Dados in dodgy radiata

**rhook** · 13th March 2004, 06:22 PM

I'm very (very (very)) new to using a router, but have big plans. I've recently bought a decent router (a triton one, and the rest of the orange bits will arrive over the year). Today I sat down to knock up a simple stool thing, mainly so that I could practice dados.

I learnt an awful lot about making dados with a router the hard way. Four dados, one semi-decent one. But my, the next ones will be good.

Anyway, I digress. I was working with some pretty dodgy radiata, and found that the edges of the dado were quite furry - lots of long fibers flapping in the breeze, particularly along the right hand edge. Does this mean that I was cutting too slow, too fast, or shuld have had the router speed lower or higher?

**ozwinner** · 13th March 2004, 06:34 PM

Hi
Its the timber, radiator pine ( its only fit for burning ) she is no good.
Only use it to practice on.

Cheers, Allan

**journeyman Mick** · 13th March 2004, 07:06 PM

Pine does tend to do this, however it certainly won't help if your bit isn't sharp or the router speed is too low. If neither of these are at fault and you still want to use the radiata try marking out your joints with a sharp knife or chisel, especially across the grain. I use the router a fair bit for rebating in hinges, striker plates and latches and I find if I mark my cuts with a knife that I get pretty clean edges, even on the cheap & nasty pine that most jobs consist of.

Mick

**Robert WA** · 13th March 2004, 08:49 PM

Are you using the router on top with a guide or template, or underneath in a table? How many passes are you making to complete the cut?

I find that the "ragged" edge of a dado is generally the edge cut by the trailing bit. Try making a pass in both directions.

Marking out the dado with a sharp blade so that the surface fibre is cut will help.

**rhook** · 13th March 2004, 11:25 PM

Thanks for all the prompt replys. As soon as I saw them I did the whole "smack forehead and say d'oh" thing - I will certainly try scoring before cross cuts next time.

For what it's worth, I was using the router on top of the piece, with an edge guide. Some things I learnt very quickly:

- if the edge guide moves because it's not properly clamped, the result is pretty horrible;

- if you pick the router up while it's still running and drag across to the right without lifting it clear of the work, the result is pretty horrible;

- if you don't have a good flat surface to work on, the result can be pretty horrible.

**zymurgy** · 14th March 2004, 12:20 AM

Use a guide bush in your router, make a jig to suit and wander to your hearts content, your dado will always be the same.

See template guide usage for some ideas.

Gordon.

**Grunt** · 14th March 2004, 03:27 AM

rhook,

I recommend that you go out and buy yourself a good book on routing. Check out this thread. Book for router basics

There are a lot of things you can do with a router that you didn't know that you could. It'll also save you a lot of wood.

Grunt

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