Through dadoes can be made on a table saw when you equip the saw with a dado blade. Whether the wood is straight or curved, you can use a router to cut and smooth out any rough edges on your stock. All you need is a rabbet bit to get things going. Grooves and rabbets are usually used during cabinet making for joinery for door and window jambs. If you want to cut grooves and rebates, there’s no better tool you can use than a router. Its ability to cut different types of profiles gives you the ability to cut and shape any type of molding with it.Īll you need is the correct bit, and the possibilities are limitless. This is one of the fun and beautiful ways to make use of a router in any workshop. Like I’ve mentioned before, if you engage in furniture and cabinet making projects, you’ll find the router one of the most used tools in your tool arsenal.īut what exactly can you use it for? Cutting and Shaping Moldings Router Tool Uses Every Woodworker Should know Non-edge bits are mostly used when the router is mounted on a router table because they require the use of a fence to guide the workpiece through the bit. There’re high speed steel (HSS) bits, carbide-tipped bits and even solid carbide bits.Īpart from this material classification, they’re also classified according to how they’re used as edge bits, non-edge bits and anti-kickback bits.Įdge bits are specifically designed for creating moldings with the bit featuring a small wheel bearing that rolls along the edge of the work piece and acts as a fence against the workpiece. Router bits are generally classified according to the materials they’re made of. It all depends on the type of projects you’re working on.

Most of the time, you’re going to be using straight bits and round over bits. However, you don’t necessarily need all the bits, because there’re up to 16 thousand varieties of bits, and I’m not sure anyone needs all of them.

So, when shopping for router bits, it’s better to just get the whole set so you have most of the commonly used bits you need at your disposal. The more types of bits you have, the more sophisticated patterns, shapes and profiles you can create. The bits you have allow you to create the shapes, profiles and patterns you want to create in your stock. No matter the type of router you have, no matter how expensive or sophisticated it is, it all means nothing without the right router bits. What You Should Know About Router Cutters or Bits The motor is turned on and the bit is slowly rocked into the stock to continue the routing. One can also plunge-cut or rout through the middle a work piece with a fixed base unit by placing the base or sole plate at an angle on top of the stock with the cutting bit above the stock. With the fixed-base router, the cut depth is set first before the motor is turned on, while one side of the base plate is rested flat on the stock overhanging the edge so that the cutter does not contact the stock until the motor is turned on and the cutter is slowly guided through the edge. That is why it’s called a plunge-base router because the base can be set flat on the work surface with the cutter plunging into the work when it’s lowered. The base of the tool sits flat on the face of the stock being routed, the router is switched on, and the fast spinning bit is lowered into the stock. With the plunge-base router, you don’t need to set the cut depth before turning on the router. But these are all under the two main types which are plunge and fixed base. However there’re also other styles named according to the features each of them has.įor instance, there’re variable speed, laminate trimmers and cnc routers as well. The two main types are fixed-base router and plunge-base router. The router tool has a single basic form of a motor spinning a cutting bit, but it comes in two main types which allow the users more control over the tool.

Mounting the router on a table also adds more stability to the tool allowing you to carry out more detailed work with it. With it attached to the table, you don’t handle the tool anymore.Īll you have to do is guide your work piece or stock through the fast spinning bit protruding through a hole in the table. It’s a hand tool, but it can also be attached to a table known as a router table. That means if you’re a woodworker, you’re going to find many uses for it when carrying out your projects. Its main use is to rout or hollow out hard materials like wood or plastic. Well, a router tool is simply a motor designed to spin a bit at an extremely high speed. Router Tool Uses Every Woodworker Should know.What You Should Know About Router Cutters or Bits.

Router tool description