence to move the wood with the miter fence but it really doesn't work with long pieces and it still puts the wood between a fence and the bit...
Crossing the line between persistence and stubborn I am going to try to make a couple of small lengths for my fence that are a negative of the bit so that the cut surface will have something to ride on...dunno...will post progress...I'd hate to have to make a negative for every molding bit if this works...cheez...where are those ancient aliens that helped the Egyptians...On the other hand I may find out that I'm looking for the silver bullet and I should just "KISS" it...


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