I'm renovating a vintage 1950 house, and just bought a router (a trim
router, to be specific). I don't have any bits for it yet. Now here
is my stupid question:

How do I use it? Pictures or a video clip would be nice.

I mean I know what you can do with a router, but it's not obvious from
looking at it exactly how it works. And should I have gotten a plunge
router instead?
The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

"Childfree Scott" wrote in message
om...



How do I use it? Pictures or a video clip would be nice.

See patwarner.com. I have a couple of his videos. They're great.
Did it come with a manual?


I mean I know what you can do with a router, but it's not obvious from
looking at it exactly how it works. And should I have gotten a plunge
router instead?

Depends. Trim routers are *usually* used for flush trimming things like
laminate counter tops. Their small size makes them easy to handle, but they
often lack the power to do major wood-hogging-out things.

The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

Probably a good use for a trim router. Practice on some scrap first.
Remember you really can put wood *back* if you grind it away. I'd suspect
that most others would take a chisel to this task.

The world of routers is a mysterious, cult filled world. Its incredible what
you can do with the beasts. A bare router out of the box with a common
straight bit doesn't do much. You need guides and templates and fancy bits
to really milk the value out of these things. A router table or at least a
static mounting board opens up another world. My first router "table" was a
piece of plywood drilled to fit my router and clamped between two saw
horses. I used it to make zero tolerance throat plates for my table saw.

To the point of your quest - get a book on routers. If you can afford it,
get some videos. I love videos because you can see things in motion that
just are not clear in still photographs. Pat Warner is one of the well
known authors on routers. I have a book by Patrick Spielman that is also
good. It does a good job of explaining the very basics of a particular
approach, then gets into specifics with practical cost effective approaches
($700 dovetail jigs are not always needed!).

I open up the book occasionally and just read. Invariably, I get this Eureka
experience "I didn't know you could do that with a router". Its caused me
to run to the shop late at night and just stare at my router to better
understand what the book said.

A fixed base router is great for table use and some hand held use. But for
lots of hand held uses, a plunger is much more flexible. Rather than
spending more money on a plunger, you might first consider setting up a
basic router table.

Bob


"Childfree Scott" wrote in message
om...
I'm renovating a vintage 1950 house, and just bought a router (a trim
router, to be specific). I don't have any bits for it yet. Now here
is my stupid question:

How do I use it? Pictures or a video clip would be nice.

I mean I know what you can do with a router, but it's not obvious from
looking at it exactly how it works. And should I have gotten a plunge
router instead?
The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

What threw me on using a router was figuring out how to stop the
router from going somewhere I didn't want it to go. Finally backed
into realizing the rotation of the bit CAN pull the router away from
the guide if the direction of router feed is wrong. I use the "right
hand rule" to remember which direction the router should move. If
there is a guide clamped to the wood that will be behind the cut the
router should move from left to right against the guide. Thumb of
right hand pointing down to emulate the bit has fingers that curl
clockwise. Bit cutter should enter new wood when cutting and this
accomplishes that. Cutters biting into new wood will hold router base
against the guide. Hope this makes sense. Be cautious and DON'T try
to make too deep a cut but make several shallow cuts instead, about
1/8" per pass. Protect hearing!

On 18 Feb 2004 06:26:13 -0800, (Childfree
Scott) wrote:

I'm renovating a vintage 1950 house, and just bought a router (a trim
router, to be specific). I don't have any bits for it yet. Now here
is my stupid question:

How do I use it? Pictures or a video clip would be nice.

I mean I know what you can do with a router, but it's not obvious from
looking at it exactly how it works. And should I have gotten a plunge
router instead?
The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

Hey Scott,
Check out www.routerworkshop.com
They also have a show on PBS. Over a 150 episodes starring only the router
(of course there are a few humans involved
The schedule is on the website.
Good luck with the reno's.
Tony


"Childfree Scott" wrote in message
om...
I'm renovating a vintage 1950 house, and just bought a router (a trim
router, to be specific). I don't have any bits for it yet. Now here
is my stupid question:

How do I use it? Pictures or a video clip would be nice.

I mean I know what you can do with a router, but it's not obvious from
looking at it exactly how it works. And should I have gotten a plunge
router instead?
The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

Probably a good use for a trim router. Practice on some scrap first.
Remember you really can put wood *back* if you grind it away. I'd suspect
that most others would take a chisel to this task.

I realize that, but I bet with a little practice with my trim router I
can do a much nicer job (and quicker too) with a router. If I end up
doing all my kitchen cabinet doors than you really don't want to use a
chisel.

Perhaps I should post some pictures of some of the doors I'm trying to
fix and see what you guys advise I do. It's not just the kitchen
cabinet doors, I've also got interior doors I need to fix also. I
should probably post some pictures of those to see if you think I
should reuse or replace the frames.

Childfree Scott wrote:
I'm renovating a vintage 1950 house, and just bought a router (a trim
router, to be specific). I don't have any bits for it yet. Now here
is my stupid question:

How do I use it? Pictures or a video clip would be nice.

You can also look at the New Yankee Workshop - Norm uses a router on
almost every project.

After that, check out the book "Router Joinery Workshop" - the opening
chapters on building a few simple jigs and a simple router table
are excellent!

Chris

--
************************************
Chris Merrill

(remove the ZZZ to contact me)
************************************

On 19 Feb 2004 06:46:15 -0800, (Childfree
Scott) wrote:

The onlt thing I can think of at the moment that I really want to do
with it is rouer out a little bit of wood on my cabinet hinges because
my new cabinet hinges leave an air gap slightly larger than the old
ones did.

Probably a good use for a trim router. Practice on some scrap first.
Remember you really can put wood *back* if you grind it away. I'd suspect
that most others would take a chisel to this task.

I realize that, but I bet with a little practice with my trim router I
can do a much nicer job (and quicker too) with a router. If I end up
doing all my kitchen cabinet doors than you really don't want to use a
chisel.


unless you are either using a template or have lotsa skill with that
router AND are using round cornered hinges you'll have to clean up
with a chisel anyway.

sometimes I start with the router, sometimes not....
Bridger