On 23-Nov-17 8:18 PM, OFWW wrote:
....

That makes sense. There are always trade offs. I was watching one
older guy teaching on planes and he wryly mentioned that using a
molding plane he could have a door done, or whatever, in less time
that it takes to setup a router with bits, test, and run. It sure make
you think.

One-off, perhaps, depending on just what is being done. The setup
becomes the ticket when doing a full kitchen-full of doors or the like.

Not that moulding planes and so on aren't useful to have and have their
place; I've a full set of the Stanley 95 irons plus any number of
made-for-purpose irons as well and it gets a fair amount of practice
yet. But it won't be likely to be first choice for anything but the
short run or the case of going into "full reproduction" mode rather than
"utilitarian".

The biggest difference other than being able to make custom shapes other
than the available store-boughten patterns is that no matter what, there
will be at least the slightest amount of "router wave" when done as the
router doesn't cut in a straight line but an arc. It can be minimized
by slower pass (at risk of burning, try doing cherry, for example) and
larger the diameter the better, but it's still there...

That's why I tend to still use the full spindle shaper over the router;
the diameter is so much larger (plus, of course, the big surface table
is nice).

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