Shopsmith Forums

Tonight we will lay out the bottom rail and the center key shaped rail/style.


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I have determined that the rails should be 32.625 inches in length. This bottom rail is on a radius. I will run the cope cuts before cutting the radius. Again the ruler is only being used as a spacer.




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I'll use 20 degrees for the center rail/style. This will make it easier to set up a miter gauge later on.






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The bottom of this piece is also on a radius. I have to add 3/8ths to the top and bottom to allow for the cope cut.





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The top and bottom of this piece get a cope or rail cut. The sides get a style or stick cut.






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I have 2 router tables set up. This one I use for rail cuts. I call it my KregSmith. I like my Shopsmith router table so much that I set this one up the same but with a 3 hp router.

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Our first cut is the square top end of the key. Working with the fence in place and a saefty guard I will push it through with a miter gauge while holding it down by hand.


Edit: I should mention that at this point I have cut the radius on the bottom of the key on the band saw and sanded it to the line on the drum sander.



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Now I have backed the fence off and added the starting pin. This is where the fun begins.







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Any time that I am free handing pieces through the router I like to attach some type of handle or grip. This large utility handle came from Lowes. I have added a 1 1/4 inch dowel to give a good grip. It keeps my hands well above the spinning cutter.







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You always want to make sure that you are hard set against the starting pin and ease the work piece into the cutter with plenty of meat to catch the bearing. I will some times even glue on temporary pieces for extra support. Notice that I have not cut the 20 degree angles as yet so we do not have to get to the very ends of the piece.







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This shot is taken from the back side of the router table to better show the action.

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This is a good look at the cope cut that we just ran on the arched bottom of the key.

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To finish the key shaped pieces I will first cut the sides at 20 degrees. Notice that it is a little off of my lay out line but using a degree that will lock in on my miter gauge will be easier and safer.






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Miter gauge set at 20 degrees with sacrificial fence attached.






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Now I can just hold the piece down and push it through the style cutter with the miter gauge.







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Now reverse the angle for the other side.







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This is a top and bottom view of the two finished pieces.

Today we will finish the rails and styles for the header. I wont bore you with the square pieces as they are just standard rail and style cuts, but I do want to point out some SAFETY ISSUES with the curved bottom rail.




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I have attached my safety handles to the bottom rail.





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If you remember we ran the rail cuts before cutting the curve. Rail cuts need to always be run first to prevent tear out. However this creates a problem when running the style cuts on curved pieces. Notice the X I have drawn on the tongue portion of the rail cut. This portion will be cut away upon contact with the style cutter and there is nothing above to contact the rub bearing. This would cause the piece to grab causing certain damage to the work piece and a verrrrry possible injury. This is the most common type of injury doing freehand work on a router table or shaper. When the work piece grabs it pulls fingers and hands into to cutter as well.







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The solution is to make contact with the bearing in the location I have drawn an arrow. Remember to mark the other end as well because you have the same problem when finishing the cut on the other end. This leaves a bit of hand work to be done but you still have all you fingers.







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Notice the pencil mark that I have free handed by eye. This area will need to be trimmed in with a sharp chisel along with the beaded portion of the cut. With a little practice with chisel and sand paper it will blend without a flaw.






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This is a dry fit of the rail and styles.

Thank you Mark . That’s a great presentation.

You are not only a very skilled woodworker, you are a great teacher as well. I'll bet I am not the only one on this forum that would love to spend a few days (weeks) in you shop just watching and learning. Thanks

Thanks for the complements guys, now if I could only learn to focus the camera**************

With the header dry fit and clamped together it is easy to make a pattern for the raised panels.




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I start with a panel a little wider and longer than the finished size. Working from the inside measurements of the frame I have drawn lines 1/4 inch in on the 2 square sides. The tongue is 3/8 deep so this will give 1/8 inch clearance for expansion and contraction of the panels. Next I just lay the panel under the frame and align the marks on the panel with the inside of the frame and trace the radius on the bottom and the angle on the key. This gives the finished size on the square portions and all we need to do is to add 1/4 inch to the traced lines.







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To accomplish this I simply use a small ruler and make a series of marks. All we need to do next is to play connect the dots. Well in this case the dashes.







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With one panel layed out this way all we need to do is cut and sand it to finished dimensions and us it as a template for the other 3 panels needed.

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I have cut and sanded all panels and marked the face side. (we need lefts and rights you know)




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Again using the miter gauge to stabilize the pieces I run the ends (cross grain) first










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Now I must make an apology because I am missing an important picture. The cut in the above photo is actually the last cut. Normally I would run the radius cuts last but on these small panels I decided that I needed all the stability I could get for the radius cuts so I did them after running the ends. I thought I got a shot of that process but somehow missed it. It is pretty much the same as running the bottom rails with the fence moved back and the starting pin in place. By running the ends first it greatly reduces the chance of the bit grabbing the workpiece. I just make sure to have plenty of contact with the bearing when entering the cut. On the end of the cut I just keep running the panel until I am several inches clear of the cutter. The releaf from the end cut also helps here to minimize grabbing. Good firm down pressure is needed during this cut and the safety handles are an absolute necessity.

A few thought on using starting pins.

As with everything that we do practice makes it both easier and safer. Working from a starting pin is one of the scariest procedures in woodworking. There is just now way around it, sometimes there is just no way to use any type of guard but in this process one of the round type guards like the round Shopsmith router guard could be used. The starting pin should be very solid. These in the Kreg tables screw into place and you can and should put good solid pressure on them and hold it until the work piece is slowly feed into the cutter and makes contact with the rub bearing an advanced forward just a bit. After that I find that control is not hard using only the bearing for support. The main thing is to have good pressure and support and take any precautions possible to minimize contact with the cutter.



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I certainly would not want to make these every day but they are finished and I can still count to 9 7/8" ---------buts that another story.