Panel Grooves on Cabinet Feet

[GK1]

Hi folks

I have a well equipped workshop used for joinery work but I'm trying my hand at furniture.

I've made a cabinet where the feet extend to the floor a few inches below the bottom rail. The sides are panelled so I grooved the legs on the spindle. This means I have a bit of spare groove which I filled in with matching timber and sanded over. It's out of the way and only visible if you examine it very closely on hands and feet but it doesn't seem like the right way to do it.

Stopping the groove on the spindle means setting it up with with blocks on the fence and hand feeding plus there's the radius issue at the end. I suppose I could do it on the router table but there are issues with that.

What do other folks do in this situation ?

 

[custard]

Stopped groove every time, filling a through groove is extra work and it just looks amateurish.

I'll make stopped grooves on both a router table and a spindle moulder, depends really on the scale of the component. I tend to prefer the router table.

The rounded end isn't usually a problem, it's normally hidden behind the shoulders of the tenon so you can just ignore it, that or you just run the groove into the mortice.

Good luck!

 

[katellwood]

Stopped groove every time, filling a through groove is extra work and it just looks amateurish.

I'll make stopped grooves on both a router table and a spindle moulder, depends really on the scale of the component. I tend to prefer the router table.

The rounded end isn't usually a problem, it's normally hidden behind the shoulders of the tenon so you can just ignore it, that or you just run the groove into the mortice.

Good luck!

But beware of stopped grooving on a spindle if they are done in pairs as, on one side you can feed from the end and just stop when you reach the desired length of groove, however on the other side you need to drop onto the cutter and run straight through.

Dropping on can be precarious as until bedded against the fence the cutter can catch the timber and throw in across the workshop like a bullet. ideally you need some sort of back stop to rest against the end of the timber as you drop on.

Also good luck, but take care

 

[GK1]

OK thanks stopped grooves it is then.

This may be one of the few occasions I use the reverse rotation switch on the spindle moulder to avoid dropping on to the cutter.

 

[katellwood]

but don't forget to turn the cutter block over

 

[peter-harrison]

I do a lot of stopped grooving on the spindle and always drop it in. If it's a 6mm groove and not too deep, it's not too tricky especially if you use grippy gloves. If it's a bit too much, just set up a starting stop as well as an end stop. Hope the furniture making goes well!
Pete