Woodsmith 154 - MetosExpo - Free

tools of the trade4 greatbits forRouterTablefoineryuse by gorng 10:of,ul{E EIIRAtw.1*il':!lailEA muter table can be a Pretty handytool when it comes to cutiing jonreryDadoes, rabbets, Srooves, and othersimple cuts can easily b€ made usingstandard straight bits.But in the Past f€w Years, routerbit manufacturers have come o'rtwith sev€ral new bits that oPen uPsome r€a y interesting ioinery Possibilities.So I decided to Pick uPs€veral of thes€ bits for a trial run.And what I found in my quick tesiwas pr€tty impr€ssive.The four bits that I looked ai allallow you to quickly and accurately cut joints on the router tablethat would be iricky or next toimpossibte io do otherwise- Thekey is that each "sjngle" bit cutsboth halves of a locking joint.biis are all fairly big, soyou'll need a router with a Yr"colet and enough horsePower tohandle ihem. And I got the bestresults by slowing them downwith a variable sPeed router (Forsources, see page 49.),fbrt can take alot of the hassleout ol cuttingandassernbLingmiterjornt5.brk tirer BirI've seen lock miter bits incatalogs and on store shelves for afew years and the idea intriguedme. lusi . fttE an accuratemiter on the table saw is noeasy iob. But then You stilhave to figrre out how ioglue and clamp ihe joint arterwards.WeI, here's a router bit thatcan easily take the hassle out ofboth thes€ oPeranons.If you take a look at the Photobelow you'lIsee how it works- Thebit wil cut a 45' miter on the endsor ed8es of boards to be joinedtoSether. At the same time it cutsmatching tongues that "lock" thetwo halves of ihe ioint togetheiduring assembly. This nakes 8tuingand clamPing the joint a snaPTheseAs you can see in the drawingsbelow and the Photo above, theROUTERIAALEtt Imatching miter joint is made bYrunning one piece hortontaly andthe other piece veriica Y.To do this accurately and withbettei control, I cut an L shaPedpl)ryood guide Piece and ihanclamped the workPieces to it (Youcan see it behind the workPiece inthe photo above.) This both ba.ksup ihe cut and steadies the workpieceas you mal€ the cut^.";;;,*i l---'640No. 154