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Michael—

I've got a fair bit of router table experience, and I've built some of traditional raised-panel interior doors using routers (no shaper). I've never used a shaper.

My advice...

Here's what I'd suggest you do, Dan. Slot the stop blocks on the router table before you crosscut them to size. In other words, plane a 10" to 12"-long piece of stock to the right thickness. Rip it...

Curious choice of criteria. The cutter has more to do with the quality of the finished surface than the motor. But the moxie of the motor does enter the equation. The larger the cutter diameter, the...

Sounds like an unnecessary complication to me. Make a simple edge frame using 2 1/2" wide material and screw it to a piece of 3/4" MDF. Include cross members flanking the router in the frame. You'll...

I have run into this with the Jet. The circumstances were such that I had two of the straight-edge clamps from Jet, and neither of them would consistently produce a square edge, even after truing the...

Why would you think "jointer mode" wouldn't work with a profile bit? When you set up the router fence for jointing, you shim out the outfeed half of the fence. And you position the fence so the face...

Lordy lordy. Folks is always shopping for that Magic Bullet!

Get yourself a 1/4" slot cutter. This one bit in a table-mounted router will cut the groove and then the tongue in 3/4" stock.

1....

I have routed 3" deep mortises with a plunge router and a 1/2" up-spiral bit. Actually, a skoche more than 3". The bit is only part of the challenge. You also need a plunge router with a 3" plunge...

Poplar Forest was Thomas Jefferson's "country retreat." Until fairly recently, it was in private hands. Alterations were made to the house, and of course, much of the acreage was sold off. But it's...

Not sure exactly what you want to do here, Craig. Do you prefer sheet goods to expedite construction? Or is solid wood your preference? What's the rationale for tongue-and-groove?

If the...

Anthony,

Additional information would help others help you. You've said you want to cut a slot along the center line of a piece 2" to 4" wide. I think the slot is supposed to be through, that...

Rick,

Having done this write-up thingie a few times myself, I will offer this nomenclature. The subassembly is usually called a web frame. It is composed of a drawer divider, two runners, and a...

Barry,

Get out your copy of Frame & Panel Magic. Pages 109 through 113 show how to make a tombstone door. A common cope-and-stick bit set may be the wrong scale for a spice cabinet door, but CMT...

Thank you, Dave. Happy holidays to you.

Bill

Jason,

I've been using routers, in and out of tables, for better than 20 years. And writing books and magazine articles about this stuff too. Keep that $800 in your bank account until you've...

Rob,

My reading of the specs for the two sets is that they have slightly different capacities, so you aren't comparing identical products.

The Freud's set cuts a maximum groove width of 3/8",...

I want to add to what Brad has posted, and answer a question from Jim.

Having built a pair of traditional raised panel doors with routers, I don't see that having a shaper is essential for the...

Just curious, Jamie. Have you actually ever built an exterior door this way? I'm skeptical. I've built a couple of pieces in which I created through mortises for tusk tenons by laminating three...

Hey Dave,

There was a thread on this topic just a couple of months ago. Here's the link to my response, which I guess will get you the whole thread.

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Suggest you try to attend a meeting of the Lehigh Valley Woodworker's Guild, third Thursday of every month. The guild's website www.lvwwg.com has meeting time and directions to meeting location. The...

Jason,

Why not buy tongue-and-groove pine for the project? The ceiling in my home office, which I was just staring at, is nominally 1 x 6. One face is beaded, and the other is V-grooved. I don't...

I built a pair of doors about 18 months ago, using routers to cut all the joinery. Just traditional raised panel doors, 1 3/4" thick (though they're interior passage doors), made of poplar. Reported...

Rick,

Can't tell you why your tabletop is no longer flat.

I'd suggest building a support frame. You're a woodworker, so make it out of wood. Use well-seasoned, straight pieces about 3/4" x 2...

Ken,

Let me reverse the order of your questions to answer.

Quarter-inch plywood is seldom flat, in my experience, and I doubt there's anything you can do to flatten it. But it won't...

Bryan--

You certainly got a thread started here. I agree with the basic advice offered by Rick and David. The thread seems to be drifting away from safety, but we don't want to forget safety....