Bill Hylton - Bill Hyltons ultimate guide to the router table

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Read This Important Safety Notice

To prevent accidents, keep safety in mind while you work. Use the safety guards installed on power equipment; they are for your protection. When working on power equipment, keep fingers away from saw blades, wear safety goggles to prevent injuries from flying wood chips and sawdust, wear hearing protection and consider installing a dust vacuum to reduce the amount of airborne sawdust in your woodshop. Dont wear loose clothing, such as neckties or shirts with loose sleeves, or jewelry, such as rings, necklaces or bracelets, when working on power equipment. Tie back long hair to prevent it from getting caught in your equipment. People who are sensitive to certain chemicals should check the chemical content of any product before using it. The authors and editors who compiled this book have tried to make the contents as accurate and correct as possible. Plans, illustrations, photographs and text have been carefully checked. All instructions, plans and projects should be carefully read, studied and understood before beginning construction. Due to the variability of local conditions, construction materials, skill levels, etc., neither the author nor Popular Woodworking Books assumes any responsibility for any accidents, injuries, damages or other losses incurred resulting from the material presented in this book. Prices listed for supplies and equipment were current at the time of publication and are subject to change. Glass shelving should have all edges polished and must be tempered. Untempered glass shelves may shatter and can cause serious bodily injury. Tempered shelves are very strong and if they break will just crumble, minimizing personal injury.

Bill Hyltons Ultimate Guide to the Router Table. Copyright 2007 by Bill Hylton. Printed and bound in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Popular Woodworking Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. First edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hylton, William H.
[Ultimate guide to the router table]
Bill Hyltons ultimate guide to the router table.
p. cm.
ISBN 13: 978-1-55870-796-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-55870-952-2 (EPUB)
ISBN 10: 1-55870-796-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 13: 978-1-55870-836-5 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN 10: 1-55870-836-7 (hardcover: alk. paper)
eISBN: 978-1-44031-759-0
1. Routers (Tools) 2. Woodwork. I. Title.
TT203.5.H945 2007
684.083--dc22

2007009387

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR: David Thiel
EDITOR: Jim Stack
DESIGNER: Brian Roeth
COVER PHOTOGRAPHER: Al Parrish
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Jennifer Wagner
PHOTOGRAPHER: Bill Hylton

Metric Conversion Chart

About the Author

Bill Hylton is a longtime woodworker and writer, best known for his router books, Woodworking with the Router and Router Magic. His other books include Illustrated Cabinetmaking, and two Popular Woodworking titles, Bill Hyltons Power Tool Joinery and Bill Hyltons Frame & Panel Magic. He is a frequent contributor to Popular Woodworking magazine and Woodworkers Journal magazine.

Acknowledgements

This book has been a very long time coming. I want to acknowledge a few people who have been pivotal in its genesis, its long gestation, and now its birth.

I first worked with routersabout 18 years agobecause I was about to write a book on router woodworking. Yes, I believe this is called chutzpah. It worked out well. I had a superlative mentor, Fred Matlack, who ended up being the coauthor of the book. We spent about 18 months developing it. That book,Woodworking with the Router, has been the standard reference on the topic since it was published (I completely revised and updated it in 2005).

I write that by way of acknowledging the roots of the book you hold in your hands. As an editor of woodworking books, I perceived there was a place for a comprehensive book on router woodworking. And when my last best prospect to be the author turned me down, it was my boss, Jeff Day, who said, Well, I guess youll have to write it. So I did, with a lot of help from Fred.

Ever since that time, the router has been a big part of my woodworking. Along the way, I had this idea for a router table users manual. As I researched and wrote other books and magazine articles, I built up a base of know-how and experience using routers and router tables. I mooched routers, bits and accessories from manufacturers and vendors, tried them, and wrote about them.

So Im grateful to Jeff, who started me on this road, and to Fred, who continues to be a source of ideas and woodworking know-how. Im grateful too to the many manufacturers reps who enable me to work with some of the newest and best routers and bits.

In terms of this router table manual, Im thankful to Norston Fontaine of Bench Dog and Dan Sherman of Jessem, who provided me with their companies router tables and router lifts.

Im grateful for the sufferance of Jim Stack of F+W Publications.