How to create decorative grooves on front of shelves

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Hi all

I have some shelves that look too 'blocky'. I don't want to add decorative trim. Instead I'd like to cut some thin (2mm) grooves around each shelf edge (as per the pen markings on attached pictures).

How could I do this? I figure a very thin router bit - and some carefully-placed tracks for the router to move along - might work.

Is there any other tool or method someone could suggest please? Maybe a thin Dremel bit run along a guide, for accuracy?

Thanks very much
 

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Cheers. How could I keep the cut true? I assume - as suggested - attaching some very straight guides for the router to move along, and then just making sure I start and stop in the right place?
 
Your biggest problem will be to do the corners so that they look right.
 
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Your biggest problem will be to do the corners so that they look right.

Agree. I plan to run the router (or whatever) up in a straight line a little bit past the corner, then fill in the extra bits I don't need with filler.
 
How do you plan the rin the fence past the corner?

I can think of one solution forvthis but it means no fence, and instead rewuires a guide bush, a jig and two cramps
 
I'll temporarily attach a wooden fence with a few screws to the front of the shelves, and run the router against that, making the grooves one by one. Then once the grooves are complete, I'll remove the fence and fill the little holes.

What's your solution? And thank you again for the advice
 
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I hate pouring cold water on ideas but this looks like a mess waiting to happen.

Typically what you are looking to create is most done as a cock bead detail - and to get nice sharp corners you either do masons mitres or it's machined into a thin strip which is mitred and fixed on.
 
I agree with notch, is all that solid wood?
Or is it a wood effect MDF cabinet?

How about paint the front with a background colour then use a textured roller for effects in another colour?
 
After reading Notch's sensible comments, I also wondered about paint, too! I might practice a couple of methods, with paint as back up.

Another forum suggested a scratch stock?
 
Marking gauge with a sharpened pin. Finish with folded fine sandpaper.

Quite like the look of this, actually. Cheers. Looks easy to use and isn't overly-complicated like the router
 
What material is the unit made from? Scratch stocks work with hardwoods but not softwoods or MDF. I find many people suggesting this sort of approach have never used one, which may be why they make the suggestion.

As Notch says, an easy approach would be to take some timber strips, say 10mm thick by 60mm wide, route, say, a 2 x 2mm rebate down one edge, then fix that inside each of the openings, with mitred corners. Effectively like a planted on cock bead

With a router you'd need to set up a jig like this:

20210706_060626.jpg


This jig is clamped into each corner in turn and the groove routed. For a 2mm wide groove inset 3mm from the edge you'd need a 2mm diameter cutter, a 12mm diameter guide bush, and the edge of your jig would need a rebate some 2mm wide routed on the edge. This would be a slightly fraught way to proceed with a fair chance of failure, I'd say, especially if you aren't a seasoned router user

Frankly it would be a lot easier to get yourself a 3mm bearing guided rebate bit (check out Wealden Tools) and just run a rebate round the edges to make a detail (square out the corners with a sharp chisel) rather than faff about tryingvto produce a groove detail 'after the fact'. Even this could be fraught ascm you would need to run the router along a narrow edge unless you clamped a piece of material onto the workpiece to effectively widen the area that the router base runs on
 
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Amazing, thank you. I've actually got a selection of those bits coming from Wealden today/tomorrow.

Would my original plan of routing "past" the corner, guided by a screwed-on fence, and then tidying-up/filling the excess not work? I'm aware the method is faffy, but as long as it's not too faffy!

Unit has a softwood fascia onto MDF, so scratch stock might not be appropriate

I'll see what the rebated edge looks like. When I practiced this previously, I didn't try a sharp chisel to square the corners, so would be interested to see what it looks like and how long it takes
 

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