I ended up going with a 1 1/2in bottom cleaning bit from Magnate. They were very responsive to my questions and the bit arrived very well packaged. Definitely worth the price..which is very reasonable.
I has to enlarge the opening in my router sled for the new bit and then I was ready to start some milling.
..after I set up some chip shields to try and contain the mess I was about to make. this worked out ok although the shop did get a thorough cleaning after this process was done.
The bit worked great. Much better surface finish and I was still able to take almost 1/4" in a pass if needed with a 2 1/4 hp router. I don't know how a 2in bit would work with my router, but I'm pretty sure any of the 3+ hp routers would handle them no problem. The cutting was very smooth and easy to control.
Liberal application of wax to both sided of the sled and rails certainly helped. In the end I cranked through 18 rounds in a couple hours.
I then got a bit side tracked..and started making a test piece to try out the joinery I wanted to use for the record case. Basically I rabbeted both pieces of 3/4 in stock so that there would be 1/2 in dovetails. This leaves a raised boss on the inside of each piece which allows me to cut my dado for the top/bottom through instead of having to mess with making it blind. It also makes the dovetails look a bit more delicate than if they were cut through the full 3/4.
I actually pre-finished the inside of the parts for this little project. I think I may start doing this more.
I didn't want to just cut the joinery on scrap so I decided to make a "tray" to hold papers on my desk at work. Dovetailed sides and floating ship-lap bottom.
In the clamps, glued this up with the Old Brown Glue. I am becoming rather fond of using that stuff. It takes a bit longer to cure, but I like the longer open time and knowing that it won't mess with my finish if I don't get every little bit off.
After a couple coats of shellac and some wax..ready to help contain the mess that is my desk.
While the glue/shellac was curing I was also playing around with doing a quad match veneer from a piece of Claro walnut that I had. I am continually impressed with how well the bandsaw does at cutting thin veneers. I used the OBG again to glue the veneers to some 1/2" plywood. I think that veneer work is definitely someplace where some true hide glue would be nice. I like the ides of hammer veneering more than dealing with making a veneer press.
