99% of Beginners Don't Know the Basics of Router Bits

Routers and

router

bits

are probably the most confusing and scary tools for beginning woodworking workers. In this video, we're going to make all of that easy for you so you can feel comfortable using your

router

or choosing the router

bits

that we're going to cover. the

basics

of router bits, which router bits I think you should buy first, we'll give you some safety tips and tricks so this doesn't happen to you because it's scary and then I'll also give you a couple recommendations on routers to use. You may want to start, let's look at the

basics

of router bits when you start looking to buy router bits, the options are endless, there are so many different designs and sizes, which one do you choose?

What do you start with? Well, first of all, you need to

know

what type of router bit your router will accept if you don't have router recommendations later on, but we'll start with what are typically called Trim or Palm routers. These are the small ones, usually wireless, but there are wired models. like this Makita that only accepts 1/4 shank now, what is a shank? The entire shank is the piece that slides into your router, it will be further in or in for most people in the US. If you have one of these small routers there is a 99% chance they will only require one shank about a quarter inch, so you're telling me there's a possibility if you have a larger router, say like a plunge base or one of these fixed base routers from DeWalt or even Bosch or any other brand that has larger routers You will generally accept half and a quarter because there is a necklace you can exchange now.

What is a necklace? A collet is simply an insert that goes inside the router that will increase or decrease in size depending on the shank. size, for example, this Bosch router and the Dewalt router come with both collets, so you can use any size bits which is very useful, so if your router accepts half and quarter, why would you choose the half instead of quarter? Well, there are a few reasons why you might want to do that number one? The larger diameter shank will allow for more surface area to be clamped, so there is less chance of the router bit slipping out of the collet, although that is very rare if it is set correctly, which we will talk about.

A quin in the half is less likely to happen because there is more surface area to grab a hole and the half inch shanks are also less likely to break or get cut or something because they are so thick that sometimes certain pieces in the quarter - Inch size can be cut or broken more easily than half/quarter inch shank bits will also stay cooler in certain cutting operations compared to a/quarter inch because more surface area is used to cut the material. Now, install the bit into the router, first things first. you remove the battery or unplug it, you don't want power getting to that thing when you're playing with that part because you don't want to accidentally hit the switch, this is the collar that goes inside, it's probably already pre-installed on your router unless it's changing the half and the quarter that you want to be sitting there and then you're going to put this nut that goes on top now when you put the router bit on the router that you want to make sure you have a decent amount of this router bit on there and before you tighten it, what you don't want to do is just put it in there and then squeeze it because then you'll worry about it coming off. so make sure you seat it fully, some of these will sit, in other words you will feel it sit there and then you can tighten it down with the supplied wrench that comes with your router.

There is usually a button that will lock the spin. and then you can adjust it in other parts like this. You will see that it is much shorter. You'll also want to make sure it fits in far enough that you can adjust it and we can adjust it as well. the height of this in just a minute, now you don't want to overtighten this bit, just make sure it's very snowy. One thing you should

know

about router bits is that they have a cutting direction, they all cut round like a saw blade. so you should think of these as a mini saw blade.

You will notice that on all router bits there are cutting teeth or there is a cutting edge that will have to cut through the wood. We'll cover why that's important in just a few. minutes, but you want to inspect these router bits periodically and make sure none of these edges are broken, chipped or anything like that, because it can happen from time to time, especially if you run into a nail or even sometimes a knot If you are using lower quality blades, they may chip or break and you don't want to use a router bit that has a crack or split or even missing teeth.

You'll also notice that some router bits have these round pieces here, which is a bearing that spins independently of the blade and what that does is allow you to use patterns or flush trim the edge of things that we're going to cover in a few minutes, so this will be a top bearing because it is on top of the bit. be a bottom bearing because it is near the bottom of the bit, then you may have these that have bearings on each end. Now obviously there are tons of different router bits, but I think there are five very important router bits that every woodworker should buy and we.

I'm going to tell you about that, first of all, every carpenter should have a bullnose drill bit. This is the most basic bit that he can do a lot with. I have used them for this is the first router bit I used. It was just another rounded bit. Woodworkers will have an e in round and a 38 inch round and then sometimes you can get a / inch round, I usually just use the e and 3/8, the E8 will give you a nice smooth edge on almost any project. like cutting boards or something like that, when you think about rounded bits, they're just breaking the sharp edge of your material, so if you're making a cutting board or a mallet or a Shakur board or a table and you just want to hit the edge sharpened, that's where you're going to use a bullnose end mill, it's going to give it a nice, clean, smooth look, but depending on how big the radius of the router bit is, it just changes its appearance if you're using a If you're using a bullnose edge 8 inches, you will get a very small rounded edge.

If you use a 38, you will get a much larger rounded edge. I like to use 38, for example, in decks, which gives a nice round edge. It usually looks great on tables and things like that. I'll use an 8 inch border or something very small now if you just want to put a rounded border on there. I have this miniature set that puts a 16 inch round border in there. they're really nice if you're making trays and things like that, now the bullnose bits can also, in addition to making a bullnose, put what I call a profile on top, it's like it's flat and then it has a 90° drop and then it is rounded. and that gives it a really unique look, especially to the tables.

I use it all the time when building Farmhouse side tables and coffee tables to give it a nice custom look without having to buy another piece like an OG piece or an oie piece. things put a similar profile on there but the router bit does that too so you don't have to go out and buy one of these if you have a router bit this will give you a slightly different look. Look compared to rounding, but to make the job less money, I built rounding. Typically all of these routers have some type of adjustment, whether it's a rotating ring or, some of these other ones, they have a thumb adjustment that will basically work with gears that move the base of the router. this is called router base up and down on fillets and chamfers you want to adjust the height of that bit so that it's exactly level with that square part right there on the edge so we need to move this up to get a nice Rounding.

Edge and then make a test cut on a scrap piece so you can tell if it's going to cut right because sometimes you set it up and you think it's right and you'll have a little line there that you don't want. there you want a nice rounded edge, same with the chamfer bits, you don't want it to sink in too much, you want it to be a nice chamfer edge and not ruin everything, so use a piece of scrap metal to get it first. cut, then you can adjust the next router bit up or down from there.

I think every carpenter should have a chamfer bit. Most beginner woodworkers shouldn't worry about getting all the different sizes, just get a good 45° chamfer bit like this one here. it's a really nice size, it gives a really cool look, basically a 45 degree angle on the edge of a project, so if you want a more modern look on something, that's where I think these chamfer bits come in handy and A Chamfer bit literally means that you are placing a chamfer or angled edge on the product, compared to the bullnose bit which places a round edge, so it has a more square appearance, but has a 45° angle, so I guess it's not square, but you know. for me it just puts a 45° angle that's where I think chamfer bits come in handy.

There is another drill bit that I think every carpenter should have called a straight drill bit. Now straight bits come in a variety of different sizes and you use for the most part a straight bit, it's just that it's absolutely straight, it has no bearings there, it doesn't curve, it doesn't have a chamfer, these are for cutting slots and holes in wood , so if you're building jigs or just Basically, I need to make a line-shaped cut in the middle of a board, like I'm doing here, that's where a straight bit comes into play. Now the depth at which you use these straight bits is important, as a rule of thumb you should not cut deeper than your The bit is wide so this is a quarter inch shank bit so you would never want cutting more than a quarter of an inch in each pass, which is why you may see people using plunge routers to basically reduce the cut and take less material. a time that will keep these bits cooler, heat is the enemy of the sharpness of any blade or bit, so if you overheat them you will lose that sharpness much faster than you would if you used them normally and they will also become more brittle, etc you heat them too much, now straight bits are also used to just cut slots in wood, so if you're installing table fasteners, which is a great use for a straight bit anytime, you basically just need to create a slot in the wood, that's where you are.

Now you're going to use these straight bits, you can also use straight bits to cut slots or Doos, so basically a slot is if you're going to put two pieces of wood together, you're going to have a slight cut of the exact thickness of the wood and then that wood is going to slide in that slot, so think about box joints, if you want to make a box that has those nice square joints where they go together, it's a slotted joint, actually a slot is very similar, you're just cutting the whole thing off. the path through the wood, so think about whether you are going to place a tea rail on a workbench like I did here.

I use a 3/4 inch straight bit to cut those slots so the tea rail sits exactly in those 3/4 inch. wide and talking about when here you have a 3/4 inch straight bit, what that means is the size that is going to be cut, so here we have a quarter inch straight bit next to a 34 bit inches, this quinch bit will cut a 1/4 inch wide hole or slot where this will cut a 3/4 inch width, so depending on what size slot you need to cut, what size of these bits do you want use, you can see that there is something different here, this is down. cutting bit there is down cutting, there is up cutting and then there is compression now what is the difference in that?

Well a compression bit basically cuts both ways you see how the slots go one direction and then they meet in the middle and then they go the other direction when this bit is spinning it will literally basically cut in two different directions or It will cut the wood in two different directions, where the bit cuts downwards when you turn it clockwise, just like you are going to turn it on your router, you can see the slots. channeling down or if you grab it, which I don't grab too hard because it will. Because they are actually sharp, you will feel your finger moving down on the bit while an upturned bit when turning clockwise lifts your fingers or you will see it all moving towards the base of the bit, now it cuts upwards and down depending on the product you are using.

I think most people would do better with a downcut bit. You're basically cutting through the wood, so you'll see fewer tears on the top. If you use an upcut bit, you will get more tears on the top of the product. Compared to the bottom part of the product, a compression part like this might be the best of both worlds.You see, it's got compression on the end and then there's a cut up, so what that's going to do is give you a good clean. cut if you are plunging through the wood, it will give you a clean cut on the top and a clean cut on the bottom, you don't have to worry about it splintering and stuff like that, the next part I think every woodworker should have, especially

beginners

.

They're flush trim bits or pattern bits that you can hear and those are the ones that have those bearings on there, like we talked about earlier, or by patterns like this, it's like a whale board pattern from a friend at Red Woodworks. I made this pattern basically out of acrylic, cut them out, you can also buy them in different shapes and sizes, check out elaboratedelements.com. They have a lot of different patterns, like this nameplate pattern, it's really cool, they have a different shape of shakuri. boards where that really helps is all you have to do is double tape the tape to the wood, so if you only have a piece of walnut or maple or if you have glued a piece together then you can take that pattern and use this pattern bit or flush cut bit to follow that pattern and cut that shape which makes batching extremely fast so you can have four, five or six of the same product for sale using these pattern bits, makes things much faster now if you use a pattern bit on a product you want to make sure you have reduced that product to about an e/inch wider than your pattern because if you go too far off the pattern when is cutting, that's when it could cause kickback like you see here, but that's not the only reason it was giving me kickback.

We'll talk in a few minutes in the security section. Now you need to make sure you get good quality ones. You don't want them to be too thin, but these are really pretty and handcrafted. Well, this one comes from artisanal production. There are two elements here in the tips that I think you should have. I love the dovetail tips. I think these are some of the most useful tips, especially for

beginners

because you can build all kinds of cool jigs and work holding with the micro jig system. This is what I love. This system we do all you have to do is get this Dov tail bit and then just make products like my joining jig.

It was very easy to make, it literally takes you five or 10 minutes to make this template and then you can attach the edge. of tables, conical tables, etc. I also used it on my Crosscut sled where I can clamp on the sled those dovetails on your workbench and then you have clamping and clamping work on your workbench now if you make a lot of cutting boards and stuff like that you might Some of you may want to get what we call a bullnose bit. These bits are really good for cutting juice grooves and you know they are rounded on the bottom and that will put that nice round groove in there. that may be a good option for you if you are making juice cup cutting boards, there is a four piece router bit set that I think is the perfect router bit set for most beginners because it is not a cheap bit set, in other words, They will last you a long time, but the value you get at this price is excellent and that is the four piece router bit set on the side where you get two of the flush finish bits, one top with a bottom and then also get a chamfer and bullnose bit, this will get you started on most of your products and then maybe go with a quarter inch straight cut bit if you want to cut slots and things like that, that's the kit I think most people should buy to get started. but BOS also has a pretty good set, a little less expensive, and in this one you get 10 bits for about $65.

Now I think the side bits are better personally, but Bosch is a good starter set if you're worried about what if ? Am I wrong about something or damaged the drill bit. I don't want to break the bank one bit, so I want to make sure I get the best bang for my buck and starting with this BOS set might be the right thing to do. for you A good rule of thumb for router bits, especially if you have a variable speed router; In other words, you can increase and decrease speed; normally you'll see it on the side or the top of your router where it goes one to Usually six or something like that, what that means is that it's slowing down or speeding up the speed at which the router bit spins and that It is very important on certain styles of router bits.

Now they round and chamfer. I usually run them at a speed of five. four or five, you don't really need to spin them extremely fast to get the job done, but on your flush cutting bits it generally matters a lot, the larger the bit the slower you spin your router, the smaller the bit the faster In this case, you can spin up your router. I made the bit spin at full speed as fast as the router could spin it and as soon as I touched the wood with the bit I got kickback and that can be very dangerous if you have your hands in the wrong place because you could pull, you literally can drag your hand towards that spinning bit, you never want to spin it that fast, just slow down and then also make sure that when we talk about those patterns, you want to make sure that you don't have a bunch of meat hanging over the pattern, you want to make sure that is about 16 or 8 inches away.

You can do this with a jigsaw, a band saw, just make sure you cut around this pattern so it's just right. enough that you can trim it with your flush cut bit if you have too much stuff hanging off and the bit is spinning too fast, that's where you'll see a lot of kickback if you're using a portable router, there's a certain direction that it almost always you must direct and that is far from you. I saw this in a video from Craig. In fact, he takes your right hand and forms the L shape when you place it on the outside edge of your board, so that's the direction you want to push the router.

This router bits rotate, you want to feel that push back a little bit when you're routing because if you go in the opposite direction, in other words, counterclockwise, your router bit rotates clockwise, in This point you want that bit to cut through the wood as it's moving, if you're going around the outside edge of a piece like this it will go counter clockwise but if you go into something like a tray frame etc. , then you will go clockwise because that is the direction of the bit on the edge that is in contact. that product inside, clockwise, outside, counterclockwise, with a handheld router which is now out of all the routers out there because there are tons, every manufacturer has a router, which should you buy because the options are literally endless between Milwaukee and Flex and Makita Doe rigid DeWalt? name your battery rig or not battery rig then which router should you get if you already have batteries in a tool so if you already have DeWalt batteries or you have DeWalt drills or if you have Milwaukee drills etc just buy the router that is on that battery rig, it will make it a lot easier, so if you have a RI battery rig, just grab the RI router for your first router, you will be perfectly happy to be able to round edges, chamfers, small slots or holes for the table.

Fasteners with a palm trim router, those are great for that type of work now, if you want to lay tea trails on your workbench or you want to cut Doos etc. For larger cutting operations, I highly recommend going with something like this Dewalt router or the Bosch router. These are two really good routers. Flip a coin. I prefer the fixed base on the DeWalt and the plunge base on the Bosch, so it depends on what you're doing. I think most people probably use the fixed base more. Dewalt is probably the best option for your money, but there's no denying that the Bosch 1617 is a fantastic router and if you're wondering why I need a plunge base, it's really good for taking little bites out of a product, so when I was doing a hole in my workbench to put the play button in there.

You can take small bites as you go. Remember we don't want to cut more than an inch deep with a quarin bit, so that allows me to basically do a quarter. -inches pass until I finish my product if you are not on a battery platform and just want a good quality trimmer router or Palm router, this corded Makita is very good for the price and I think you will be. I'm very pleased with this Bosch also makes one similar to this called Colt or something like that, but I quite like this Makita. If you want to know, my favorite wireless router is the Milwaukee.

I love this M18 wireless router. The DeWalt is also a very Second, but I prefer the Milwaukee because it fits better in the hand. I think routers are the most versatile tool in your shop. You will use them all the time for a lot of different things. You can use them in your hand like most people do. build things like this little mini workbench router bench so it doesn't take up a lot of space, it will use a cut out router there or you can build a larger router table like the one I have there in the corner that you can do bigger routing operations , but there is only one of those tools that you will use all the time in the workshop.

One of the nice things about having a router table is that if you are making a lot of boxes, trays, etc., like I do, then having something like this will really help speed things up and you will get a more consistent edge, especially if you don't There is enough meat for your router to mount on the edge of that tray, this is where they really shine I think when it comes to rounds and champions. They are also very good for cutting slots and such in the center of a board, as I did here, they are very useful to have in the workshop, of course, there are thousands of other operations that I use them for, but that is usually what I use mine for.

Most of the time, if you get a router, there are a few accessories that will make your life a lot easier and you'll thank me the next time you see me for telling you about these first bench cookies. These are my favorite workbench accessories because you could literally set up your project on them, they are rubber on the top and bottom and you can raise it off the surface and keep it from moving and when you are routing boards you don't want those things moving over you. and this really helps stick them to the surface and lifts them off the surface so you have room to make the run.

Ben's cookies come in packs of four. I recommend buying two packages at least. They are very pretty, but so are many people. Say you can use hockey pucks for the same thing. I've never tried it, but if you feel like it, get a hockey puck. I like the Beni cookies and also the configuration blocks. I love Craig's configuration blocks. These are fantastic. I think these are some of the best router accessories made because you can set your bit heights extremely quickly, so if you want to mill a 3/8 deep hole for your te trck you literally just set this on top from your router, set the depth and you're done. that easy, you can also use them on the table saw, so it makes them multifunction for setting blade heights and fence distances, it's a good product all around and as you start collecting bits of router, we make these router bit trays here, so if you want to look at what they are.

The link in the description to those router bit trays helps you hold wrenches, router bits, etc. Keep them all organized, that's always a win. Be organized. Many thanks to my editor Chris for doing such an incredible job. Say hello to Chris too. Radius templates are another great accessory for your router that will help you round out those edges. This one from Craig comes with rounded edges and beveled edges. Fantastic product and you can keep your hands out of the way. I really like that as a router accessory I'm sure I missed something in this video, comment below let me know what I missed because we can't know at all and I don't know, but I know a little bit.

I would like to share it with you. I hope this was helpful. If it was helpful, let me know in the comments that this was a helpful video so I can make more like it in the future. Also, if you're not subscribed, subscribe, help bro, hit that subscribe. and if you want to learn more about routers, I have a router basics video right there that goes over routers like we did with the parts of this video that will help you a lot. Watch that video, click on that box to get the big old Bon virtual fist