I'm in over my head and could use some advice

[Tom7227]

I am attempting to build a sign for down at our beach. I have 2x6 smooth cut cedar for the sign itself. I have 6x6 treated timber for the posts and I am trying to make a channel in it to fit the sign down into.

I have tried routing it. Bosch router with a new carbide bit about a half inch in diameter. I am using a fence to keep the line straight and cutting about a half inch at a time. The saw dust keeps bunching up in the cut and there is a lot of furring on the one side. The thing started smoking a lot and I figured I was going too fast. I then tried cutting it with a circle saw, new medium quality blade. It started smoking right away so bad that I had to quit.

Obviously the treated wood is wet as all that stuff is. Any suggestions to get things going without all the hassles? It hasn't made any difference if I push the router right or left. I have to admit that I don't know which is the proper direction but still the same result with the bunching of the material I have removed and the smoke.

Thanks for your help.

Tom

[Surface Tension]

Tom, I think your assumption about the wet treated wood is correct.

Is going to swell and bunch as you cut with the router.

Best you can do is select wood that isn't as wet and then store it out of the weather for a time before working with it.

[PurpleFloyd]

You are going too fast and taking out too much material. Go back to taking out 1/8 or 1/4 inch at a time with the router and do the job in more passes. By not taking out as much at a time and by going slower you will give the bit more of a chance of clearing out the chips without loading up. The burning is your first sign that you need to go slower and remove less material. When that starts slow down. Of course it also may be a sign your cutters are dull and that it is time to get new ones or ones better designed for the project.

[CAMAN]

That furring you see is just because the treated wood is wet, it more tears than cuts so the edge doesn't get cut cleanly. Just take a sharp utility knife and cut the stuff off.

Also I assume you're working on this stuff horizontally? The issue is the wood chips are supposed to carry the heat away from the workpiece, if they get caught in there the heat stays also and overheats the work. Try either setting it up vertically so most of the chips fall out or have someone with a narrow vacuum nozzle get as close as they safely can and keep the cutting area clear.

Oh and yes, take shallower slower cuts and make sure you're using the right cutter for the job.

[Tom7227]

Thanks for the tips. The idea of using a vacuum or rotating the stock to get rid of the chips are ones I hadn't thought of.

[Cheetah]

Can your router run at different depths? Try cutting the channel multiple times. First pass you do 1/4", then 1/2", then 3/4" or in steps like that to whatever depth you need. Maybe you do it in 1/8" increments instead if 1/4 is too much at once.

If your router doesn't have a depth adjustment you could try using long strips of thin wood to act as a shim to run the router over, less of the bit would go into the post.

hope that makes sense.

[lawdog]

Why don't you put it on a table saw and dado cut this channel? That would seem to be about a billion times easier...

[Broadside]

Why don't you put it on a table saw and dado cut this channel? That would seem to be about a billion times easier...

+1 except 2 billion times easier!

[CAMAN]

Why don't you put it on a table saw and dado cut this channel? That would seem to be about a billion times easier...

A.) Some don't have access to a table saw.

B.) If he only wants a partial slot and not one that goes all the way along the piece, table saws don't cut as square of an end due to the large round blade.

[jentz]

How bout the ole fashion way??Sharp chisles! maybe a couple plow cuts with a circular saw.Sometimes we are so relient on power tools we forget how it was done back just a few years.

[Tom7227]

The piece is a 6x6 treated that is 10 feet long so it is a bit hard to handle. It was awfully wet and that didn't help at all. I don't have a dado blade or a table saw that could handle it. Jentz, I did try the chisel and circle saw and it got a bit messy. Long and short of it is I gave up and the group decided they wanted to go a different way with the whole sign.