Origin is the first routing tool that combines an onboard camera, touchscreen and three-axis positioning engine to add precision to handheld routing operations. Once a user applies adhesive-backed “ShaperTape” to a workpiece and allows Origin to scan the workspace, the tool effectively knows where the limits of its routing area are by following the tape. It will cut complex joinery, intricate inlays or shapes in any size in wood, soft metals, plastics and composites with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. Origin can be programmed with common CAD or 2D vector software. Or, the user can design the cutting path with the tool’s built-in drawing program. Shaper Tools even has pre-formatted project designs in its ShaperHub library on the company website.

When Origin knows what you intend to cut, making that cut involves steering the 15-lb. tool along a path shown on its top viewing screen while the router spindle cuts side to side, front to back and up and down automatically. If you happen to veer off course, Origin will sense the change and retract its 1/4-in.-shank router bit to prevent you from making a mistake. So, even novices to routing can experience a higher degree of success with the tool. And, its portability and connection to the operator’s movement give it some unique advantages over traditional “hands-free” stationary CNC machines.

The company was founded by a couple of self-described “tinkers” — Alec Rivers and Ilan Moyer — who met through their studies at MIT.

Rivers says the origin of Origin began while he was taking some time off from graduate school to work in industry. Lacking a creative outlet for his free time, he picked up some woodworking tools from the local Rockler store in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, area and started making projects in his apartment. But he soon realized that acquiring the skills to use traditional woodworking tools well, as his grandfather had done when he was a boy, was going to take time and effort.

“I liked working with physical tools for a change,” Rivers recalls, “but I was immediately more interested in the tools themselves than the projects I was working on.”

After some hit-and-miss experiences with his tools and those first woodworking projects, Rivers began to experiment with the idea of combining the physical process of using a router with the precision and flexibility of a computer. As a hobbyist woodworker, he appreciated the physicality of using his hands but was frustrated by the inevitable learning curve and the all the mistakes that came with it.

“I still remember having trouble sleeping the night I thought of adding ‘snap to line’ to a router,” Rivers says. And, working in a confined apartment space with limited funds made a large and expensive CNC machine unrealistic. “A handheld power tool that could save me from my own mistakes, I thought, would fit me perfectly.”

Unlike Rivers, Moyer was already an experienced machinist by the time he entered MIT as an engineering student. He says that electronics fascinated him as a child, until a Micro-Mark small tools catalog showed up at his doorstep during high school.

“That opened my eyes to the possibilities afforded by personal-scale machine tools that expand our abilities to work precisely with wood and metal,” Moyer says.

He soon acquired a miniature milling machine and lathe and spent all of his free time learning and practicing machining. Those experiences “tipped the scales” for him to pursue mechanical engineering as an undergrad.

During the next three years, Moyer spent a lot of time in MIT’s Hobby Shop, where he expanded his skills with full-size woodworking machines to build projects. He also got involved with MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) that focuses on pioneering the future of digital fabrication.

“It was at the MIT CBA that I got really interested in building tools,” Mower recalls. “My undergrad thesis, entitled ‘Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines,’ was focused on making tools that make it easier for individuals to build their own tools.”

After college, Moyer put those talents to use, developing miniature milling machines, 3D printers, a personal Jacquard loom and several positioning engines that are now used commercially. He met Rivers though a mutual friend who connected the two when Rivers was looking for mechanical engineering help to create an Origin prototype. That’s how the two joined forces and eventually founded the company in 2012.

During the years that have passed, Origin has gone through many prototyping iterations as Rivers and Moyer tackled its design challenges. Among them were how to engineer the tool’s mechanical correction mechanism and how to add a third axis for plunging and retracting the bit, while still keeping Origin compact and easy to use. There was also the financial hurdle of convincing investors to get involved with the company in the first place. Rivers says the very mention of developing a new woodworking tool at the time “caused most investors’ eyes to glaze over.”

But eventually, the funds were procured, and Hebenstreit was brought on board as CEO to help the fledgling Shaper Tools refine its production process for mass-producing Origin. That led to a “fleet” of the first 10 Origin tools and lots of time spent refining its capabilities with end users.

“Over the course of that fleet’s lifetime, we logged what was surely thousands of hours of testing, with a significant fraction being in the hands of people outside the company with a wide range of professional and hobbyist craft backgrounds,” Hebenstreit says. “That experience led to a complete ground-up redesign, resulting in the tool we’re shipping today.”

Currently, Shaper Tools has 21 full-time employees with a lot of combined experience in bringing reliable consumer products to market. Hebenstreit says their highly diverse career backgrounds range from consumer electronics at Apple, Amazon and Google to Tesla automotive. There are also staffers who have come from movie visual effects, industrial design and furniture fabrication.

“Perhaps surprisingly, none of us came from the power tool industry,” Hebenstreit adds. “But perhaps that’s also not surprising, as not having a preconceived notion about how something should or should not be done often leads to significant developmental breakthroughs.”

Clearly, Origin is unconventional when compared to typical woodworking machines and CNC platforms. Its uniqueness is also proving to be appealing to young people who are interested in making things with their hands and have grown up “digital native” already, Hebenstreit says. “They’re accustomed to letting a computer help them achieve their goals. Ultimately, we really believe Origin is the start of a new kind of human/digital hybrid workshop.”

Some may argue that traditional CNC machines already do what Shaper Origin can do. But, Hebenstreit differentiates Origin in several ways: Origin is portable; it doesn’t have a limited work envelope; and it can work on an already existing workpiece that couldn’t be put on a CNC table. At just under $2,100, it’s also cheaper than full-size CNC systems, so several could be used in the same shop for the cost of one CNC machine.

Then there’s the intangible effect of physically engaging with Shaper Origin. That also separates it from the CNC usual experience, because a human must drive the tool to accomplish the task.

“Operating a CNC machine feels more like printing a document than hand-writing a letter. We find that in practice, using Origin still feels human, like you did it yourself,” Hebenstreit explains. “You can see it in the face of people after they use Origin for the first time: ‘Look what I did!’ with a big smile.”

The company is in the process of shipping its first batch of Origin machines to pre-order customers, and Hebenstreit anticipates that it will be available for direct fulfillment by March of next year. He points out that the tool is also designed, developed and assembled in the USA from components sourced globally. You can watch a number of in-use applications of Origin that demonstrate its versatility. Among them is a video of an on-site wood floor repair (click here), engraving the knob of an axe handle (click here) and cutting mortise-and-tenon joints (click here).

“With Origin, we’re combining the intuitiveness of a hand-operated tool with the precision of a digital fabrication tool,” Hebenstreit says. “We’ve worked hard to ensure the technology fades to the background, but also ends up making you feel like you have a new workshop superpower.”

Learn more about Shaper Tools and Origin by clicking here.

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After thousands of hours invested into site development, Micro Fence reports, the new website features better organization and easier visitor navigation. Many products now are shown in photographs that can be enlarged to full-monitor dimensions or even larger, making their details and quality more clear. A new shopping cart offers the most secure protection available on the web, Micro Fence says, with a feature that offers worldwide shipping options.

A “Customer Solutions” page showcases projects that have been completed, in part, using Micro Fence products. Content will continue to be added to this gallery, and Micro Fence customers with access to high resolution photography of their projects are welcomed to submit their work.

There’s no need to create a new account if you are a previous Micro Fence customer: all of your passwords, log-ins, and purchase history have been imported to the new site for your convenience. Micro Fence recommends that you check your subscription for accuracy.

“We invite all who visit to sign up for our quarterly newsletter,” announces Richard Wedler, Micro Fence’s founder. “Reduced pricing opportunities will be offered exclusively to our subscribers through our new Loyalty Rewards program.”

Visit Micro Fence’s new and improved website by clicking here.

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Designed to stay sharper longer, the Tradesman Fixed Blade Knife features a 4-in. stainless steel drop-point blade and a full tang, extending the length of the handle for increased durability. The ergonomic handle also provides a secure and comfortable grip for the user. For added utility, the tool has a lanyard hole for tethering and also comes with a durable, molded sheath for safe storage.

 For ultimate durability, the new Hardline Fixed Blade Knife is constructed with a 5-in. AUS-8 steel drop-point blade that is full tang. This tough steel also allows the blade to hold its edge longer, reducing the user’s need to sharpen. The Hardline Fixed Blade Knife has an overmolded handle for a strong, secure grip and a lanyard hole. A versatile molded sheath allows users multiple ways to carry it as well as access the knife easily when needed.

Backed by a limited lifetime warranty, the new Tradesman Fixed Blade Knife (item 48-22-1926; $19.99) and Hardline Fixed Blade Knife (item 48-22-1928; $79.99) are available through Milwaukee Tool retailers now.

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Tim Inman: I’m all for extra-thick, heavy bench tops. I think I’ve mentioned in other answers that my own bench top is made from used bridge plank lumber. But your lamination idea, I think, will leave you frustrated in the end. To simplify and illustrate my thinking, this is like you’ve got both halves of the hamburger bun on one side of the hamburger. Not fatal, but not the textbook way, either. When using different materials in wood lamination glue-ups, usually the better idea is to balance the material with the idea of symmetry: each layer has a corresponding layer matching it later on. Wood moves, and you cannot stop it from happening. You can slow it down and you can equalize it, but you just simply cannot stop it using any practical way. Plywood is very dimensionally stable due to the alternating cross grain layup of the veneers. The plywood will be your most unchangeable surface. The hardwood will move differently. I like my bench to be flat! The glue-up you are suggesting, while possible, will probably be stable in the dimension of the horizontal plane, but it will be prone to warping and cupping. Given the amount of time and effort you will be spending making a great bench top, I would not save money on it. My advice would be to get the best top you can afford, and pinch pennies someplace else.

Chris Marshall: I completely agree with Tim’s logic, but I also know how expensive shop improvements like workbenches can be. So, while you won’t find this to be an attractive solution to your bench top, I’ll offer it anyway as a nod toward frugality: consider an MDF top. My first “real” woodworking bench was made with a framework of home-center 2x lumber and a doubled-up top made of 3/4-in. MDF (see below). I put a banding of 3/4-in. poplar all around its edges to hide them and improve durability (see top photo). Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: this was FAR from an attractive bench. But it was rock-solid, heavy enough to stay put and served me well for many, many years. Primarily I used it as a power tool bench, but it was big enough that I also could use it for general assembly and finishing tasks (the top was a full 4×8 ft.). The doubled-up MDF was dead flat, smooth and surprisingly durable — and at the time, I think I could buy two 4×8 sheets of it for under $40. I don’t think I spent $100 on the whole project.

Also, you may have missed it, but Rob Johnstone recently asked a question about what others have done about their workbenches. The response was interesting, and the commentary might provide you some added food for thought as you make plans. Click here to read more.

Sometimes if a shop fixture is hardworking and serves your needs, it doesn’t have to look great or be expensive to be valuable to your woodworking hobby. Good luck with your bench project — whatever you decide to do for the top!

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John H. Schueltz
State College, PA

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