I love it when manufacturers can slightly modify their tool parts in such a way that the tools can do so much more for you. Some of the Wood Router Bit manufacturers do that with some of their Router Bits. I do not have a list of those who do, but it is a feature they would want buyers of their products to know, so it won't take much work to see if your bit supplier is one of those who does this.
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/V_eCa2U5y6w
I have been using Freud Router Bits for a very long time and am aware that during the manufacture, some of the bits they sell can make a variety of cuts so that you can get more profile options than just the one thing you may have purchased the bit for in the first place. I have long wanted to make some samples of what my bits can do so I can compare an choose which one I want to use, so this was a good time for me to do that ...
I started off with one of my most used roundover bits, the Freud 34-104, a 1/8 inch. I, first of all, made a roundover cut, then replaced the bearing on top the bit with a slightly smaller bit that exposes an upper cutting edge, then by also raising the router bit slightly, I can get a completely different profile.
To show what the others could, and to be able to compare them, I did the same with the following bits ...
After the roundovers, I moved along to an Ogee, or Roman Ogee bit, the Freud 38-102. The first cut was to show that this bit can be used as a roundover bit by aligning the fence and the bit height so that the cutting edge of the roundover bit apart is all that is exposed and this is what you can expect from that bit, you can see the roundover results in the picture below in the sample to the far left.
The middle and right samples are what you can expect just by simply exposing more or less of the bit to the wood, less as in the middle sample and more as in the right sample.
The last example was using one of Freuds newer bits, what they call their Quad Bits because they have 4 sides of carbide not just 2, called the Freud Classic Cove and Round bit #38-614. This particular bit is very useful because you can get at least 4 different cuts from it, as you can see in the left sample, the bit will cut both a cove and a 1/16th roundover just by exposing that certain part of the bit to the wood. In the middle and right samples, you can achieve different profiles by exposing more or slightly less of the bit to the wood.
Freud Classic Cove and Round #38-614
And of course there are other bits that are designed to make more than one cut, and far too many to list here, but the whole purpose is to alert readers to the fact that when you are selecting router bits, there is definitely more to look for in what you are purchasing ...
Woodworkweb Amazon Affiliate Store - https://www.amazon.com/shop/woodworkweb
Copyright Colin Knecht
Woodworkweb.com
