What are radius router cutters?

Radius router cutters are rounded cutters which are used to produce part or half circular profiles in the surface of materials or along the edge. They can also be called round nose cutters or cove cutters.

Design

Flutes

Radius router cutters are available with one or two flutes.

For more information, see:  What are the parts of a Trend router cutter?  

Bottom cut

Most radius cutters have cutting edges that extend across their bottom, allowing them to be used in a plunge router to cut into the surface of materials.

Guides

Some radius router cutters have a guide fitted to their shank, while others do not have a guide at all. 

Cove cutters

Radius cutters with a guide pin or bearing located beneath the cutting edges are usually referred to as cove cutters and cannot plunge cut into materials.

Applications

There are various types of radius cutter, standard, cove, cavetto, engraving, radius cutters with shank mounted guides, and drawer pull router cutters, so they can be used for many different applications. These are the types of cuts they can make: 

Round-bottomed grooves

A radius router cutter is probably most commonly used to make round-bottomed grooves in materials. These grooves can be for practical reasons, such as drain grooves, or they may be just decorative.

Plunge-cutting

Some round nose router bits are able to plunge-cut. To do this, you must use a plunge router. A Chinese checkers board is a good example of a woodworking project that would require you to plunge-cut with a radius cutter in order to make round-bottomed grooves.

Cove cuts

Some radius cutters will have a guide pin or bearing beneath the body. These are sometimes referred to as cove router bits. This is because they allow you to make cove cuts without the aid of a guide fence. When working, the non-cutting guide rides along the edge of the material, keeping the router bit cutting at a consistent depth throughout.

Radius cutters without guides can be used with a jig (such as a guide fence), to make cove cuts.

Ranges

Radius router cutters are available in the following Trend ranges:

• Professional TCT and STC router cutters

• Trade router cutters

• CraftPro router cutters

• Replaceable tip cutters - Radius and Cove