How to Use a Router Power Tool

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Dave Trull with the Trull Gallery, a custom furniture shop in St. Petersburg, Florida. I'm going to talk to you about how to use a router power tool. Router is a pretty simple machine and there are just a few basic things you need to keep in mind while you're working with one. First in whenever you're changing bits you want to make sure your router is unplugged. You don't want to accidentally have this start while you're working with the bit, that would be bad. Another thing is to make sure when you do plug it in, your router is turned off. Even after all these years I tend to hold on to my router when I plug it in just in case. If it had been switched to the on position and it turns on while you're not holding it, the router can jump, it can cause damage to you, your equipment or the material you're working with. Another thing to think about with routers is direction of cut. You want to cut with the rotation of the blade while you're working with a hand held router which is the way most people use them, what you want to do is move from left to right and in the case of a rectangular board or a square board that you're working with, perhaps not this particular board but because this is an MDF product, but if you're using a traditional wood board what you want to do is start with the end grain, make your cut from left to right, a long grain cut, the end grain cut and then back with the second long grain cut. The reason for that is as you're making end grain cuts you tend to get tear out on the far side. By making that cut on the long grain following the end grain, the profile of your bit will clean up that tear out. So that was a real simple introduction on how to use a router, I'm Dave Trull with the Trull Gallery, the fine art of furniture making."