Use Your Router Table as a Jointer
George VondriskaDescription
The starting point for most projects is creating a perfectly straight, smooth and square edge on your boards. This is especially true when you’re gluing boards edge to edge. Want a seamless glue joint? You need to start with a good edge. If you have a router table, you also have a jointer, the perfect tool for straight edges.
Why a router table?
Router tables are very versatile. In addition to all the stuff you can do on the router table you can take the router out and use it hand-held. Thanks to the high rpm of the bit you’ll get a GREAT surface when jointing. With carbide router bits you can joint nearly anything, even man-made materials, something you shouldn’t do on a jointer with tool steel knives. And, using the router table as a jointer serves your needs, you don’t need to buy a jointer.
What you need
Any straight bit can be used for jointing. A ¾” diameter bit works great. You need to be able to shim the outfeed face of the fence to create an offset between the two halves of the fence, just like the tables on a jointer. The Kreg router table comes with shims for this purpose. With two different positions for the shims you can control your stock removal.
Set up
Setting up to use your router table as a jointer is fairly straight forward. Use a straight edge to align the outfeed fence with the bit, make test cuts, adjust as necessary.
More on the router table
Router tables are great for joinery, including tricky joints like drawer lock bits. There’s virtually no end to what you can do on a router table.
More info
For more information on Kreg products visit the company’s website or call (800) 447-8638.
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2 Responses to “Use Your Router Table as a Jointer”
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Do I need to shift the pressure with which I am holding the stock to the fence as I move through the cut? Or focus only on holding the piece square against the outfeed fence for the entire cut? When setting the fence position, do I set the *outfeed* fence to the cutter, or split the difference between the two fence halves? BTW, I think washers on the fence fasteners can work well as shims.
If you did not have an adjustable outfeed fence, you could put 2 shims behind the outfeed fence to move it out. EEE