Getting rid of router bit burn - Scraped clean

Rennie Heuer

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Constantine, MI
I have a few small areas that burned yesterday while routing some indents in my table legs. Other than wearing my fingertips to the bone does anyone have any suggestions on what the best way to remove these might be?:dunno:
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Lost me.:huh:
Can you be more specific? Not sure exactly what you mean by "Make one for the indent."

rennie i had sent you a pm, but i hadnt seen the pics.. what she is saying i think is to make one out of a old saw blade and basically you need to have it bent in a shape of a allen wrench so you can handle it from above but get into the corner think a junk screw drive flatted and sharpened then bent at 90 degrees to get at your corner then scrape off the burn with it.
 
rennie i had sent you a pm, but i hadnt seen the pics.. what she is saying i think is to make one out of a old saw blade and basically you need to have it bent in a shape of a allen wrench so you can handle it from above but get into the corner think a junk screw drive flatted and sharpened then bent at 90 degrees to get at your corner then scrape off the burn with it.
I'll try this.

This whole thing is actually my own fault. I was not paying attention to the depth of the bit and cut the indents twice as deep as they should be. They should be just over 1/16" and mine are just over 1/8". Had they been shallower I would not be having this problem.:doh::doh:
 
This looks interesting. Might run over to the borg to see if there is anything like it since waiting for delivery would be inconvenient.
Sorry Rob. Probably a good idea but I have a very old Dremel with no variable speed. I tried several different sanding solutions with it and they all burned the end grain or were much too aggressive and burned.:(

Back to scraping. (Which is working, just a bit slow)
 
Sorry Rob. Probably a good idea but I have a very old Dremel with no variable speed. I tried several different sanding solutions with it and they all burned the end grain or were much too aggressive and burned.:(

Back to scraping. (Which is working, just a bit slow)

one thing is for sure you wont make this mistake again in avery long time you seem to learn fast as you take the medicine for hurrying to much:) been there done that:)
 
Larry got it. Something that allows your fingers to stay out of the way.

BTW, lots to be said for test cuts, huh? :doh: :rolleyes: ;)

FWIW, with regard to getting burned marks out. Two things. First, sanding smears the burned fibers into the surrounding non-burned fibers, making the job bigger than it is. Second, sanding tends to be concentrated on the burned area leaving one with a divot. Scraping spreads the removal over a larger area tending to disguise the fact that material has been removed.

And finally, if I may intrude further. The cause of burning is not cutting too deep. It is the result of one or both of three things. Dull, dirty cutters or dwelling too long in one spot. Which brings up another point, especially in an operation like the one you pictured. The tips of the cutter dull way before the edge of the cutters. Reason is the tips are always involved in the cut. The whole edge of the cutter rarely is.

Got a jeweler's eye piece a decade ago or so. It was in conjunction with a sharpening class I was conducting. Amazing what can be seen with one of those things. Well worth the $15 or so it cost. I pitched a few bits with worn tips and sharp edges. Seems they always burned when I used them! Whoddah thunk? :huh::rofl:
 
Methinks you will be flopping yer mop a long time trying to sand those away.
Being, admittedly, less skilled and experienced than most here, I almost pitched in early with "dull" bits. But held back for fear of revealing my ignorance. But, as Carol pointed out, dull is a major factor on burn marks.
Cure? Cut again with a new and sharp bit.
 
Rennie, is there any way to adapt the design to make the hollowed area say 1/16 or 1/32" longer, and just re-route the end?
A moot point now as I have already done the scraping. However, no. The knuckles at the end of the leg effectively changes the angle at which the leg fits into the jig thereby changing the look of the indent. I could have shimed it, but knowing the router is the one machine that can ruin a project the fastest (DAMHIKT) I decided to go the more neander route.:rofl: Had I double checked on the depth of the indent things might not have been so bad. Yes, I might still have had some burning for reasons stated by others, but the wals of the indent would have been much shallower and the subsequent rounding over of the sides to smooth them out would have all but eliminated them.
 
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