Hey all, working on a new guitar body and I'm using ambrosia maple for the first time. This wood seems very hard and has some fun figuring to it. So I just profiled the body with my router and I got a bunch of small tearouts.... doesn't seem too serious, I think I can sand these out with some elbow grease and, as mark says, my "up and downer" lol....
So my question is why did this happen? I'm using speed 2, which according to my manual is around 13k RPM. My bits are all quality (Rockler, Trend, Amana) and seem sharp.... I was taking 2-3mm passes. It didn't happen all the way around, just in a few certain spots.... Was I running at the wrong speed? Is this just a quirk with ambrosia maple? Mine is salvageable, but I want to try and avoid this happening again.
Thanks!
-Chris
Hi Chris, I had a similar experience on my last build and, from what I can see in your photos, the breakout was in much the same positions on the body as on mine. In these areas the direction of rotation of the cutter blades are lifting the grain of the wood. In those areas it might be better to make the cut in the opposite direction. To try to explain further, if you put the router against your workpiece, the direction of rotation wants to pull it in one direction, this is known as a “climb cut”. Generally when routing we use a “push cut”, that is we push the router in the opposite direction to the way it wants to go, thus giving greater control of the tool and making it safer. The areas where breakout occurred might have been better done with a climb cut. I guess the trick is knowing when to expect it to happen and take the appropriate action. Looks to me like there’s end grain involved in the areas affected. I was running my router at approx 20k RPM and taking my time making the cut.
Looking forward to hearing what others have to say on the matter.
All the Best,
Brian👍😃🎸
Hey @somethingnicer,
I think @brie had hit it on the head. The figuring in wood is the grain going in different directions and potentially density. As you've found out this can make carving out routing a bit more tricky.
I've found this picture online that describes kinda what Brian's on about. I've marked my body temple with arrows like this as a reminder when profiling.
With figured wood I really nibble away at it and not take too much off at one time
Dan
@liebe That’s a great photo Dan, I’m going to copy that for future reference 👍😃. Glad to hear that your body is a temple, with arrows drawn on it🤣🤣🤣
Brian👍😃🎸
Just another thought on he diagram Dan has posted. I see that the direction of rotation of the bit is ANTI-CLOCKWISE but shouldn’t it be CLOCKWISE, in which case the start and stop points and direction of moving the router would need to be reversed? 🤔I’m going to stop there, my head’s beginning to hurt🤪 I think a beer might be required 🤣🤣🍺👍😃🎸
🤣 @brie I think you're right! I was looking online for the diagram I'd seen before and thought this was it without checking. Glad I only made an ass out of me with that assumption!
This is why I've drawn the direction arrows on my body template for profiling!
Apologies if the image has thrown anyone off
@brie That makes sense, Thanks!