snip

Essentially, if the 2 1/4 horse power can handle the crown modling
bit, I would perfer to purchase the 895. If it can't, then the 7518
will have to do. More power, sigh. I don't ANTICIPATE having to do
anything more strenuous with the router than creating the crown
molding.


How much of this do you want to do?

What wood?

For the crown molding I"ll be using PINE. Later, when I re-do my closets, I
may be using Oak or Cherry.



Do you have a table saw, with dado stack, to 'hog out' any portion of the
profile, before taking it to the router table?

I don't have a dado stack, but I do have a table saw jig that cuts cove
molding.


If it were me, I'd go with the bigger router, for a couple of reasons:

* The 7518 has more horsepower, even if you are considering 'router
horses' here.

* The 7518 has been in production for a lot longer.

* The 7518 uses more metal in its important parts.

* The 89x series has been reported to have bearing heating issues, for
what may be good and valid engineering reasons.

I have read this somewhere else, too.


* You are going to be asking a router to do what, in production runs,
would almost certainly be done on a molding cutter, such as a W&H, or,
perhaps, a shaper, with an induction motor (bigger 'horses', higher
expected duty cycle). Get the biggest router you can, and try not to over
stress it.

I may not have been clear before, but I am only a *hobbyist*. This router
will only be used on the weekends and special projects for things I build
for the home.


What's special about these mouldings that you want to do them yourself?

Self-Gratification.

I just took up woodworking a little over a year ago and would like to be
able to create moldings, if needed. I created some crown molding shelves
(Oct or Nov 2003 Wood Magazine) sometime ago, that required popular crown
molding. Needless to say, I couldn't find any. That led me to build the
cove molding jig I saw in another Wood magazine. THe Moldings turned out
okay, but required a lot of sanding and scraping.

This is all a part of my learning process.

If I weren't a hobbyist and time was of the essence, then I probably would
be asking about a millwork company.

L Anthony Johnson