wood woes

[scubabob]

i have a Makita 3612 router which i love to play with. i make a lot of my own mouldings and most of the are pretty good, if i may say so. I do however have a bit of a problem that sometimes occurs.

I normally run a moulding in thirds, not taking too much out in one chop but i notice that sometimes part of the edge is as smooth as a baby's bum while other parts are feathered. Is this caused by running against a grain?

[soundman]

probaly yep.

cheers

[Just George]

Soundman is on the money, you'll find when planing timber on a jointer, electric plane or router that this will happen when going against the grain. You'll see it when you're done but you'll normally hear it as well, it has a typical rougher sound than it does when planing with the grain.

Sometimes with the changes in grain direction in timber it isn't possible to plane in the direction you need to as the direction around a knot will be one way before the know and another way after it. So just plane away and try to minimise the amount as you have been by taking off small amounts at a time and try using a sanding sealer to fill the gaps in the timber if this is required.

[soundman]

A realy sharp router bit helps.

many of the cheaper router bits suffer too.
Many of the cheaper bits arent as accurate
Many of the cheaper bits are actualy smaller in diameter therfoer dont cut as smoothly.

cheers

[aniceone2hold]

One last tip, before starting your cutting operation try running your finger lightly over the wood to feel the grain direction. Odds are you will feel a slight bit of drag against the grain. Anything you can do to make the cutting operation smoother will result in a better finish.

[scubabob]

Thanks guys