The router is arguably the most versatile power tool in a woodworker's arsenal. However, its versatility is split between two distinct ways of working: using the router hand-held or mounting it inverted in a router table. Many beginners start with a hand-held machine, but as their skills grow, the question inevitably arises: "Do I need a router table?"
At Key Blades & Fixings, we believe that understanding the strengths of each setup is key to unlocking the full potential of your Router Cutters. While the machine is the same, the mechanics of the operation, the safety considerations, and even the choice of bits change significantly depending on orientation. This guide breaks down the differences, helping you decide which method is best for your next project.
The Hand-held Router: Agility and Versatility
The hand-held router is where most of us begin. It involves taking the tool to the workpiece. This approach is intuitive and indispensable for certain tasks.
When to Use a Hand-held Router
The primary advantage of hand-held routing is portability. If the workpiece is too large, heavy, or awkward to move safely across a table, bring the router to the wood.
- Large Furniture & Joinery: If you are cutting a dado in a large plywood cabinet side or routing a decorative edge on a heavy dining table, you cannot practically balance these pieces on a router table. Hand-held is the only safe option.
- On-site Work: For tradespeople fitting kitchens or hanging doors, a hand-held router is essential for tasks like cutting hinge mortises or trimming laminate worktops in situ.
- Following Curves: When working on a curved template or a non-linear edge, it is often easier to manoeuvre a light router around the stationary wood than to wrestle the wood around a table.
Router Cutters for Hand-held Use
When using a router by hand, stability is your main concern. You are relying on your physical control to keep the base flat and the cut steady.
- Smaller Diameter Bits: Large, heavy Router Cutters generate significant torque. Using a massive panel-raising bit in a hand-held router is dangerous and difficult to control. Stick to smaller profiles, straight bits, and manageable edge-forming bits.
- Bearing Guides are Essential: Without a fence (which a table provides), you almost always need bits with bearing guides for edge work. These bearings ride along the workpiece, ensuring a consistent cut width.
- Shank Size: While hand-held routers can use ½" shanks, smaller trim routers often use ¼" shanks. Ensure you match the shank to the collet and the power of the tool.
The Router Table: Precision and Consistency
A router table flips the tool upside down, mounting it securely with the bit protruding upwards. You then push the workpiece past the stationary cutter. This shift in mechanics offers superior control for smaller pieces and repetitive tasks.
When to Use a Router Table
The router table excels when you need stability, safety with small parts, and repeatability.
- Small & Narrow Stock: Trying to rout the edge of a narrow strip of wood with a hand-held router is precarious; the baseplate has little to rest on, making it wobbly and unsafe. On a table, the wood is fully supported by the table surface and the fence.
- Joinery: Cutting tenons, intricate dovetails, or rail-and-stile joints for cabinet doors requires extreme precision. A table with a fence and featherboards locks the wood in position, guaranteeing that every joint is identical.
- Large Profile Cuts: This is a major safety factor. Large-diameter Router Cutters, such as raised panel bits or large moulding bits, should only be used in a router table with a variable-speed router. The table provides the mass and stability needed to handle the forces these large bits generate.
- Stopped Cuts: Using the fence as a start and stop reference makes creating identical stopped grooves (for example, for hidden drawer runners) simple and accurate.
Router Cutters for Table Use
The stability of a table allows you to use a much wider range of bits safely.
- Large Diameter Bits: As mentioned, heavy bits for moulding and door-making are at home here. The router is essentially a shaper, allowing you to remove significant material safely (in multiple passes).
- Non-Bearing Bits: Because the table has an adjustable fence, you are not limited to bearing-guided bits. You can use standard straight bits to cut rabbets or grooves exactly where you want them by simply moving the fence.
- Safety Note: Never use a router table for "climb cutting" (feeding the wood in the same direction as the bit's rotation) unless using a power feeder. It can launch the workpiece across the room.
Safety and Technique: How the Mechanics Change
The most critical difference between the two methods is feed direction. Getting this wrong is the most common cause of accidents and poor finishes.
Feed Direction Rule
You must always feed the stock against the rotation of the cutter.
- Hand-held: The bit spins clockwise (looking from the top). To feed against the rotation, you move the router from left to right when working on an outside edge.
- Router Table: Because the router is upside down, the bit spins counter-clockwise. Therefore, you must feed the wood from right to left across the table.
Bit Height Adjustment
Adjusting the depth of cut is also different.
- Hand-held: You plunge the router down or adjust the baseplate to expose the bit. Gravity works with you.
- Router Table: You are raising the heavy motor against gravity. Many modern router tables have "router lifts" or through-the-table adjustment keys to make micro-adjustments easy and precise, which is vital for fine joinery.
Which Setup Should You Prioritise?
Ideally, a well-equipped workshop has both. However, if you are building your kit:
- Start with Hand-held: It is the most versatile entry point. You can tackle most general carpentry and furniture tasks.
- Build or Buy a Table Later: As your projects become more complex—involving small trim, intricate joinery, or cabinet doors—a router table becomes a necessity rather than a luxury.
Regardless of your setup, the quality of the cut depends on the tool doing the work. Investing in high-quality, sharp Router Cutters is essential. Whether you are guiding the router or guiding the wood, a premium carbide bit ensures a cleaner finish, safer operation, and better longevity.