Rosettes: Best way to make them

[Dave Norris]

Hi Everyone,
I need to make some rosettes for some trim, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to make them. It seems the drill press method gets mixed reviews at best. I've seen reference to using a shaper (which I have), but I'm not sure how that would work. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks!

[Joe Scharle]

I've made a few with a MLCS cutter on a drill press. If I select a tight grain area, the rosettes come out clean. BTW, my slowest speed is 550.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Dave, a lathe works well.........Rod.

[Robert Parrish]

I just made a bunch using the MLCS cutter head. It comes with 7 different cutters.

[Bill Jepson]

Dave I have used the drill press to make many rosettes and it works fine. What I do is to set up the cutter at a medium speed, and use a side support that attaches to T nuts in the slot on my DP. I use a fairly thin protective board under the material. I clamp the material to be cut to the table and start cutting. Depending on the grain you may notice some "grab" as the cutter bites be sure to tighten down the table to prevent it turning around the post. (Did I mention that my DP is a floor model?) The key that I have found is that I cut right into the top of the board and then I remove the Rosette cutter from the chuck and then place a hole saw the correct size to cut out the rosette in the chuck without moving the board. I remove the centering drill and use a hole saw deep enough that it can cut through the material. I use a medium speed for the cutter and usually slower for the hole saw. (Most of my rosettes have been 2.5 - 3 inches of larger in diameter.) since you don't move the material the hole saw is right on center on the rosette. If you plan for the size you need you will hardly have to do any clean up sanding at all. My wife loves to have me make her custom pull knobs for her furniture refinishing projects using the rosettes. They look great either stained and finished or painted.
Bill Jepson

[Mike Henderson]

Assuming you're going to make them on a relatively small, square piece of wood (and glue them in place), they're easy to make on the lathe.

Glue your block (centered) to a sacrificial piece of wood attached to a faceplate. Turn the rosette. Part off the wood from the sacrificial piece. Make the piece of wood that you cut the rosette into a bit large so you can trim it to get the rosette centered.

Very easy and you can be unique instead of being limited to the design in the commercial cutters. Also a LOT cheaper if you already have a lathe (those rosette cutters are expensive - at least the ones I've seen).

Mike

[Jim Nardi]

I have made alot of them on my drill press. You need to vacuum the cuttings up as your going. A 600 grit diamond hone to touch the cutter up every 10 cuts is also the way to go. 1 in 5 are destined to fail. Keep you 1/4 sawn stuff for Rosettes. For clamping your best off to make a little jig with clamp hold downs to keep vibration down.

[Jim Kountz]

I used a 6" vacuum drum on my lathe. I took a piece of mdf about 8" square and using the vacuum pump to hold in on the lathe, cut a groove that just fit over the edge of the vaccum drum I was going to use. In the middle of this I drilled a 1.5" hole. I then drew two lines from each corner to determine the center. Now all I had to do was cut my rosette blanks, line them up with my center lines and turn the vacuum on. The pump held the piece of mdf and my blank all at the same time. Turn the rosette, release the vacuum and replace it with another one and so on.
Worked great!! Only problem I had was getting two of them to look the same!!
Heres a pic of some practice ones I did, not sanded yet and a little rough but thats basically because I stink at turning rosettes!!

[William Hutchinson]

You may consider carving your own after viewing this video: http://charlesneilwoodworking.com/ca...eo=rosette.flv

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
A few weeks ago I was in Hartville Hardware and picked up a carbide 2 1/2" rosette cutter on closeout for $38.00. - which was 1/2 price.
I tried it out last weekend in my GMC 1/2 HP benchtop DP using a piece of scrap 3/4" plywood.
I left the DP on it's speed setting since changing it is such a chore.

I was more concerned about the DP having enough power and runout than actual quality of the test cut.

It worked very well. I got nice crisp edges - well - as crisp as B/C plywood would allow - and only a couple of burn spots.

My final conclusion is that using the 2 1/2" cutter is on the same level as using a 35mm Forstner bit - maybe just a bit easier on the stock and the DP.

Use the best quality rosette cutter you can afford and make sure it's got a 1/2" shaft. Slow down the DP to it's slowest setting. Clamp your work good and tight. Keep a close eye on your feed rate. Use good material for the rosettes.

I was very apprehensive going in about how my piece of junk GMC benchtop would handle the 2 1/2" cutter. It worked ok. I'm confident now I'm good to go w/making the dozen or so rosettes I need.

[Dave Norris]

Thanks everyone for the replies. That helps. I don't have a lathe, and my drill press is homemade (and about 50 years old). The speed is pretty slow, and I'm not sure how it will handle going faster. Maybe speed it up a little and go really really slow and steady.

Thanks again.

[Tim Lynch]

I bought the cheapo no-name rosette cutter set from I don't remember where with the head and three pattern blades. I definitely had to hone the cutter before use. Basically you just lap them if I recall; not sure you have to do too much on the bevel side of the blade. It made a big difference!

I mounted the cutter in a drill press and cut successively down a board, then crosscut into squares afterward. Much easier to clamp a board than a small block and it felt much safer. Careful layout helps.

I was cutting rift sawn white oak to be used as window and door casing accents. They weren't super smooth, but once installed it's one of those things that you tend not to notice after a while.

Too much feed pressure and you tear out; too little and you risk burning. Burning was impossible to sand out, so I lived with a little tearout.

For a few rosettes I'm satisfied with the "investment," LOL. Once in a while the disposable stuff gets the job done.

Good luck!