Coaster boxes

Flying router bits – now that is scary. Really cool joinery and color choice on the boxes.

-- Love thy neighbour as thyself

Yup, dado cuts with straight bits are a problem. I broke a bit that way too. The sawdust really gets packed in there . . . I now use spiral bits too.

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

Fortunately, the straight bits just shot straight down under my router table and stayed there. My wife got me the spiral bits as part of a birthday gift, along with a set of whisky stones and a bottle of Oban (scotch). Her only caveat: “you are not allowed to use one of these gifts with the other two.”

-- Dan in Minneapolis, woodworking since 11/11.

Dan, Welcome to LumberJocks. Your wife has good advice :).
I like these boxes and may have to try them some time as we have exactly the same coasters, even the same letter.

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

I too have been using straight bits for box joints … However I think that i will make a trip to the Woodworkers store … I have considered spiral bits but couldn’t decide if I wanted upcut or downcut, you have solved this for me.
Thanks for this post.

-- Grumpy old guy, and lookin' good Doin' it.

Word of caution, I made the mistake of trying to use a spiral upcut bit when plunge routing a dado without clamping the workpiece down tightly – and the bit yanked the workpiece straight off the table.

But for table routing box joints, a spiral upcut bit is definitely the way to go. It provides a nice clean cut with little tearout, and also it is less likely to break off and become a spinning death missile. I picked up this set from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MLCS-200-Carbide-Starter-3-Piece/dp/B000FNP548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345475955&sr=8-1&keywords=spiral+upcut.

-- Dan in Minneapolis, woodworking since 11/11.

really loving the boxes! good job!