Router Bit Grabbing

[dusty]

Ed, your comments are most valuable and very good advice. Having the safety pin installed does nothing unless the material is rested against it when the cut starts.

In this case, I was pushing it. The work piece was relatively small and I was starting the cut very close to the end. But the incident did not happen at the start. I was well into the cut when it kicked out at me.

[foxtrapper]

This is one of those situations, that occur in a shop from time to time, that I just dread. Without knowing exactly what was wrong, what do you correct? If you correct nothing, will it happen again? Most likely!

Hate those as well.

I've had trouble with pine before, having to do with the softness of the wood. Mostly that it was inconsistent, and has some areas of tremendous softness. Where the bearing sank into the wood, and the router teeth sank in extra deep.

I have not lost a piece of wood, but that's only because of the way I was working. Almost always holding the heavy router with the wood clamped down. So I ended up with a routed gouge in the piece. If I had been holding the piece of wood instead, it's far more likely that the router tooth/teeth would have thrown the wood instead of cutting it.

Not saying that's what happened to you, but something to think over and consider.

[dusty]

I'm going back to the shop today and I will keep those thoughts in mind. I don't have much of that wood left to work with but I'll use what I have to try to get to the bottom of this.

[mickyd]

[quote="dusty"]This is one of those situations, that occur in a shop from time to time, that I just dread.............

I must go back and do this again. I don't want this to be like my shaper experience. I have not used the shaper since I had the accident years ago and probably will not. Now the shaper experience was horrific]
dusty - I think its a good idea post your incident at a router forum such as http://www.routerforums.com/. If there are degrees of this problem occurring and you happened to have had a minor degree happen, it would be wise to get an answer before a potential major incident happens.

What happened with your shaper incident?

[Ed in Tampa]

Pine is an interesting wood. We naturally assume it to be soft wood yet certain yellow pine is some of the hardest wood I have ran into. Find an old southern house built of yellow pine and try to drive a nail or even better pull one out of the roof truss. Good luck!

That said I have found that white pine while usually soft can have a funny grain running through it that is harder than nails. I suspect that depending how the router bit encounters that change in grain could effect the resulting forces. I can see a piece being tossed or grabbed. I have more than once see whole sections of wood chunk out for no apparent reason.

As I mentioned in another thread I have seen wood literally blow apart while being jointed. If the operator had had his hands flat on the board as is common for many on the jointer, his hands would have contacted the spinning blades.

White pine is super fast growing, my wife got 50 seedings about 30 years ago. She planted them everywhere in clumps of 4 and 5. Today those trees are over 6 feet around and 75+ feet high. I have watched them twist so a limb on one side has been turned the whole way around the tree. I can only imagine the energy that has built up in those trees.

I have a buddy that lives in the Carolinas where they get ice storms. A pine bent over in the ice storm and finally the 3 ft diameter trunk broke and threw the whole tree with enough force to cover 20 yards and smash through the brick siding on his house he had about 10 foot of tree in his bathroom. Needless to say that spring he cut every tree within 60 feet of his house down.

[reible]

OK,

If the kick out happened while you were into the cut then I can think of only 2 things that make any since.

One is that you are trying to keep on both the safety pin and the bearing, once the cut is started you want to be clear of the safety pin. I often get a cut started then stop and pull the pin then start again as the pin gets in the way and you don't need or want it during the cut.

The second thing is you are climb cutting. I know you think you are going the right way but make sure that is the case. When you start getting shapes you really need to think which is the right way. With a table it is the left hand rule, lay you left hand on the table and point your thumb in the direction you are pushing the wood into the bit and the fingers point the direction you want to move the wood. So if the wood is between you and the bit you are pushing the wood back away from you and the feed is to from the right side going to the left side. If the bit is between you and the work piece it is just the opposite.

You might want to make a handle and attach it to the pattern piece for better control. What might be easiest is to make two vertical handles from some 1-1/2 dowels my screwing though the pattern and adding some glue to the dowel before screwing in place.

Are you using double side tape to hold the pattern on or some other method?

You have cut the material so you have only about 1/16 to 1/8 left to be cut with the router? The bit looks like a 1/4", you might want to go to a 1/2" if you have one.

Chip outs I can see from the pine but the grabbing is more then likely not due to that but more likely something else but if you want to check that out cut yourself a piece of some other scrap wood you have laying around and try routing that....

Ed

Ed, your comments are most valuable and very good advice. Having the safety pin installed does nothing unless the material is rested against it when the cut starts.

In this case, I was pushing it. The work piece was relatively small and I was starting the cut very close to the end. But the incident did not happen at the start. I was well into the cut when it kicked out at me.

[beeg]

JUSt a WILD thought here. But where ya cutting with the grain, like ya wood on the jointer?

[dusty]

JUSt a WILD thought here. But where ya cutting with the grain, like ya wood on the jointer?

Yes and No. The piece is curved and about half the cut is across grain.

[curiousgeorge]

Yes and No. The piece is curved and about half the cut is across grain.

There is your answer. When the grain changes you are subject to catches.

[fjimp]

Dusty,

For many years white pine was a favorite to work with in my home workshop . In recent years I discovered it is frequently hateful to work with. I remember as a kid driving nails into pine without a thought and never experiencing a crack. I also remember routing it with no kick back issues. More recently I have learned to detest working with it. I find if a hole drilled for a screw is the least bit tight pine cracks. I tried to use some for a template last year I gave up after destroying four scrap pieces and changed to plywood. Do I know the answer to your experience, No Way. I'm am clueless. I do know I avoid working with pine I also know that far too many new router bits are not as sharp as the manufacturer would have us believe. Stay safe my friend. Jim