Octogon router bit - Help!

Hey Guys,
I haven't posted for a while because i have moved into my new house and we have no internet :doh:! About a year ago i posted pics of a wishing well i made for my - I mean our, wedding https://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/wishing-60067. As i wanted to make this perfect i went completly overboard with the construction and spent heaps longer that i needed. Once i had completed the body i was informed by timbecon about a router bit which allows you to make an octogon by only cutting one side of each bit of timber. :doh::U (would have been helpful at the start! )
I have just been asked by some close friends if i could make an identical one for their wedding in june. However i have just found out that timbecon has sold out of these bits. I am very limited with time at the moment and was wondering if anybody on the forum had one of these bits that i could use or buy??? Or... if any of the suppliers which timbecon supplies over east have any of these birdsmouth bits in stock?? I need the 8 sided one and here is a link to clarify - http://www.timbecon.com.au/products/...its-435_0.aspx
It wil be 3-4 months before timbecon gets any more, which would obviously be too late!
I really appreciate any help, and thanks heaps for reading the thread.
Cheers Steve

G'day Steve,
You're probably looking for a birdsmouth bit set.
Lots of places sell them
Carbatec, Carbitools, etc.
I bought a set from www.mcjing.com.au.
Three bits, for 4/6/8/12 sided thingos. The 6 sided and 12 sided are the same bit set differently.

Cheers Watson,
You stopped me stressing a bit the guy at timbecon said he had not seen them anywhere else so i got a bit worried. I rang the local carbetec and they olny had the really good ones at around 320 a set:oo:! i rang the guy you got yours from and he has them for 65 the set and is willing to send them over! hopefully they do the job, how have you found them in your experience - any tips?
Thanks again mate
cheers Steve

Good.....the Mcjing bits are Taiwanese made, and at the use they get around here they'll outlast me.
Come to think of..I think that's where a lot of the retail stores source the product from.
I found them accurate and good, and I'll find some set-up info and post it later tonight.

You don't need a router bit to make the birdsmouth joints, it just makes it easier. You can tilt the blade on your table saw and cut "V" in 2 passes or 1 with a dado if you are comfortable with the blade. First pass the board is flat and then second it is vertical (you can do it flat on both sides for the octagon). The blade tilt angle is determined by the number of sides. I am pretty sure the angle for the octagon is 45 degrees.

Learned about it in an old issue of Wooden Boat Magazine. You might check with them to see if they have it online.

http://www.woodenboat.com/index.html

If you really want the router bits you can get them from Lee Valley. They came out with them first I believe.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...168,46174&ap=1

cheers guys. i got the bits on friday and did the cuts on sat. I really need a good router table to make it heaps easier... but another thing on the list. QC - i don't have a table saw only a big radial that makes me very nervous whenever ripping so i wanted to try another option ( i used the radial on the first one).
Thanks again - Big help!
cheers steveo

Hi Steve

Birds mouth joins have been used in boat building for mast and boom construction for a long time - principally because they are self aligning and quite easy to cut.

May I suggest that you do a practice run before the real thing.

If you centre the birds mouth router in your timber, you will find that the square end that has to fit into the birds mouth is a little longer than the diagonal side of that mouth. This gives you two options:-. See rough picture.

* slightly off-centre the router bit, or (my preference)

* leave router centred and plane off lip after the glue has dried.

The latter effectively moves the join away from the final corner position and looks best, IMHO.

Cheers

Graeme