Sad Day in Guitar Building - Router Tearout Content inside!

[Nick Sorenson]

Here's what happened after around 2 hours of cutting a little at a time and hand sanding to get my headstock shaped to my desired profile:


I'm not sure what I did. I was careful on this end grain but one little chatter sent things out of control and I ended up with mulch for the front yard.

How do I avoid this? Routers and table routers scare me!

[Justin Cavender]

I always bandsaw outside the line then clean it up with a router off of a template. It is very easy this way.

[george wilson]

Since I hate router mess,I bandsaw and drum sand. Slower,but less dust everywhere.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Nice wood. I'd attempt a save. Perhaps walnut or another dark wood, Tounge N Groove (or just face glue, looks non stress joint) it on there. Put the blowout piece back on. Call it a stripe. Charge more for "custom" work.

[Steve Clardy]

Make that piece wider, profile, stopping short of the end, then trim to width.

[Nick Sorenson]

Well sounds like some good advice. Really sanding would have been a good idea. If I had a good drum sander I would have gone that route. I thought I could easily shave a little of the end grain off with the router. Well easy was right. Shave...... well I was wrong about that part. But I have a pretty chattery router. It's a cheap Chinese ebay find from the days before I bought real tools.

Next time I will use sandpaper wrapped around dowels and a few minutes of elbow grease.

Live and learn!

[george wilson]

Sounds like you need a better router. I am sure Fender routs every one of their pegheads. I just don't like the mess,and seldom use the same pattern,so it's easier to bandsaw and drum sand for me on 2 accounts. For Gibson style peghead tops,a router wouldn't get the detail anyway. I have a die filing machine for that spot.

[Nick Sorenson]

Originally Posted by george wilson

Sounds like you need a better router. I am sure Fender routs every one of their pegheads. I just don't like the mess,and seldom use the same pattern,so it's easier to bandsaw and drum sand for me on 2 accounts. For Gibson style peghead tops,a router wouldn't get the detail anyway. I have a die filing machine for that spot.

I've wondered about how Gibson does that. I think Leo Fender's idea on guitars was if a 1/2" router bit couldn't do it, it wasn't going to be done. I like his thinking.

G&L used SCMI R8's and templates up into the late 90's if not early 2000's. I'm sure those worked good.

I now have better routers. That one just happened to be the only one on a table. I picked up two old Rockwells for like $10 each a while back. Super nice old routers in my opinion.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

If you're in the market for a new router, W/C has the Freud router on sale again. 2 -1/2 hp, 1/2" collet..... $119. 2 bases. Router plate. Sweet deal.

[Matt Benton]

Maybe a spiral bit would have been less likely to tearout?

[Chris Tsutsui]

Jeeze, that is more like "blow" out.

The first time a router did a tear out on me was when I attempted to route a piece of wood that had a hair line fracture in it. haha

[Don C Peterson]

In my experience a spiral bit is much less likely to tear out like this.

[Myk Rian]

When routing end grain you should use a piece of scrap to back up where the bit will exit. Clamp or hold it tight against the stock at that point.
You don't need a better router as was suggested, but an upcut bit will help. My preference is Freud.

[David Keller NC]

Originally Posted by Nick Sorenson

Well sounds like some good advice. Really sanding would have been a good idea. If I had a good drum sander I would have gone that route. Next time I will use sandpaper wrapped around dowels and a few minutes of elbow grease.

Nick - since you don't have a drum sander, you might want to consider buying a small spokeshave and a cabinetmaker's rasp. The spokeshave will take off the bandsaw marks on the edge grain sections far, far faster than hand sanding with coarse paper, and for the end of the headstock, you can rasp the bandsaw marks off, shape it a little if necessary, then use a sharp mill bastard file to get the surface down to the point where just a little sanding with 220 grit is necessary to get a finish-radey surface.

One reason you might want to consider going this route is that maple end grain is u-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-y hard. It's really difficult to sand for the purpose of shaping (rather than just getting the surface ready for finishing).

[george wilson]

I find my Bosch router to be very nice. The way I check out a router is to turn it on,then off. Listen to how smooth (or how rattly) it sounds just as it is slowing to a stop. That means better bearings. My Bosch is so much smoother than Porter Cables I used to use,plus,it has variable speed for larger bits,and doesn't scream at somewhat lower speeds. I'm building a carving duplicator,and intend to use the Bosch in it.

My friend just bought a very expensive gunstock carver,a Dakota,and it came with a Milwaukee router.