Thread: How to round over drawer rails ?

5/16" radius roundover or half cove bit on the router table. Align the cutter with the fence; you can probably feed a few at a time if you clamp them together with a square backing/guide board. A single pass with the roundover bit or two passes with the half cove bit. A minor bit of sanding may be required, but if the setup is good it won't be much.

Only 20 just use a cork block a glass paper

I ended up making a rough and ready jig. Rounded off 4 corners of a block of pine 20mm thick using a disk sander, and selected the corner with the best 8mm radius. Then set up a fence 16mm from the edge, put on a toggle clamp and away we went with a flush bit on the router table.

Because of the grain on the rail, I did half the width, then flipped it over to do the other half. Found I needed a stop block at the far end of the rail being rounded, so that they were the exact same length when I flipped it over.

Worked out well, as per the pics. Some ends needed a bit of sandpaper in to make them exactly snug. Looks like the bit grabs the rail and moves it forward a smidgeon, enough to be visible - i.e the rounded halves were not exactly symmetrical on some. So I put a couple of business cards against the stop and did them again, a little bit more carefully. Fortunately I had left the rails 20mm oversize for this eventuality


lP1020115 Large.jpgP1020119 Large.jpgP1020181 Large.jpg


P1020114 Large.jpgP1020183 Large.jpgP1020184 Large.jpg

I would never have thought of doing it that way. There's more than one way to skin a cat.