Always check everything when you unpack it.

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I recently purchased a few templates and a router bit and extension for bowls .
Figured when the weather gets warmer ,and I need something easy to work on at night, Id try a few serving trays and bowls.
I had cut up some wood to glue up for a heart shaped dish for my wife, but I hate to glue up in the freezing cold, seems I always end up with a bad glue up, so I decided to wait for warmer weather.
While looking for something yesterday, I noticed a 12 footer of 12 inch wide, 2.5 inch thick maple , I had bought monday, and around 14 inches or so was sticking out. I took my circular saw and cut it off.
I didnt joint or plane it, it was pretty flat.
I went back out last night, attached the template to the block of 12x14 hard maple, and went to the drill press.
I put in a forstner and drilled out all the center of the heart shaped dish.
Pretty good so far, my hands were frozen solid, so I called it a night, and got reprimanded for being outside in the cold.(Its like Im an 8 year old and she watches me like a hawk)
I finished up painting today, or had enough, and ran outside to continue.
I played with my plunge router a little, since I havent used it in a while, got familiar with it, and decided to look over the new bowl bit.
Took the rubber coating off the cutting edges, tugged on the bearing, and put it in the router and examined it all for a while.
Started it up, revved up the rpms, since the first second of cutting wasnt getting through the maple, then it went like butter.
Then my mistake.
I tugged on the guide bearing but I never checked it with the allen wrench provided, it felt secure. It wasnt.
It slid up, the bit went under the lucite template, and thats it.
The template is not ruined, but the bit cut into the inside edge of the dish, and there isnt much I can do to save it.(I didnt realize at first what happenned and thought something else)
One tiny slip up, and thats that. Alot of work down the drain.
I finished up the routing, for practice at this point.
This is what I ended up with, did not do much sanding, rounded over the edges, I will not toss it, maybe hang it up to remind myself to always check everything out of a new package with more than a tug.
. And now I cant get at any more thick maple unless I move a few hundred bf of other wood, which aint happenning too fast.

this thread is not for you experienced guys, its for the newcomers to this hobby. I thought a bit of solid advice as common sense as it is, would save someone else the couple of hours of wasted time.

I apologize for the long thread for such a tiny topic, Im just ticked off at myself for being such a moron.
 

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allen as i see it you could make the size inside a touch larger and redo the shape and it would be good as new.. may need to make your own template to make the new inside size ,, but i think you can do it :)!! i ll trade you that bad bowl, for a door that fell and broke into 6 pieces some time back:)
 
I had this 99 cent store drum sanding bit, that came with different grit drums.
I thought about rerouting it, but eh, I sanded out the bottom a bit, and it is what it is, I try again.

but then my daughter saw it, and told me shes going to love it, so now my second piece of advice for the youngsters here.
when your work isnt up to par, go sappy, it works
I took out that dremel that I havent used, and figured a little engraving will help out my poor work. Hey, its only wood.
 

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My original thought was like Larry, create a new/larger template and make the rim narrower. Then I wondered if it were a lidded box and if so, put an arrow of conflicting wood at a diagonal and then notch that bad spot out so the arrow fit through that locking the lid in place.
 
I'd say you couldn't do any better then to leave it the way it is. with the note on the bottom, if she saw it you probibly couldn't get it away from her.
 
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