ROUTER TABLES?

Pickup any of the many woodworking magazines out there intended for the home shop woodworker and chances are you'll see plans, advertising, and or talk of router tables.   Router tables are a big business - there are micro-adjusters, portable tables, large stationary tables with every bell and whistle.   With all this, you must need one, right?  Well, probably not.

Why not?  - There just aren't enough things you can do to justify the time, expense, and space that these tables will use.    Most of the time you will be using the router to put an edge treatment on wood - a roundover, ogee, or chamfer.  It's easiest to do this usually by hand and not using a table mounted router.   Two things I see router tables used for in these magazines are making moldings, and making door frames using the mirror image door frame bits.  Oh, and people also use them to cut raised panels.  In reality all three of these tasks can and should be done using other machines - a molder, a shaper, or a table saw.   I've owned powerful molders and shapers and even then, I think I would just prefer to buy my molding and doors from shops set up just to produce these items.  You'd be surprised that when it comes to doors for example, they usually only cost maybe 25-50% more than the wood would have cost you to build your own.  When you factor in electricity, tool wear, materials, and most of all your time, you'd be better off ordering it.

Poor mans router table

I do find the need for a stationary mounted router occasionally, mostly to cut round overs on a small, maybe 3/4"x1" piece of nosing that I will apply to a plywood edge and won't be able to maneuver the router by hand after.  This piece of wood would obviously have too little flat surface area to run even a trim router safely and professionally.   My solution, well not mine totally as I read about it in a Fine Woodworking years ago - clamp a router upside down to a saw horse or whatever, cut a piece of scrap into a primitive fence and you are good to go.  Minimal set up time, no cost, and no big table to find a space for.