Greedy router grabs the wood

That happens to me too if i cut against the grain or partial end grain. Keep lightening up you cut till it cuts better, and try resting your work against a pin on the table top.by all means cut the same direction as the grain. If all else fails go to belt sanding.
Just a suggestion,
Herb

Are you feeding the router in the correct direction? The blade of the bit needs to move forward toward the direction that you are moving the router. If it is moving in the same direction as you are moving the router, it will climb out of the cut and pull the router.

Charley

listen to Herb...

Flip the part upside down, so the grain is the opposite direction.

Yup - looks like your cutting into the end grain and it's grabbing. Flip the piece over and cut with the grain.

Herb nailed it. Theoretically a router should make a cleaner cut than sanding. But that's not guaranteed on end grain.

What stick said.

Thanks all for the super quick responses!
I got the answers that I expected, meaning I knew what to do, so the problem wasn't in the knowing but the doing. I thought the cuts were light enough, but maybe not. It is basically an end-grain cut. Flipping the piece to go in the other direction of the grain didn't solve the problem. Again, looks like I was doing the right thing, just not good enough. As I don't have a belt sander and didn't want to risk ruining the pieces, I finished them out by hand - file, sand paper, spokeshave. Not a lot of fun with eucalyptus, the results less than I would have liked, but passable. Hopefully next time will be better.

A spiral bit might fare better since it’s cutting at an angle to the grain instead of a straight 90. I had the same problem recently when I was trying to use one chair arm as a template for the other. I didn’t have a bearing guided spiral to try. I wound up just sanding it to match the other since one didn’t need to be a perfect mirror image of the other. Just close enough to fool the eye.

It looks to me that you are not cutting in the correct direction.

On the top picture i would place the wood so that the holes are on top, the curve is to the right of the cutter. The template is on top, and the cut is about 1 mm.

Start from the widest part of the wood and feed to the left across the cutter as you turn the wood into the cutter.
Doing this would mean you are not cutting across the grain untill the very end of the wood.
This of course is assuming the cutter is new or in excellent condition with no chips or gum on the edges.

I havent seen eucalyptus before, I did not realise it was so red.

hankh said:

I thought the cuts were light enough, but maybe not. It is basically an end-grain cut.
As I don't have a belt sander and didn't want to risk ruining the pieces, I finished them out by hand - file, sand paper, spokeshave.

Click to expand...

Yep, I work mostly with plywood, and get that a fair amount of time, when my rough cuts are a bit further out from the line than they should be (usually 1/8" or less works, the less the better). I just keep taking tiny, shallow, cuts, until enough is taken off and I can rest my bearing against my master and finish up. I finish sand with my random orbit sander usually, but on occasion use sanding sticks. Sanding blocks would work well also. Works for me. Oh yes, I just use straight flush trim bits.

If you don't have a belt sander, want one, and don't want to buy one, there are plenty of free plans out there on how to make one, metal or wood. I figure the simple once will work at wall as the fancy ones.

hankh said:

Thanks all for the super quick responses!
I got the answers that I expected, meaning I knew what to do, so the problem wasn't in the knowing but the doing. I thought the cuts were light enough, but maybe not. It is basically an end-grain cut. Flipping the piece to go in the other direction of the grain didn't solve the problem. Again, looks like I was doing the right thing, just not good enough. As I don't have a belt sander and didn't want to risk ruining the pieces, I finished them out by hand - file, sand paper, spokeshave. Not a lot of fun with eucalyptus, the results less than I would have liked, but passable. Hopefully next time will be better.

Click to expand...

Seems I remember the term "climb cut" in regards to cutting against the grain and sometimes changing direction (feed) would help. I can't say I've tried this but the advice given is solid. A belt sander wouldn't hurt. I have the sanding wheel for my Shopsmith that helps in those cases that do a good job. Can't swear to it but I suspect the harder the wood the more difficult that cut will be.