Most of the time, we see that before starting woodwork, people want to have a complete workshop. They believe that without a magical workstation full of high equipment & gear, they can’t be a pro woodworker. Among their lot of questions about tools and equipment, the most common question they want to know is, do I need a router table?
Well, the answer is yes! If you want to be a professional and expert in woodworking, you will need a wood router & a router table. A router table could boost your wood projects and enhance productivity.
Do I Need A Router Table?
Basically, a router table is supporting equipment that helps you to cut the wood moldings. Although you can complete your work without a router table, using a router table will increase the effectiveness of your project in a faster way.
It is hard to deal with a narrow board when you use a router; the router table makes the thing easy and simple by providing you the appropriate support for the work. Read the below section carefully to answer that you are looking for do I need a router table?
Router Table Provides Great Support For Small Materials
If you use a router alone without any router table and deal with small pieces or narrow boards, then you already know how hard this job is. But you can complete the same task so easily and effectively when you use a router table.
If you are dealing with an object smaller than your router clamp, that would not be a difficult task only. It is near impossible. Here comes the router table; in such case, the router table fence provides great support to your work. You can easily complete your task.
Router Table Helps To Collect The Dust
When you work on your wood project by using your router, you will see a lot of dust-producing at the time of your work. This is a ridiculous situation for the woodworker. Dust reduces the productivity and accuracy of their work.
But the good news is when you use a router table, the dust won’t fly here and there because the router table is designed with some dust collection accessories that keep the dust around it. Using the router table fence, you can collect all the dust and make your workplace neat and clean.
Profiling The Edges
It is the most common task that woodworkers usually do with their router. When you are doing the profiling edge without a router table, you have to go every time near to your router once you finish a task.
But if you have a router table, you can do all of your tasks at a time easily and effectively without moving here and there. You will get a consistent result each and every single time when you use a router table.
An Easy And Faster Way To Complete Your Project
A router table helps to complete your project faster and easiest way. If a project takes two hours with a hand router, you can complete the same project within an hour when you use a table router.
For example, if you are profiling, molding, and cutting the edges of a project, you have to set the fence each and every time, but when you use a router table, you need to set the fence only once, and then it doesn’t matter how many boards you need to deal with.
What Can You Do With A Router Table?
A router table is basically a piece of supporting equipment that helps you to complete your wood project easily and efficiently. There are a lot of things that you can do with your router; read the following section to know some of them.
- With a router table, you can easily trim & templated your woodwork project.
- The router table helps you to maintain the high quality & the accuracy of your work.
- The grooves & slots of the router table allow you to join different materials.
- It can be used for boxes and dovetail joinery.
- The router table helps you in Shaping moldings & cutting the woods.
- For pattern & edge trimming, a router table provides great support.
How To Use A Router Table?
If you are a beginner in woodworking and want to learn how to use a router table, read the below section carefully.
Safety comes first
During your woodworking, you must be concerned about your safety. Most of the time, you have to deal with sharp edges, and the cutting tool moves with high speed; you should not work without protection. There is always a high possibility of an incident if you don’t maintain proper safety.
Use pivot for routing
Most of the time, when you deal with small or narrow wood, it becomes so tough to hold them with your hand. But if you own a router table, this becomes so easy and simple. You can easily complete your task by using a starting pivot. Just make a shape pattern based on your needs, then you can join the pattern with the wood and start the molding with a router table.
End-grain routing
There are a couple of benefits that you can enjoy with your router table when you apply the end-grain routing techniques. It helps you to eliminate the chipping, and the push back system provides the backup & this is similar to end-grain routing.
Final Thought
If you love to do woodwork, then you have to use a lot of tools and equipment, and a router is the most needed equipment that you will need for your wood projects. To accomplish your work efficiently with a router, you might want to know do I need a router table?
Usually, a router table boosts the work when you have to use a router for molding & cutting the edge of the woods. You can do the work without a router table, but if you want to do the work with proper accuracy, it is one of the most important pieces of equipments that you should use.
