Bill Hylton's Ultimate Guide to the Router Table

The first operator's manual for the router table

If you don't have a router table in your shop yet, you should! The router table opens up a whole new world of using the router that simply can't be done using it any other way. Operations such as edge profiling, making mouldings, cutting lock-miter joints, box joints, rabbets, grooves, splined miters, using templates, pin routing and more can be done using a router table. Using this book, you'll learn basic router-table knowledge, safety issues, setup fundamentals, feed direction and workpiece control. Also, you'll learn about specific operations unique to the router table and how to do them safely.

The router is one of the most versatile tools in any shop, and router tables make it even more versatile by incorporating it into a stationary platform.

The router table opens up a whole new world of using the router that simply can't be done using it freehand. Ultimate Guide to the Router Table starts by giving the reader the option of building their own router table (with plans) or buying a manufactured table (with suggestions on what to look for when buying). In either case, this book gives the woodworker all the information they need to use their router table. Basic router-table knowledge is covered in the first chapter: safety issues, setup fundamentals, feed direction and workpiece control. The next chapters cover specific operations unique to the router table. The woodworker is not only how to do an operation, but why to do it in the way explained (and the pitfalls of trying to do it another way). Sidebars and tip boxes will highlight appropriate router bit choices, details on how to construct jigs that can be used in conjunction with the router table and other essential information. Illustrations and close-up photos show procedures clearly. *A router is mounted under a table with the business end of the router protruding up through a hole in the table. This enables the user to perform tasks that can't be done with the router hand held. Operations such as edge profiling, making mouldings, cutting lock-miter joints, box joints, rabbets, grooves, splined miters, using templates, pin routing and more can be done using a router table.

Bill Hylton is a longtime woodworker and woodworking writer. He writes a column on power tool joinery for Popular Woodworking magazine and is a frequent contributor to Woodworker's Journal. He is a renowned authority on the use of the router and router table. His book, Router Magic, is the bestselling (Bookscan RTD sales 18,718 copies) router book of all time.