Best way to Chamfer

[sroxberg]

I am going to cut a chamfer on a 3/4 inch thick cherry board. The board is about 40 inches long.

I have a left tilting table saw with a good blade, and I have a Router Table and a brand new chamfer bit, but not a good brand. It was in a set of 20 that I picked up.

The edge will be very visible on the piece so I need it to be straight, clean, and not burned.

How would you do it? I've never cut a chamfer on the table saw before but it seems like it might be the better choice.

[Red Sawman]

This works for me ....

[Steve N]

Purpose of the chamfer? How big a chamfer do you plan?

I ask because the same word is used for "breaking and edge" which can be quickly, uniformly, and easily done with a block plane, a rasp, or a file. They can also be a defined edge which is a larger look.



If it is the defined edge I use the size of the piece to decide how I do it. I separate things into, is it easier to bring the work to the tool (smaller items) or bring the tool to the work (larger items) In this case TS for smaller, easier to handle items, and a hand held router for items that are larger, and would be cumbersome to drag over and onto the TS.

[sroxberg]

The chamfer will be pretty significant meaning that on a 3/4 inch board it will take off about 1/2" leaving 1/4" on the top of the board. So a big cut which caused me to question my usual approach which would be the router table and chamfer bit.

[glzahn]

I'd take a couple of passes with the chamfer bit on the router table.

[Bill Schneider]

40" long? I'd take the router to the work.

[jteneyck]

I would use a handheld router because that allows me to use a climb cut, which avoids tear out. Can't do that safely at the router table.

John

[Steve N]

^^^^^^^^

This


If you use the cheap bit or not I would figure in how much work will you do before routing, and how nice a piece do you want this to be? You could snag a Whiteside chamfer bit for less than 30 bux easy from Brian in sunny FL

[Hank Knight]

If you're going to climb cut this chamfer, do it in several passes. You might find the router hard to control if you try to take that much material in one pass.

[Anji12305]

Draw a line parallel to the top edge with a pencil.

With a sharp block plane, following the grain of the board, take light passes until you reach the desired line.