Customer Reviews

Router Jigs & Techniques

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This book is a gem. It is made of many parts. The first part is "Everthing you wanted to know about router bits, but didn't know where to ask." Carbide, teflon, ceramic and much more. Part 2 is all about router safety. Hearing protection, dust collection, foot switches, hold downs, etc. Part 3 is where it starts to get really good. It is all about the different gizmos you can use to enhance the routing experience, such as inlay bushings, quick-release clamps, and depth gauges. He also covers mortise and tenon jigs, dowel makers and dovetail jigs. In Part 4 you are introduced to a variety of commercial router machines. It is here that the dated material in the book is most evident as some of the machines he mentions are no longer available. Such as the Mill-Route and the ShopSmith Overarm. Oh well, even the best books age. Part 5 is a gold mine of info on making your own useful shop jigs and fixtures. Includes info on making lettering jigs for carving wood signs, and a really useful vacuum pump holding device. Next comes my favorite part of this book, Part 6: The Ultimate Router Table. This table is really excellent. Designed to hold heavy 3 hp routers and with a variety of attachments that makes it really stand out from the crowd. Such as a horizontal joint-making attachment, a swinging and tilting overarm attachment, and my personal favorite, the inverted pin routing attachment. That last attachment is worth the price of the entire book, as far as I'm concerned. Many commercial shops will tell you they couldn't do their jobs without an inverted pin router. They pay thousands for their industrial models, but you have step by step plans in this book to aid you in building your own. Fantastic. I heartily recommend Router Jigs & Techniques to anyone who either is a router maven, or wants to become one!

Spielman's "New Router Handbook" is superior and much more general in scope. This one is helpful and I am glad to own both, but if you only buy one, or need to pick one first, go with "Handbook."

Things you should know before you buy this book: Spielman has written a newer more updated "New Router Hand Book" that is much more current and covers today's router bits and tooling. Many of the bits and tools covered here are no longer easily available. That said... this is still a great book. Don't expect to find step by step cookie cutter plans and projects here, instead you'll find a wealth of clever techniques and home built tooling that will greatly inhance the use of your router and save you money. I am no pro but probably an advanced novice. I was able to build a very nice horizontal joint-making jig using this book. With this jig I am now making raised panel cabinet doors with a 1-3/4 hp router and a verticle router bit. These panels are as nice as panels made with a 3+ hp router with a horizontal panel raising bit. I am also cutting dovetails and box joints with this, without a dovetail jig. Many other jigs and router tools are covered in this book. A tad outdated (router bit section) but very valuable information indeed. I hope this helps you.

Worth the money. Spielman discusses many router techniques and shows how to use and make the jigs.