Router Table Tips

Router Table Tips

Tips from buying the right router table to building your own router table to setting and your router table fence. The capabilities of modern router tables continue to grow, and the ability of woodwork to take advantage of the new capabilities requires picking up on new techniques currently available.

Router Table or Shaper Considerations

The differences between a router bit and a shaper cutter is rather large, and while they both serve the same basic function, the methods of use are quite large. This is just a split circular tapered ring which squeezes against the bit, as the collet nut is tightened. Some of these steel blanks form the cutter as well, while others have the same shaft and cutter head, but with the addition of a carbide tips brazed to them.

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These mistakes and their solutions are not in any particular order of importance. However they do have a lot of information that you can digest before you make your purchasing decision. I am also including some really excellent articles that take you through features and buying decisions to help you make the right choice. I hope that by having a ton of information it will make you a better woodworker and a better purchaser in the future. Building Router Table Fences I get questions related to router table fences all the time. There are two major types of router table fences, and both have their advantages and disadvantages. Fixed fences in their essence started out as a hunk of wood clamped to the table. If the wood was straight, you enjoyed good results, if it was not, you suffered. Split fences are a fancier version of a fixed fence.

Tall Router Table Fence for Lock Miter Joint & Tenons

I needed a special fence for routing lock miter joints. I found one designed by Norman Ellis who sent it in as a tip to another website. The fence I made below is 7” tall. It can be clamped to your regular router table fence. I jointed the top and bottom edges of this fence making sure that they were parallel.

A Quick Tour of Router Table Techniques

For as little as it takes to get set up, and the short time it takes to acquire skill at using a router table, it’s easy to see why this venerable workhorse is often one of the first and most important tool purchases that a woodworker ever makes. Below, we'll take a quick look at the common woodworking procedures that you can master within the first few weeks of owning a router table.

How to Build a Woodworking Router Table

Learning how to build a woodworking router table will save you money and bring with it a great sense of pride. A well crafted, router table can be built to suit your individual height, made to hold as many router bits as you need, but most importantly it can be customized to fit where you want it.

Router Table Stand Construction

Here is a design for a stand that I really like. Part of the reason I like it so much is that it is very stable and very easy to build. The other is, well, it was my idea. You can make this stand out of anything that you have laying around the shop. It will work with plywood, hardwood, soft woods, and MDF. I have built some with MDF and then laminated over it to give it a touch of class.

Router Table Tips

Whether you’re building a new router table or updating your existing one, the main concern is fitting the router itself. Most shops prefer to go with models that allow for two collets, one for 1/4" bit shanks and another for 1/2". Some cabinetmakers like to mount a plunge router under their table as their work calls for many dadoes and rabbets that are plowed in various passes.