Score one for no tear-out on cope-and-stick joinery

When machining cope-and-stick joints on a router table, the "stick" bit that cuts the profile along the edges of the rails and stiles often causes tear-out, especially in red oak and hard maple. To avoid that, I first use my tablesaw to score shallow rip cuts (about ¹⁄₈ " deep) in two places: along what will become the outside edges of the panel groove, and also the shoulder of the profile on the face. Then I go to the router table and rout the stick profile—with zero tear-out.
—Bob Hunter, WOOD^® magazine