Routing End Grain

[tin can]

HI All

I am getting ready to round the heel of my neck to make it fit into the neck pocket.

I am getting a little nervouse of tearout on the end grain

Having lost the last neck to a rather vicious splintering , I was wondering if anyone has any advice or tricks to keep this nasty in the closet.

Thanks

Travis

Edited November 30, 2006 by tin can

[Mickguard]

HI All

I am getting ready to round the heel of my neck to make it fit into the neck pocket.

I am getting a little nervouse of tearout on the end grain

Having lost the last neck to a rather vicious splintering , I was wondering if anyone has any advice or tricks to keep this nasty in the closet.

Thanks

Travis

Try backing into it?

[westhemann]

sharp router bit...but i always round the corners with sandpaper...

that bit you used the last time must have been seriously dull to splinter maple...don't get me wrong,accidents can happen,but the one thing you should go ahead and spend extra on is a good router bit...otherwise you WILL lose more in ruined wood than you gained from the cheaper cost of the cheaper bit

[biliousfrog]

it normally happens because the cutter is pushing the grain away from the edge so I'd stick to shaping that last little bit by hand...or even better do what westhemann said & use sandpaper.

[JohnRossitter]

Belt Sander!

[Sambo]

Robosander!

S

[Supernova9]

Disc Sander!

(let's see how long we can keep this one going for!)

[Desopolis]

oscilating sander!

[Jester]

Random orbit sander!

(not really...)

[postal]

Anytime you rout the outside shape of anything..... You should have the wood within about 1/16" the right size, and depending on the grain direction, you need to adjust the speed you move the router..... If the neck is very close to right size, go slow, and use a good sharp bit, you shouldnt have any difficulty.

[GregP]

Sanding stick!

(also not really)

[guitar2005]

Try backing into it?

I'm not sure what you meant here but it sounds dangerous to me.

The first safety rule with regards to routers is feed direction. ALWAYS feed against the rotation of the router bit. Feeding with the direction will potentially throw the workpiece and destroy it at the same time.

To avoid tearout on end grain, you have to rout the piece so that the tear out can be cleaned up on the sides. On a router table, that means going counter-clockwise with the workpiece, again, against the rotation of the bit. If the wood splinters, that means that you are trying to take too much material off at once.

For a neck, with a you want to rout like this:

-------1-<--------

-------------------| 2

-------------------v

-------3-<--------

In maple, I only take 1/8" off in depth at once. In thickness, for a 3/4" piece and up, you probably want to keep it at about 1/16". If you didn't bandsaw close enough to your lines, try putting a slighty larger diameter ball bearing guide so that you take less material off on your first pass. Take your time and plan the cut before even turning the router on. Visualize the cut before making it.

Another thing to ensure that your router bits are sharp. You should be producing shavings, not dust.

Edited December 1, 2006 by guitar2005

[Prostheta]

Axe.

Topical joke.

[Jon]

Belt Sander!

!

[tin can]

HI All

Thanks for that, sorry I have been out of touch for a few days

SO sanding it the best way then.

Oh, the neck is made from walnut, the router bit it bad. So Sanding is going to be much better on my nerves

Thanks again

Travis