Routing
Don't let a trim router's small package fool you: These one-handed wonders have emerged from the shadows of their full-size cousins to earn their keep in your workshop.
Using a shop-made router table, you won't have to remove the subbase when changing between freehand work and table work. One of our readers shows you how.
With a bandsaw you can get multiple pieces nearly identical. But with a template and a flush-trim bit, you can get them exact.
Custom router-table plates can get expensive. But, with a tablesaw and drill press, you can create your own.
Making cones, columns, or cylinders is a barrel of fun and requires little monkeying around when you chuck one of these unique cutters in your router.
Everything you need to know about buying a router is right here at WOOD Online. Learn which size and style of router best suits your needs. Or download reviews of each router category to find out which models performed best.
Carbide is a hard material, but it's also brittle. Protect your carbide-tipped bits with this tip.
We all know that chamfer bits work great for easing exposed edges. But did you know that with them you can cut dead-on miters with little setup involved? Here's how.
Perhaps no other joint has more strength or better looks than a corner joined by through dovetails. But here's a much simpler joinery process that comes pretty close.
Improve your router tables to adjust more than a few inches.
A turn at the tablesaw can cut down on the amount of work your router bit has to do when making a raised panel. You can shape much more accurately and safely because you'll have less wood to rout. We'll show you how.
This simple jig gets you any radius on your router. Learn how in this free video.
This free woodworking video teaches you to rout perfect-fit dados with ease.
Shortly after assuming his duties as our new project builder, Chuck Hedlund made it a priority to flatten the benchtops in the WOOD® magazine shop.
Try this clever technique with your router's keyhole bit to create sturdy book ends for a book shelf.
Boring big or odd-size holes just got a whole lot easier using this simple method.
To keep fingers safely away from your bit when routing, use a pushblock.
A bumped elbow, or just a slip of the hand, and there it is-a router miscut.
With wood scraps, round-over bits, and a table-mounted router, you can make your own. Here's how.
If you don't have a jointer or if you're just getting into woodworking, a router table with fences and a straight bit can suffice for edge-jointing short boards.
To adjust your router tale, use a turnbuckle to simply clamp one end of the fence and make fine adjustments to the other end, before or after.
Here's a simple way to clean up the rough edges of tablesaw cuts in acrylic.
Need perfectly parallel dovetail or grooves, give this reader-submitted jig a try.
Drilling end holes and sawing out the waste between them is one way to form a slot.
A router table starter pin puts you in control of your work for smoother results.
See more in-depth routing technique and feature articles from the editors of WOOD magazine.
Properly handled a router and the multitude of bits that fit it can make difficult machining easy. Try this proven ideas to improve your routing operations.
Raised-panel router bits help you create raised panels for cabinet and passage doors. But the size of these bits-up to 3 1/2" in diameter-makes them dangerous in a hand-held router. For safety, you should put raised-panel bits in a variable-speed router mounted to a router table.
Our sliding tabletop lets you guide your stock straight over a router bit.
They look a little like the striped pole in front of a high-tech barber shop, but spiral bits do more than take a little off the top. Use them wherever you'd use a straight bit and get cleaner cuts.
With a starter pin, a bit shield, and a little practice, you can safely rout freehand on your router table.
A straight router bit can cut out just about any shape you want. All if needs is a little guidance from you.
No matter how long you work with wood, there are always new things to learn.
Let a pro do the resharpening, but between trips keep then tuned up with a few file strokes.
This reader-submitted cord caddy keeps your cords close at hand, eliminating fumbling for that cord after you're finished changing bits.
Guide bushings may be the most misunderstood of all router accessories.
