My first juice groove didn't work out

[Duane N]

   

This was my first (and probably last) attempt at putting in a juice groove in an end grain cutting board. 


Thankfully this cutting board was the smaller of the three I made so it became the crash test dummy.  I will set it aside, finish the remaining two boards (without juice grooves), sell them and purchase a larger bit to try to cover up my mistake.

[atgcpaul]

Did you free hand it with an edge guide or use a router table and fence? I have made several edge grain boards (not end grain) and used a router table and fence. I also routed the groove in several passes, not one deep one. Much less chance of mishaps that way.

The juice groove is a very nice feature to have.

[KyleD]

This was my first (and probably last) attempt at putting in a juice groove in an end grain cutting board. 


Thankfully this cutting board was the smaller of the three I made so it became the crash test dummy.  I will set it aside, finish the remaining two boards (without juice grooves), sell them and purchase a larger bit to try to cover up my mistake.

Perhaps you didn't notice the rotation of the bit. You always have to router in the direction where the bit pulls the router towards your fence. You can move the fence over on those grooves and make them a little wider but straight. I suggest you do that and figure out how to make the rotation of the bit work for you rather than against you, Routing the wrong way on a straight edge can lead to much nastier surprises than that crooked line.

[barryvabeach]

Duane,  I have made a similar error more times than I would like to admit.  As the others have pointed out, when you use a fence or an edge guide, if the feed the work from one direction, the rotation of the bit forces the work into the fence or edge guide, virtually guaranteeing a straight cut, if you feed it the other way, the bit forces the work away from the fence, causing the problem you show, and potentially kicking the work.  You don't need a bigger bit to fix the one with a problem, you just need to set the fence a little bit farther away from the edge and take another pass on that side, and the other 3, and no one will ever know you made a mistake.  Before you do that, though , make sure you are feeding the work from the right direction - I try to think it through each time, but it might just be easier to refer to a diagram.    Here is one site that discusses it  -  http://www.newwoodworker.com/rtrfeeddir.html  you need to pay particular attention to the section on Router Table operation  .  Here  is another http://woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip012100ws.html

This is another site that explains how to do it with a fence, and remember, that enlarging a dado can call for a different feed direction than making the dado in the first pass.http://keithlarrett.com/2009/11/04/router-feed-direction-and-bit-rotation/

[Alan S]

Routers go left!

[mdhills]

Was a fence used?
(the error seems to be into the workpiece;  when I've had a route escape a fence's control, it normally goes the other way, where teh fence is no longer tight against the edge)
Matt

[Cooler]

Those are useful "juice reservoirs".

[Bob10]

This was my first (and probably last) attempt at putting in a juice groove in an end grain cutting board. 


Thankfully this cutting board was the smaller of the three I made so it became the crash test dummy.  I will set it aside, finish the remaining two boards (without juice grooves), sell them and purchase a larger bit to try to cover up my mistake.

So what does the other side look like?  Any chance chamfering the messy side and flipping it over

[brnhornt]

Another idea....just cut it an inch and a half narrower on all sides...then decide if you want to try again

[Duane N]

Did you free hand it with an edge guide or use a router table and fence?  I have made several edge grain boards (not end grain) and used a router table and fence.  I also routed the groove in several passes, not one deep one.  Much less chance of mishaps that way.

The juice groove is a very nice feature to have.

I made a jig for the router to follow and it got away from me on the third pass when the router came off the outside guide.  I ended up buying a larger bit and was able to clean up my mess but the juice groove is 3/4" wide.  This one will be given to a family member who won't care how it looks.