What do you do about sharp edges and corners?

[johnelliott]

As we all know, it's perfectly possible to plane and edge a piece of wood so that an unwary user can cut themselves on the edge, and sharp corners are not nice to bump into either. I'm thinking here about cabinet doors, drawer fronts etc

I sand my corners to a small radius, and I take my edges off with a router trimmer fitter with a 2.5mm radius roundover bearing bit, then go round again with some abrasive held lightly in the hand.

As I was working my way through another stack of drawer fronts this afternoon I wondered what other makers do about their corners and edges?

John

 

[PowerTool]

Tend to do the same - roundover bit in the router for external edges,and sandpaper for the smaller bits.

Andrew

 

[Jorden]

I run a couple of strokes of sandpaper over square corners to break the edge, both to avoid accidents and to allow finish to get a better grip. I guess anything else is part of the design phase rather than the finishing.

Dennis

 

[tim]

John

Same as you - roundover or 45deg chamfer just to take the edge off. I sometimes use a bead bit for variation, although this is only good for two edges of a door because the corner looks odd.

Cheers

Tim

 

[jasonB]

On MDF doors where I want a rounded edge I use a Radi-plane lot less time, noise & dust than a router which I use for solid wood as the Radi-plane can tear the grain if you don't watch the direction.

I have also got one that dose chamfers. You can get them in the Uk from Tilgear.

Jason

 

[Scott]

1/8 roundover bit and a light tickle with sandpaper after that or sometimes just break the edge with sandpaper depending where the edge is.

 

[Nick W]

Couple of swipes with a block plane to chamfer the edges. That way you get two half sharp edges.

 

[Richard in Smithville]

Cornering tool.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... at=1,42524

 

[matt]

I prefer square edges, therefore, a light sand or swipes with a block plane for me.

 

[Alf]

Plane, natch; abrasive if it just needs a slight tickle. Not that difficult to give it a round edge and, to my eye at any rate, slightly less "sterile" than the ubiquitous router bit. Sorry if that offends; routed edges can be fine it's just when you get folks rounding over everything regardless of the look just 'cos they can, I have a strong desire to smash every router in the country - it's probably a character flaw...

Rutlands are now stocking that Radi-plane btw.

Cheers, Alf

 

[dedee]

I always thought one chamfered the edges to a) "soften" the outline and b) prevent damage from a slight knock.
I've cut myself on many things but not a wooden corner, but there's time.


Andy

 

[Bean]

Mmm doesn't a chamfer produce two cutting edges insead of one??
I give them a quick rub with some abrasive, or if I feel that i can get away with it I use a LV cornering tool, but only the smallest in the set and lightly

Bean

 

[dedee]

Every time I tried to use one of those LV conering tools it tends to grab the gain and force a split - I guess it is a technique thing?

Andy

 

[Scrit]

Same as you, John. If I have a lot to do I'll set-up the router/bit in the router table as it's quicker

Scrit

 

[Anonymous]

Leave it untouched and crisp - I really don't like to see rounded or 'broken' edges on my furniture.

In fact, one of the main drivers for moving to hardwood from pine was to get nice crisp edges

Never cut myself on a piece of furniture yet - but router in a table is a different story.......

 

[Scrit]

It really depends on what the end use is, though. Functional fiurniture, such as stuff in kitchens, bathrooms and children's rooms warrant dubbed edges. More formal furniture can take having a sharp edge, although I always knock the arrisses off even if it's only a fraction of a millimeter

Scrit

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I'm with you Scrit. In almost every case there's really a need to knock off the sharp edges ranging from just a hair to a heavy pencil round, or even more sometimes.

One definite reason to round off arrises, especially with film forming polishes is that film forming polishes get very thin on tightly radiused corners.

The surface tension of the wet film causes the polish to pull away from knife like edges leaving the polish thin and fragile. It's a source of film failure leading to earlier repair work.

The more gently rounded the corner is the better the polish flows around leaving a thicker, more durable film. Slainte.