Jack,
I am making my Greak Awk using cyprus. I found that there was no way to mill clean coves unless I fed them backwards (climb cut). I am a big user of finger boards to hold things down and press them against the fence. They are especially important when doing climb cuts. I set up finger boards pressing into the fence that span the bit area. This keeps a uniform pressure against the bit. I add two more finger boards holding the strip down--one before the bit and one after. I set these pretty tight so that they are pressing the strip down firmly.

When I mill the strips, I push the strip into the slot made by the horizontal and vertical fingerboards. Once the strip is past the bit far enough that it extends past the router table edge, I walk over to the outfeed side of the table and pull the strips through. Since the stripps are pressed down pretty firmly, they can't fly through. In fact, after milling the strips for my kayak, my arms were fairly tired.

I hope this helps. I worked great for me. The results were good and the operation was safe.

Chuck
: Guys,

: I have been milling some strips and wanted some advice from the group.

: 1. I wanted to make two 1/8 th inch contrast strips along the sheer line with
: some light maple. I was able to make a small maple strip with a bead on it
: but when I tried to cut a cove I got a very splintered edge. Do most of
: you actually mill out an extra small bead and cove strip or just glue a
: thin strip to an existing strip(s) to get a contrasting pin stripe. My
: plan now is to glue a flat edge and then mill only a bead on it. I can’t
: tell if the splintering was because of the maple or if the extra thin
: strip makes it difficult to mill. I am using top and side feather boards
: in front of and after the router bit.

: 2. Any advice on cutting clean coves. I seem to get tear out more on the cove
: than on the beads. I have heard someone say they feed their strips in the
: opposite direction (i.e. the bit pulls the strip through) in order to
: minimize tear out. Sounds risky to me (strips flying through the air)
: Anyone tried this.

: Regards,

: Jack