I expect you are right, Bob. And these particular cutters were made for window frame work.
But they are very nearly overlaid kitchen cabinet lip molding cutters, the most common of all. The cabinet door lip cutters are undercut a little in the lower rabbit part, for clearance, and these appear to be straight across.
The molding heads, whether 1, 2 or 3 cutters sold like hotcakes and still do. They have been sold for years, but on the second hand market you see nearly all of them in --unused-- condition. Sometimes they are rusted or even pitted up, but never used much if at all.
Thats because all you have to do is mount one of these things up to an arbor, table or radial arm saw or even a shaper,................. and flip the switch.
The sound these monsters make coming up to speed is terrifying! Something that large and that wide whizzing razor sharp knives at that speed will back anybody up! Genuinely scary.
But really you don't see naked knives whizzing on a planer or jointer, so all you really have to do is construct guards and guides to corral the beast. Hearing it is still something, but as long as you don't have to see it, its not so scary.
I have cut many yards and maybe short miles of molding with one of these that takes a single cutter tooth. I like the single cutters because there are many more patterns made for the single cutter, and especially because its easy to get plain ones and grind your own profiles. You can't grind 3 identical cutters by eye, but you can easily grind one.
Nearly all router and shaper bits cut relatively tiny profiles. Perfect for a jewelry box or something else you will be viewing from inches away.
But architecturally, as in underneath a second floor balcony or something, tiny ogees and coves are ineffective. You want big single element profiles if you going to be viewing something from more than a few feet away.
yours Scott
