[blackbeered]

I want to edge the the bedposts I've made, with the "profile" starting and finishing 6" before the ends of the posts.

One obvious choice is a "cove" bit [in my case a 1/2"R] which gives a symmetrical entry and exit. The "cove and bead" bit gives a terrific look but unsymmetrical entry and exit [I believe it's the 'nature of the beast' and not due to an adjustment I haven't tried?] ... high precision handwork, of which I am not capable, would be required 8X on each post!

Any ideas on other decorative router bits that would make short work of this task?

 

[CNYWOODS]

Chamfer bit.

 

[Dave Paine]

I want to edge the the bedposts I've made, with the "profile" starting and finishing 6" before the ends of the posts.

One obvious choice is a "cove" bit [in my case a 1/2"R] which gives a symmetrical entry and exit. The "cove and bead" bit gives a terrific look but unsymmetrical entry and exit [I believe it's the 'nature of the beast' and not due to an adjustment I haven't tried?] ... high precision handwork, of which I am not capable, would be required 8X on each post!

Any ideas on other decorative router bits that would make short work of this task?

Try a beading bit. You just need to set the height so that the vertical bead matches the fixed horizontal bead.

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/bt_bead.html

 

[blackbeered]

Should a Beading Bit Work and, If So, Why Haven't I Been Able to Get It to Work?

Thanks for the quick responses.

[These bits are being used in a table router.]

When I look at this "mechanically", I would think anytime I have symmetry along the 45-deg axis, it should work. [Thus, a chamfer bit would work.]

So when a 1/4"R cove bit is used with exactly 1/4" of height, I think I should get symmetrical entry and exit and I do. [The side of the bit is perpendicular to the table and the top of the bit parallel to it. And the when the bit install is 'parted' with an imaginary 45-deg ray, the cutting surfaces are exact mirror images.]

I had first tried this bit [https://picasaweb.google.com/AFfromMA/20130901?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfiisng_sbzZg#5918671628282664018] set up perfectly, I thought ... as evidenced by the even beads on the adjoining surfaces.

But as the pix [https://picasaweb.google.com/AFfromMA/20130901?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfiisng_sbzZg#5918671619544624658]shows, it didn't exit uniformly. Maybe I only thought I set it up perfectly?

So, is the consensus that this beaded cove bit should work and that I need to futz with its set-up some more?

 

[Dave Paine]

But as the pix [https://picasaweb.google.com/AFfromMA/20130901?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfiisng_sbzZg#5918671619544624658]shows, it didn't exit uniformly. Maybe I only thought I set it up perfectly?

It looks to my eyes that the bit did exit as well as it could. Even if you somehow eased out slowly, the profile on the exit will not be exactly the same as the length. The bit is not designed for that exit spot.

You will need to either accept this, hand carve/chisel to fix, or use a file or rasp to sand the start and ends of the profile to be the same.