Tearout when routing dados- Question of the Week

June 27, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week 

This week’s question comes from Ralph. He writes:

When I rout a dado or rout a dovetail socket, I get tearout at the beginning and end of the cut. What options other than kniving the outline of the dado or socket?

And here was my reply:

“Hey Ralph. By far, the easiest thing to do is take a couple pieces of scrap that are the same thickness as your workpiece, and butt them up against the ends. Its a good idea to clamp them into place. The scrap pieces will essentially sandwich the workpiece. So when you start and finish the cut, the fibers of the workpiece will be completely supported and there should be little to no tearout. Hope that helps.”



Comments

5 Responses to “Tearout when routing dados- Question of the Week”

  1. LordLQQK on June 28th, 2007 6:32 am

    Didn’t seem to post last try…..

    It could help if you start at the extremes of the dovetail (right and left), then do a light scoring cut across the face, then plow out the rest of the middle. Check the bit for sharpness too.

  2. thewoodwhisperer on June 28th, 2007 7:24 am

    Hey Lord. Thanks for bringing my attention to the fact that I completely forgot that the word dovetail was in his post. lol. oops.

    You are exactly right. But it is hard to tell if he was talking about making the dovetails on a jig, or if he meant a sliding dovetail. Well just in case it was a jig, I would also recommend putting masking tape on the front and back of the piece where the cutting will take place, as this will reduce tearout significantly.

  3. Jeff Jackson on June 28th, 2007 8:02 am

    Spags,

    Cut the dovetails by hand and you won’t have to worry about tearout! :)

  4. jim erwin on June 29th, 2007 12:33 pm

    Just tried the idea of putting tape on the piece prior to cutting dovetails with a jig.

    Worked great. I was always having blow outs with the plywood. Had to adjust the set up a little to compensate for the added thichness.

    What a pleasure to not have all that blowout!!

  5. Ben on June 29th, 2007 12:44 pm

    What type/brand of dado blade are you using?

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