Shaping
This is a view of my shaper. The shaper in conjunction with my router are responsible for all the rounded-over edges of my toys. A sharp corner is removed as I slide a toy part along the wooden fence. The resulting finish is smooth, but still needs sanding.
Routing
Quote from my book.
Use a 3/8 inch radius, ball bearing pilot, round over bit in your table-mounted router to round all the edges as indicated by the slash marks on the pattern. Don't forget the eye and nose holes, but not the handle hole, in the horse's head. Please use care with the routing. The two times I have hurt myself in twenty years involved a router. The side thrust generated by a round over bit cutting hardwood is substantial and varies with the shape of the part. Watch out!
Clamp a board on the router table making a fence to rout the straight pieces; (see shaper photo above). I drill or cut a small notch just large enough for the router bit. Extending the fence very close to the cutting edge allows the fence to act as a chip-breaker; this gives a much smoother finish. After the straight pieces are routed, remove the fence and use the ball bearing pilot for the curved pieces. Feed the stock into the cutter at appropriate speeds according to the direction of the wood grain. Feed slowly when cutting against the grain, faster when cutting with the grain. The curved portion of the horse's legs seem to give me the most trouble. Be cautious!
This is a view my new Router Table/Cabinet. I use two routers with round over bits usually mounted. The light colored holes in the table top are locating holes for the many jigs I attach to make multiple cuts.