Welcome to Router Ready…

I am toying with the idea of creating a series of lessons on how to use the router. My idea is to first extract one to fifteen basic lessons from the Router Workshop library of video.  Next to that I will add commentary to introduce each of the lessons plus identify and add an assignment used to complete the lesson.

Outline will be as follows:

1) Direction of feed,
2) The art of scoring,
3) In’s and out’s of the linear dovetail joint,
4) The rabbet and ship-lap joint,
5) Making the base for the box,
6) Box joint basics,
7) Bottoms for Box Joints,
Rabbet/Dado Joint,
9) Angled Box Joints,
10) Angled Dovetail Joints,
11) Making Stool Leg Joints,
12) Making the Raised Panel,
13) Pattern Work with the Router,
14) Creating a Shelf,
15) Making Simple Drawers.

As you notice the 15 lessons complete most of all the needed lessons to the many uses of the router, from direction of feed to how to make raised panels, from the simple rabbet joint to the complex angled dovetail joint, and pattern work to the art of making drawers. Once you have completed each of these lessons you will be well versed in the many uses of the router to create well crafted projects.

The series of lessons will come in two formats.

Format One:

Is the three elements in a self contained PDF video. Element 1, the Introduction, Element 2, the Video and Element 3 the assignment. Cost of this PDF with the 15 lessons is going to be $47.00.

Format Two:

Is to add to Format 1 an email coaching support, which is having access to my personal email address. This email access will be used to help you through the series of lessons. You can ask any questions via email related to the series of lessons and you can do this at your own pace, cost is going to be $47.00 for the PDF lessons and $100.00 per month for the email coaching.

Click here to see a sample lesson. This sample lesson is an informal discussion on the different types of routers on the market today. PLEASE be Patient, this PDF have video embedded in it. In the sample lesson there are no assignments and I have not set up routerready dot com as of yet. The sample assignment will be like the router bit change and set up challenge.

All videos and assignments are used to help you along with the many uses of the router. If you are a beginner and think that I would be able to help you along the learning process then comment within this post and I will add you to the list of interested router enthusiasts. I will not be post any of the comments within this post…

To get the feel of the router…

Hey, everybody has seen my challenge used to gain accuracy in the operation of changing and setting up router bits. This series of operations are designed to give you the router enthusiast the most fundamental skills about changing router bits.

If you are a beginner and interested in learning how to use your router there is one operation you should consider doing before practicing the procedure of changing router bits.

First operation is to set up the round over router bit either using my techniques or creating your own technique. Once you have the round over bit set up and you are ready to cut pieces I would suggest that you cut up ten pieces of MDF into 5″ X 7″ 3/4″. The reason I choose MDF is because it has no grain and it’s density is consistent throughout. You won’t be running into knots or gnarly grain making it easier to cut with the round over bit.

Now for the beginner operation, using the round over bit cut each piece on all four edges on both faces. That is 8 cuts per board or 80 cuts for 10 boards. What we are doing is practicing the procedure of routing the edge of a piece and getting the feel of the router. The more practice you get from the exercise the better you will be at using your router.

Happy routing,

Rick

My Weekend Project…

Well I was asked by my brother to come over to the house and give him a hand with putting Cedar siding on the front of his house. As we worked our way up the house putting the cedar siding in place it had become apparent that we needed to work on a quick fixture used to cut the long angles on the 4/12 slop of the roof angle. We determined that we would need to cut the same angle many times to complete the job.

Here is a series of photos showing the fixture we used to make the cuts on the 4/12 slop.

The first photo is of the fixture itself that used a piece of plywood to mark the angle that needed to be cut, the second photo shows the additional piece of plywood that was put in place to guide the circular saw’s base down the angle, the third photo is a shot of the
finished Cedar siding.

This was a very simple fixture that was used to make sure that all of angle cuts were made perfectly. This kind of fixture makes you look like a professional every time and only takes a few minutes to make it. You plan and create one angle and then use it to cut all the angles at the same degree.

I know this is not a router fixture but it is still a fixture in the simplest form that is used with the portable circular saw. This fixture could easily be converted to be used with the router in mind.

That’s it for this post, Happy Routing,

Rick

What is up folks??

Just a short reminder about the “exercise for router enthusiasts.” This challenge is made for everybody that uses a router in the workshop. If you are a beginner then this is a excellent practice exercise that will serve you well throughout your journey of mastering the router.

For the Intermediate and advanced users I see this practice session as a way to show the others the well learned lessons that you have acquired over the years. The action of changing router bits and making a set up is the most fundamental operation and something that everybody should have a good handle doing.

I assume with the lack of response to both my post and my front page is that maybe the challenge might be to hard? The reason for this post is hopefully to get some kid of discussion going through the comments section. So please leave you opinion about the challenge at this post whether it be negative or positive.

Here is a link to the post that I want to discuss.

You can also see the topic on my front page.

Dealing with the Fear of Photography

You have achieved a high level of expertise in woodworking. That’s the good news. The bad news (more accurately “scary news”) is that to take the next step of promoting what you’ve done, you need to step into an arena where you may be closer to a beginner than an expert.

Click here to see the full article in PDF format…

Author, Robert Bezman,

Robert has been a professional photographer for more than 12 years. For the past 5 years, he has had a thriving website whose focus has been providing Digital Photography Tips to beginning and intermediate digital photographers.