This sort of technology is never off ered on conventional table saws for home shops, much less portable track saws! That is, until now, with Festool’s revolutionary new TSV 60 KEB-F-Plus Plunge-cut Saw with Scoring Function.

Typical track saws, including Festool’s family of other models, all rely on a flexible, replaceable splinter guard fixed to the edge of the guide rail to minimize splintering. There’s also often an appendage surrounding the front of the blade on the saw. Initially, the blade trims the splinter guard system so it forms a zero-clearance interface with the blade. That works great until the saw makes enough cuts to create ragged edges in the splinter guard. Then, splintering begins to happen anyway.

Diamond Precision

On the new TSV 60 saw, a 12-7/32″-diameter scoring blade with a single diamond tooth spins clockwise, just ahead of the blade. It creates a clean, shallow kerf that prevents the primary blade from lifting wood fibers or fragile melamine when the teeth rise up and out of the cut. This way, the bottom face of what’s being cut is cut cleanly by the primary blade as usual, and so is the more challenging top face. Festool aims this scoring feature at the most splinter-and-chip-prone materials, including plywood, chipboard of various sorts, high-pressure laminate panels and specially veneered and plastic-coated panels.

Other Standard Features

Festool makes the scoring blade function both adjustable and able to be deactivated when needed, such as when making plunge cuts.

This saw also incorporates Festool’s proven dust collection provisions and unique KickbackStop feature, which electronically detects a kickback the instant it begins to occur and stops the motor within a fraction of a second.

The scoring blade unit is integral with the saw’s main blade housing, so tilting the tool for making bevel cuts up to 45 degrees will produce splinter-free cuts on par with those made at 0 degrees.

Festool’s EC-TEC motor with constant feedback circuitry powers the saw to ensure consistent power delivery and blade speed regardless of the cutting load. It plugs into a standard outlet with a 13-ft power cord.

The TSV-60’s 6-5/8″-diameter, 42-tooth blade will cut through material up to 2-3/8″ thick, with the saw set to 0 degrees of tilt. And blade change-outs are easy, thanks to Festool’s FastFix spindle stop, which is found on all of the company’s track saw models. The saw fits other Festool guide rails as well, including the FSK Cross Cutting Guide Rail.

Nova Neptune

Motor: EC-TEC, 115-volt

Primary Blade: 6-5/8″-diameter thin kerf, 42-tooth

Scoring Blade: 1-27/32″-diameter diamond tooth

Maximum Cutting Depth: 2-3/8″

Power Cord Length: 13.12 ft

Weight: 13.23 lbs

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DVR in the Driver’s Seat

Let’s start with the lathe’s business end — a 1.5hp direct-drive Digital Variable Reluctance (DVR) motor. It’s both powerful and coupled with an advanced control system. Striatech’s Intelligent Direct Drive controls deliver remarkable torque across all speed settings — from 100 to 3,500 rpm. Included in the programming for the motor is a chisel jam detection feature that will stop the machine if something goes awry. Also part of the safety package is electronic braking to ensure rapid stops. I believe it’s the most sophisticated lathe motor system in the industry.

The Neptune is sized to allow home-shop turners the opportunity to create really large bowls inboard with its 15″ swing (18″ between centers) and outboard turning diameters up to 20″. Outboard turning is accomplished with a power head that slides the full length of the bed and pivots 360 degrees. To further accommodate outboard turning, Nova has developed a full set of tool-rest extensions and outriggers.

The takeaway from all this is that the Neptune performs well above its “weight class,” so to speak. It will likely fulfill many turner’s desires for a large lathe without the significant footprint or price.

Screen Time

In addition to the high-tech motor, this lathe’s control screen is an HMI (Human Machine Interface) icon-based system. There are speed chart icons for rough cuts, fine and finish cuts, load level, a diameter-based speed chart, an unbalanced load icon, favorite speed control, a break-enabled warning icon and a reverse rotation icon. All of those surround a large active rpm display. This icon-based layout is another step forward in lathe design.

Nova has taken the time to fully accessorize the Neptune, too. From the standard benchtop version you can add benchtop mounting plates, heavy-duty legs, a bed extension, tool-rest extension for turning large-diameter stock and an outrigger for even larger-diameter turnings. In other words, the basic unit can grow as your skills expand. Fully outfitted with all the accessories, it becomes a lifetime tool — one that few home-shop turners will ever outgrow.

Nicely done, Nova. Here’s a new niche in the lathe marketplace that will fit many woodturners’ shop spaces and pocketbooks.

Nova Neptune

Motor: 1.5hp DVR, 110/240-volt

Speed Range: 100 to 3,500 rpm

Swing Over Bed: 15″

Distance Between Centers: 18″

Spindle: 1-1⁄4″ diameter, 8 tpi

Quill: 2.4″ travel; #2 Morse Taper

Headstock: Swivels 360 degrees

Indexing: 24 positions, electronic

Controls: Icon-based screen; Intelligent Direct Drive

Safety: Electronic braking, chisel jam detection

Weight: 125 lbs

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While some might wonder what’s taken so long, Festool doesn’t make a habit of being hasty about R&D, just to throw its hat in the ring with other contenders. And in most instances, we end users are the better for that methodical, Germanic approach to product development. This new saw also sports the “Kapex” name, and Festool’s venerable Kapex corded KS 120 saw has earned its keep in professional and serious hobbyist shops for almost two decades. So surely Festool has engineered this cordless version to uphold that industry-proven, award-winning pedigree.

What’s Under the Hood

Festool outfits the KSC 60 with an EC-TEC brushless motor to take full advantage of the capabilities of onboard electronics and to help reduce friction and heat buildup during operation, which extends battery runtime. The motor is powered by two Festool 18-volt, 5.0 Ah batteries. Variable-speed control enables the saw’s cutting speed to be adjusted to suit the requirements of the blade and the material being cut.

Festool offers several wood-cutting blade options for this saw, and a built-in spindle stop locks the motor arbor to make blade changing easier.

Similar to its big brother, the motor carriage of the KSC 60 slides on a twin-column guide system with two bearings to ensure that the blade won’t wobble or deflect and can deliver precise cuts. The saw table swivels up to an impressive 60 degrees left or right for making a broad range of miter cuts. And the motor carriage can be tilted 46 degrees to the right or 47 degrees to the left for bevel-cutting or to set up compound miter cuts.

Visibility is important for dialing in the settings on a miter saw, so Festool equips the cordless Kapex with precise scales and an LED light for highlighting the cutting line.

While the corded Kapex saw has a 10-1/4″-diameter blade, this new cordless version takes an 8-1/2″ blade instead. Even so, the smaller blade size still allows the saw to crosscut workpieces up to 2-3/8″ thick by 12″ wide, which for ordinary woodworking applications is plenty of capacity. But trim carpenters and remodelers running large crown molding might wish for more vertical “reach” than this saw can provide, when cutting wide moldings in the “sprung” position.

Ready for the Road

Cordless miter saws are particularly useful for contractors who move between jobsites or occasionally work in locations where electrical service is not yet available. That’s why the best saws are lightweight and made for easy transport. To that end, the KSC 60 weighs just a tad over 38 lbs without batteries installed. It has a modest footprint of 25-5/32″ wide x 18-1/16″ deep x 17-13/32″ tall. The saw’s “rail-forward”
design also enables it to be tucked up against a wall for maximum front-side clearance during use.

Two pullout wings expand the saw base to help support longer workpieces. You can convert the saw into a workstation of sorts, too, with Festool’s Kapex Underframe (UG) accessory, sold separately. It provides a rolling base for the saw that folds up to transport the tool “dolly” style. The Underframe features long extension tables that tip up into place.

An angle transfer device, elevation feet, chip collection bag, screw clamp and a 36-tooth carbide-tipped blade come standard with the tool. The KSC 60 can be purchased without batteries or charger as the EB-Basic model. Or, buy it with two SYS 18-volt, 5.0 Ah batteries and charger in the EB 5.0 I-Plus package.

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As you can see in the photo at the top of this page, cabinet scrapers come in a variety of shapes. They are often sold in a set of three to cover a variety of scraping tasks. This set, made by Crown Hand Tools in Sheffield England, a rectangular cabinet scraper (often called a card scraper), one with inside and outside radii at each end and a French curve. The card scraper is used on flat surfaces.

The edges of the middle scraper can also be used on flat surfaces while the ends will fair and smooth concave and convex surfaces. Some part of the French curve will generally shape and smooth complex shapes and often saves the day. The set from Rockler costs a mere $21.

While chisels and plane blades are tempered to a hardness on the Rockwell C Scale (HRC) of 58 to 64, a cabinet scraper wants less temper, so they are generally delivered at HRC 50 to 55. The lower temper is necessary to allow burnishing that creates a sharp burr at the edge. Burnishing is both a tool and a process. A burnisher is a round rod with a handle that is a bit like a file without any teeth. In fact, it is delivered with a polished surface and is HRC 64 or higher.

Sharpening a Scraper

The process of sharpening a scraper in my “More on the Web” video that supports this article. In a nutshell, the process involves filing and honing the scraper’s edge square and smooth, then using the burnisher to distort the steel into a tiny burr that curls over the face of the scraper. It’s not particularly difficult, but it does require practice.

To prepare a scraper for burnishing, the work-hardened area is first removed with a mill file. This will be followed by a whetstone to smooth away file marks.

The result of over-burnishing by pushing down too hard or taking too many strokes is a ragged edge rather than a continuous sharp one.

Once the edge is filed and stoned smooth and square, a burnisher is sloped 5 to 15 degrees downward from the edge and drawn across the corner of the scraper to form a sharp burr. Definite pressure is necessary. Do not make the burr too big or it will split into segments at the burr’s point. You may turn burrs on both corners of an edge.

The process work-hardens the edge, so it cannot be repeated without using a file to remove the workhardened area. The edge is then refined with a fine stone to form perfect corners. Back to the burnisher to create a new burr again.

Cabinet scrapers have a wide variety of uses — removing depressions or torn-out grain, flattening misaligned joints, cleaning off dried glue or removing old finishes. So much utility from a small piece of steel!

Until 1943, Stanley made the #112 Scraping Plane. It’s a scraper on steroids with a much heavier blade that does not cramp your hands.

Using a Cabinet Scraper

Once sharp, the scraper is held in both hands with thumbs flexing it into a gentle arch and tilting the tool slightly forward. The burr is engaged against the surface of the wood and pushed to scrape tiny, fine curls. Holders for card scrapers, which put a slight side-to-side bend in them with a handle at each edge, can make using a cabinet scraper much less tiring on your hands.

A scraper used with skill can cut through tiny depressions or torn-out grain without leaving marks. It can cut with or against the grain with equal verve and is handy for flattening uneven joints or removing dried glue residue.

When you need to get into areas that planes or sanders will not reach, here’s the tool for the job. It is also the best tool for stripping off an old finish. I use a card scraper every winter to scrape wax from my cross-country skis. You can’t beat the price-to-utility ratio of this simple, handy tool!

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But, if you want to produce flat faces, edges and square reference surfaces in a fraction of the time, a power jointer will get the job done with minimal skill and effort. For most of us, it’s the more practical approach for processing rough lumber. And I’ll bet that if our predecessors had had the option to use a jointer, many of them would have been happy to trade their hand planes for a powered alternative. Here’s a quick study on this most beneficial machine.

What It Can and Can’t Do

A jointer is designed to flatten and square; those are its primary tasks. Preparing rough stock typically involves jointing a reference face first, then flattening an adjacent edge. A jointer is not an accurate thicknessing machine — that’s a planer’s job — nor will it keep two faces or edges parallel to one another. It’s possible to cut rabbets, tapers and chamfers on a jointer too, but generally, other tools are better choices. So, a jointer’s vitae of skills is actually rather short. But what it does well is crucial to woodworking.

How a Jointer Works

If you flip a hand plane upside down and face its knob to the right, you’re on your way to understanding how a jointer works. Its iron frame is made up of three big components: a center base casting and two movable tables. The infeed table on the right (on a hand plane, the portion of the sole ahead of the blade) supports workpieces as they’re fed into the machine’s rotating cutterhead, and the outfeed table on the left (the rest of the hand plane’s sole behind the blade) keeps stock stabilized and on track as it exits the cutterhead.

There’s a dynamic relationship between the infeed and outfeed tables and the cylinder- shaped cutterhead. When a jointer is properly tuned up, the surface of its outfeed table is precisely flush with the jointer’s knives or cutting inserts at their highest point of rotation (called top dead center — TDC). That way, boards leaving the cutterhead continue to be supported at the same elevation as they were milled, ensuring flatness. The infeed table, on the other hand, must be adjusted lower than the cutterhead’s TDC in order for surfacing to occur. This depth-of-cut can be set from just thousandths of an inch to 1/8″ or more, depending on how much stock you want to remove with each pass.

Regardless of depth of cut, it’s critical that both the infeed and outfeed tables are parallel to one another across their width and along their length. If they aren’t co-planer, the machine can’t render board surfaces flat.

A jointer’s cast-iron fence, located beside the tables, can be adjusted laterally across them for working with narrow stock or to expose only a portion of the cutterhead. It also can be tilted off of square for joining angled edges. However, the fence is typically kept at 90° so the machine can do its main task of squaring faces to edges.

Located beneath its spring-loaded, pivoting guard, a jointer’s cutterhead spins at around 5,000 to 6,000 rpm to help deliver smooth cuts and minimal tearout on any wood grain. One or two drive belts deliver power from the machine’s motor, hiding inside the closed stand. Stationary jointers employ quiet, long-lasting induction motors. Benchtop models have noisier universal motors, similar to corded circular saws and routers.

As surfaces are flattened, accumulating debris falls down a ramp inside the stand and out through a 4″ dust port. Jointers create a mountain of wood chips and dust in no time — second only to a thickness planer or lathe. So, for shop cleanliness and cleaner air, they need to be connected to a dust collector with as short a run of hose or ductwork as possible.

If you’re lucky enough to have a spacious wood shop, your jointer might be able to stay in one place all the time. But when it has to be moved — and sooner or later that time will come — you’ll appreciate having casters underneath to help roll its hundreds of pounds around. Some machines come with casters built into the stand. Or, you can add an aftermarket mobile base to any jointer.

Cutterhead Options

Up until the early 2000s, the cutterheads on all but industrial-size jointers had the same basic design: three or four single-edged, straight-bladed steel knives that sat in pockets in the cutterhead. You can still find these cutterheads today on some jointers. As long as those knives are sharp, the design works fine. But, as soon as the knives nick or dull, the task of servicing them becomes difficult. That’s because reinstalling and setting fresh knives can require the patience of Job and the precision of a Swiss watch maker. Each knife must be set square to the jointer tables from end to end and at precisely the same height as one another. Combinations of springs, recessed set screws and gib bars with multiple screws holding the knives in place only compound the problem of installation. Unless you do it often, setting traditional jointer knives is a big hassle.

Jointer cutterhead maintenance and performance took a quantum leap forward when manufacturers began to offer helical (also often called spiral) cutterheads with replaceable inserts as options. Unlike a straightknife head, spiral heads are equipped with rows of carbide inserts that have four sharp edges. Pockets in the cutterhead automatically set them to correct TDC, and a single star-drive screw holds each insert in place. When an insert nicks or dulls, it has three more sharp edges that can be accessed as easily as loosening the screw and rotating the carbide. Inserts are also cheap to replace.

Each row of cutters presents itself at a bias to the wood, instead of straight across, to create a shearing action that cuts figured and interlocked grain more cleanly. While purchasing a helical-equipped jointer will cost hundreds of dollars or more than a conventional straight-knife model, it’s an investment you’ll appreciate — both for maintenance and when you’re jointing figured or difficult-grain stock. It’s an improvement that surely will make straight-knife cutterheads obsolete on new jointers at some point, probably sooner than later.

Machine Sizes, Styles

If you’re in the market for a jointer, its cutterhead style is one important consideration. Another decision you face is its maximum width of cut. Jointers are manufactured with 6″, 8″, 10″, 12″ and even 16″ cutterhead lengths. The size determines how wide a board face you can join in a single pass. Obviously, longer cutterheads offer more capacity and can prevent you from needing to rip wide stock narrower in order to flatten it. As cutterhead lengths go up, so does the overall table length of the machine, to a point. So, while a 6″ jointer might offer a 50+”-long table, an 8″ model usually provides several more feet of table length. Longer tables are a big advantage when you need to flatten longer stock.

The counterpoint here, not surprisingly, is cost. As machine sizes increase, their price tags spike upward, too. For instance, an 8″ helical-head jointer may cost around $1,500, but a 12″ machine with the same cutterhead style can set you back $4,000. With those numbers in mind, occasional ripping and re-gluing may be a fair trade-off to buying a more-than-you-really-need jointer. A good compromise between capacity and cost is the 8″ size. I’ve used one for 15 years and have rarely needed more.

Jointers are also manufactured in two table styles: wedgebed and parallelogram. Wedgebed jointers have tables that slide up and down on sloped dovetailed ways in the casting. If the machine’s center casting looks somewhat like a triangle, the jointer is a wedgebed. Its infeed and outfeed tables are mounted and held in place along their inner edges only.

By contrast, the tables on a parallelogram jointer raise and lower on pivoting braces in the center casting. Each table is equipped with two braces along its length. Some experts suggest that parallelogram jointers are better able to maintain a co-planar table relationship, thanks to the added support these braces provide. But, wedgebed jointers that are used carefully and set up properly have served woodworkers well for as long as jointers have been made. Generally, they’re also more affordable. Regardless of design, if you buy your jointer from a reputable manufacturer, either style should serve you well.

Setting Up a Jointer

Aside from cranking down the infeed table to establish your desired depth of cut, there are only a couple of adjustments you might need to make to ready the machine for use. For one, it’s imperative that a jointer’s outfeed table is flush with the cutterhead’s TDC. To check, hold a straightedge against the outfeed table so it extends over the cutterhead. With the machine unplugged, rotate the cutterhead; the knives or inserts should just “kiss” the straightedge, touching but not lifting it. Adjust the outfeed table up or down slightly to dial it in as needed. Once TDC is established, you shouldn’t have to check it again unless you move the machine, bump the outfeed table significantly or drop something heavy on it.

For edge-jointing and squaring, you’ll also want to adjust the fence so it’s perpendicular to the tables. Do this by holding an accurate combination or engineer’s square against the fence and table, just past the cutterhead on the outfeed side. Adjust the fence so there’s no gap between the square’s blade and the fence face, and tighten the table setting.

The fence also needs to be moved laterally so it will expose enough of the cutterhead to join the stock width at hand. I leave my jointer’s fence cranked as far back as it will go most of the time; this way, I’m always ready to use the machine on wide material. Be sure to check for fence squareness again every time you move the fence in or out — any “play” in its mechanism can throw the fence out of squareness with the table again.

What about the “correct” depth of cut? To some degree, that’s a matter of personal preference. The deeper you set the infeed table, the more stock the machine will remove. On roughsawn lumber, a 1/16″ depth of cut will quickly skim off the oxidized, rough outer layer of the wood. It will rectify lumber defects such as cupping or bowing with fewer passes, too. But, deep cuts can also lead to more tearout on interlocked or figured grain. So, you may need to experiment with a cutting depth that best suits the particular stock you’re joining.

Generally, I leave my jointer set for about 1/32″-deep passes, regardless of the condition of the material or the species I’m surfacing. It requires me to make more passes to get stock flat, but the tearout is minuscule, provided I’m feeding the wood “with” the grain direction and not against it. Whatever you decide, however, never exceed a 1/8″ cutting depth for ordinary flattening and squaring operations — it increases the risk of kickback and torn-out grain.

Play It Smart: NEVER Do Either of These Things!

Jointers are the wrong tools for machining end grain. Severe tearout on the back corner is almost inevitable, and the cutterhead could grab and propel the wood backwards. Don’t do it.

Likewise, never put your hands at risk by joining stock thinner than 1/2″, narrower than 3″ or shorter than 12″.

Body Language

Using a jointer is a bit like learning a dance step, and it takes some practice. Whether you’re jointing faces or edges, you’ll stand beside the machine on the infeed side and feed stock into the cutterhead with it firmly held against both the infeed table and the fence. Your left hand guides the workpiece from above, while your right hand feeds it forward from behind.

Once the stock begins to pass through the cutterhead, it’s safe and appropriate to move your left hand to the outfeed table to continue guiding it along. That might mean taking a step or two forward, alongside the machine, which is why it’s important to orient yourself so you can move with the wood, if needed. This is particularly important when joining long or heavy lumber.

Above all, maintain your balance and sure-footedness. Feed the material across the machine in a fluid, continuous motion to help ensure that faces and edges will be milled flat and smooth.

Then, there’s the matter of safety — the cutterhead won’t know the difference between wood or your fingers. Be sure the machine’s casters are locked so it can’t accidentally move during use. Roll up long sleeves and use push sticks or push pads for face jointing instead of your hands. NEVER operate a jointer for flattening faces or edges without the guard in place and functioning correctly. A jointer is a fantastic shop asset. Use it wisely.

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A router can help you turn sharp edges into decorative profiles of all sorts. It will machine dadoes and grooves, rabbets, dovetails, mortises, tenons, box joints and more. Need to duplicate a bunch of parts? That’s no problem for a router and a template. It can even surface plane, joint edges flat, carve lettering, cut circles and bore holes. The “can-do” list goes on and on.

The reason a vintage router or a brand-new one work almost equally well has to do with the tool’s simplicity: strip away the advanced electronics and feature enhancements made over the past two or three decades, and all routers really boil down to a few basic parts. A universal motor points downward and is held in a base that typically has a couple of handles to help you steer it over a workpiece. A sharp bit attached to the end of the motor’s spindle does the cutting work.

Routers have two styles of bases. The “fixed” base has a large collar, a threaded rod or other height adjustment feature that enables you to move the motor up or down inside the base to change the cutting depth of the bit. Once you set and lock the motor where you want it, the base remains otherwise “fixed.”

“Plunge” bases turn that relationship on its ear: the motor clamps into a top housing on the base, and the housing can be raised or lowered on two spring-loaded metal posts to adjust the cutting depth — here, the motor is “fixed,” but the base plunges it to different depths. You control cutting depth using an adjustable rod that makes contact with a stepped and swiveling turret. Each click of the turret changes the cutting depth incrementally by about 1/8″, and those changes can be read off of a depth scale behind the rod.

Manufacturers still produce a few dedicated plunge routers where the motor and base are integral. They were once commonplace, but most routers these days are modular: a removable motor pack fits both fixed and plunge bases to maximize versatility.

Collets: the Business End

The bottom end of the motor’s spindle that holds the cutting bit is tapered on the inside and threaded on the outside. A slotted, tapered collet fits into it and grips the shanks of router bits around their circumference like a vise. A nut surrounds the collet and threads onto the spindle to tighten bits into place. Collets are sized to accept either 1/2″- or 1/4″-dia. shank router bits. Mid-size and larger routers often include both collet sizes.

Other Helpful Features

Today’s routers are chockfull of good features that give them the edge over predecessor machines made 20 or more years ago. Almost all new routers have variable speed — and you’ll need to dial the speed down to operate large-diameter bits safely. Many motors have “soft start” that ramps up power to prevent jackrabbit starts that can jerk the tool in hand. Top quality routers also feature electronic feedback circuitry, which keeps the bit spinning at a consistent speed, regardless of the load being applied to the bit.

Some routers have spindle locks, so you can change bits with one wrench instead of two. Dust collection capabilities have improved, too, thanks to plastic shrouds that fasten or clip inside the base to corral the debris created by the bit; a port on the shroud connects to a vacuum hose. A few manufacturers even outfit their routers with LED lights that shine down into the bit area to help you see what you’re cutting — it’s a wonderful feature to have.

Sub-bases & Guide Bushings

Below the metal router base, there’s a smooth plate called a sub-base that fastens to it with screws. Router bases and their sub-bases will either have a round footprint or a combination of round and flat edges. The goal here is that you can feed the sub-base along a straightedge or other guide surface consistently. The sub-base’s smooth face also protects workpieces from marring during routing.

An indispensable feature of many sub-bases is that their center cutout is sized to accept threaded metal guide bushings, with 1-3/16″-dia. bushings being the industry norm. Guide bushings (also often called template guides, rub collars or guide collars) have a protruding bushing sized in a range of diameters from 5/16″ O.D. upwards to 1″ or more. They’re invaluable for all sorts of template work and even necessary for use with many dovetailing and mortising jigs.

Some larger-diameter bits won’t fit the openings of sub-bases designed for guide bushings, so an optional subbase with a larger bit cutout may be included with the router, too.

Routers by Size

Routers subdivide into three principal machine sizes: full-size, mid-size and a category that goes by several names, depending on the manufacturer — “compact,” “palm” or “trim.” The delineation of full, mid or compact routers mostly has to do with the peak horsepower their motors will produce, but each size also has proportional and functional characteristics worth considering, too.

– Full-size routers are the largest and most powerful options you can buy. They have either 3 or 3-1/4 hp motors, and they require larger plunge or fixed bases to hold the hefty motor packs. (Incidentally, here’s where you can still find the remaining new “dedicated” plunge router models.)

A full-size router can accept any router bit made — from tiny roundovers to the largest panel-raising cutter — and its motor delivers enough power to drive all of them with ease. But, the counterpoint to “fullsize” is that the weight and bulkier proportions of these routers can make them hard to maneuver by hand over small workpieces or along narrow edges. Oftentimes, routing successfully with a router held in hand requires some finesse. In these situations, a full-size machine weighing up to 15 pounds can make nimble control much more difficult.

– Mid-size routers are the industry’s answer to a “happy medium” among the routing family. Rated at 1-1/2 to 2-1/4 hp, with proportionally smaller bases than their bigger cousins and tipping the scales at several pounds lighter, midsize routers still pack enough punch to spin all but the biggest cutters. They can be outfitted with both 1/4″- and 1/2″-dia. collets, so you aren’t limited by the sizes of router bit shanks you can use.

There was a period of time in the early 2000s when the industry put substantial R&D into developing combination kits that included both fixed-base and plunge-base options with an interchangeable motor pack. That trend caught on like wildfire, and its afterglow continues today. “Combo” kits offer well engineered fixed and plunge bases that will serve a broad spectrum of routing applications well, for a price that won’t break the bank. Premium mid-size models also include user-friendly features like soft start and feedback circuitry. This “family sedan” of the router market offers solid value to both novices and pros alike.

– Compact routers took a big step forward for woodworking in 2005 when Bosch brought its Colt Palm Router to market. Prior to that time, when woodworkers wanted the trimming or profiling capabilities of a router small enough to be used one-handed, the only real option was a laminate trimmer — a countertop fabricator’s tool. While these early “trim” routers were up to task for light-duty edge profiling work, their sub-1 hp motor capacity was limiting. Laminate trimmers also lacked plunge bases, because fabricators could simply tip the tool down into the work to punch through plastic laminate and start a cut. Mortising or controlled depth-cutting weren’t necessary tasks.

Bosch raised the bar for compact routers with the Colt by boosting its motor capacity to 1 peak hp, which opened the door to more woodworking applications and router bit options. De-WALT and PORTER-CABLE upped the ante even further around 2010 by introducing compact routers with both plunge and fixed bases. From that point, the race was on for other manufacturers to bring their own versions of more powerful, capable “tiny” routers to market. And that sea change has meant that today’s compact routers typically have around 1-1/4 peak hp. You can still buy a few traditional laminate trimmers, but most models have gone the way of the dinosaurs in favor of the gutsier and more versatile “next generation” compacts.

Compact routers have even blurred the lines between what must be done with a mid-size machine versus the tinier tool. While compact routers are limited to 1/4″-shank bits, I use them often for cutting mortises and for general template work. Their easy handling and ample power makes these machines surprisingly useful and unintimidating.

They won’t replace a mid-size router by any means, but a compact router is really handy to have as an option.

Configurations

I’ve already alluded to using a router “in hand.” When workpieces are large enough to provide a stable platform under the tool — think wide boards, panels or sheet materials — or when you’re bringing the tool to an assembly like a cabinet carcass or a chest, holding the router by its handles may be your better or only practical option. Many dovetail jigs also require a router to be fed over a template on top of the jig. But, when you’re routing particularly small or narrow workpieces where the tool’s size becomes a hindrance, a second option is to invert the router and mount it underneath a router table instead. This way, you can feed the workpiece across the table and past the bit without having the router’s weight and proportions working against you. Router tables also have the added benefit of a movable fence that can be set and locked to make straight cuts, like grooves, in from the edge of a workpiece. Fences with faces that open and close also allow you to present just a portion of a router bit’s cutting profile to the workpiece at a time, for cleaner and safer cutting passes. A miter slot in the table expands its capabilities even further for tasks such as dadoing and angled cuts. Or, attach a simple jig to your miter gauge, and a table-mounted router will cut box joints with ease.

Some router bases, particularly on mid-size machines, are designed with “through-the-base” depth setting adjustment: when they’re inverted and mounted under a router table, you can raise or lower the cutter by fitting a wrench through the router base and adjusting it from above. Here’s where two base mid-size combo kits are really handy: mount the fixed base to your router table and leave it there. Move the motor to the plunge base for handheld situations.

Still, I think the ideal choice for a router table is a full-size motor pack, because its weight is a non-issue in the table configuration, and a 3- or 3-1/4 hp motor offers plentiful power for any routing operation that comes your way. My full-size router motor has hung under a router table its entire life, handling everything from delicate edge trimming to precision dovetailing to rigorous and demanding panel-raising.

Top 10 Bit Styles

Even a modest collection of carbide-tipped bits can help your router perform a wide range of tasks. These 10 styles find their way into many of our magazine’s projects. If your router accepts 1/2″-shank bits, choose this size for larger cutters, when possible.

Earning Its Keep

Now that you know the sizes of routers and the two ways they can be configured for use, let’s take a quick walk through the various operations that will make a router an invaluable addition to your tool arsenal.

– Edge Profiling: Flat, square edges may be a requirement for many assemblies, but they can be awful dull to look at. A router, equipped with various edge-profiling bits, can add shape and shadow lines to tabletops, shelving, plaques and other flat or curved edges. Roundovers, coves or chamfers also help to “soften” edge and end grain so surfaces are more pleasant to touch and less likely to splinter, chip or cause injury. In days of yore, various molding planes handled profiling duties, but routers and bits took their place as a power tool alternative. Routing edge profiles is typically how new users gain confidence with the tool, and it’s a routine operation for experienced woodworkers, too.

– Joinery: There aren’t many woodworking joints that fall outside of a router’s wheelhouse, if you own the right bits. Chuck a straight or spiral bit into the tool, and it will mill dadoes, grooves, spline slots, laps, mortises and even the tenons to fit into them. A rabbeting bit will tackle rabbets, of course, plus stub tenons for cabinet doors. Most rabbeting bits come with several sizes of pilot bearings to make changing the proportions of rabbet cuts easy.

Add a dovetailing bit and an adjustable or fixed-template dovetailing jig to your shop, and you’re set to make half-blind or through dovetails for drawers or other boxes. Guide the router against a straightedge, instead, and it will make sliding dovetail joints, too.

Ever wish you could make biscuit joints but don’t want to spend the money on the power tool to do it? Well, just buy a slot-cutting bit for a fraction of the price of a biscuit joiner and you can cut them on your router table instead. This one tool can do the joinery work of a table saw, dado blade, shaper, biscuit jointer and hollow-chisel mortiser. No other single power tool can beat this range of joinery applications.

– Template Routing: Templates and woodworking go together like a hand in a glove. We use them to produce matching part shapes and to follow tricky inside cutouts. Templates control the proportions of all manner of shallow mortises for hinges, inlays and locks. Letter templates enable you to rout professional-looking signage, too. You can do all of these tasks with templates you buy or make from scrap, used in tandem with a piloted flush-trim or pattern bit or with a straight bit nested inside a guide bushing. I’ve accumulated dozens of templates for various projects, and every one is made for a router.

– Surfacing, Jointing: Projects incorporating slabs are red-hot these days if you follow social media trends, but those mammoth chunks of lumber are impossible for most of us to flatten in our surface planers. Here’s how to save the day: chuck a planing bit in a mid- or fullsize router and build a sled to ride over the slab. It’s a nifty workaround to using a big planer or drum sander.

Maybe you don’t own a stationary jointer, or you’re faced with a plank that’s too large to feed safely over the jointer you do have. No problem: run your router and a long straight bit against a clamped straightedge instead, to flatten those edges.

I often use a short mortising or dish-carving bit in my compact router to trim protruding plugs, dovetails and box joints flush. It works as slick as a hand plane.

– Cutting, boring: A router, straight or spiral bit and a straightedge can make quick work of trimming large panels or plywood to size cleanly. Circles and ellipses are easy to cut, too, with a router mounted to a trammel or ellipse/circle jig.

You can even bore rows of shelf-pin holes for cabinetry or dowel joints with a plunge router, template and guide bushing — and a sharp router bit will cut them more cleanly than a drill and twist bit often will.

– Door-making: Once upon a time, the best tool for raising panels and milling cope-and-stick joints for cabinet or passage doors was a shaper. Now, router tables are a safe and suitable “Plan B” for doormaking. You can buy horizontal- or vertical-style panel-raising bits in all the popular door styles, plus matched cope-and-stick bits to connect the rails and stiles. Here’s where a full-size motor in your router table really delivers for this heavy-duty application.

Cordless Compact Routers are on the Rise

The options for cordless tools are burgeoning these days, as manufacturers continue to pursue battery- powered alternatives for every benchtop, handheld and yard-and-garden power tool. You may know that Bosch, Makita, RIDGID and RYOBI now offer cordless compact routers among their 12- or 18-volt product lines, and more choices are probably on the horizon. But, do you need to “cut the cord” for a router? If you’re already invested in a battery platform, adding a cordless model might make sense, especially if electric outlets are scarce. Plus, the cord will never be in your way again. However, a big battery can make the router feel top-heavy, and if you have to buy the router, batteries and charger, you’ll spend significantly more than for a corded router that will never need charging — or eventually, new batteries.

Choosing Router Bits

While you may only spend two to three hundred dollars on a router that will last for decades, that’s not where routing gets expensive. The real cost outlay over time is in router bits. Prices for quality carbide-tipped bits start at around $10 to $15 for the simplest options. From there, price tags climb steadily to $150 or more for packaged sets, specialty bits and door-making kits. Stocking up ain’t cheap, but you can’t rout without the cutters.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need drawers full of bits to get most projects done. Instead, buy bits only as you need them, considering the “Top Ten” styles I suggest. Skip the big “bargain” collections, because they usually contain a few oddball bits you’ll never use anyway. Invest in 1/4″-, 3/8″- and 1/2″ straight or spiral bits, roundovers and coves. A single 45° chamfer bit, a rabbeting bit with various sizes of bearings and at least one flush-trim and pattern bit are essential, too. Quality bits last a long time, and choosing carefully will help you explore your router’s rich potential affordably.

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What should you consider when you’re shopping for a woodworking jointer? Your budget is an obvious consideration, but there are also six features or options that are important to consider, including the board capacity, the cutterhead style, the fence, the type of infeed and outfeed table lifts, if it has casters or a mobile base, and the drive belt tensioning system. In this video, Chris Marshall goes over the pros and cons of different options available.

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