selsey.steve

Greetings to all here.

I discovered this forum whilst searching the net via Google for information about woodworking in general as well as routing in particular.

I retired from Police work a couple of years ago and, after all the upheaval that this event causes, I'm now looking to use what few spare hours I have with something both useful and which I enjoy. Woodworking fills that bill.

Acquiring the necessary skills is a steep learning curve but a pleasurable one; learning the varied usages of woodworking machinery definitely requires input from those much more experienced than I. Hence my presence in this forum. From what little I have seen of the various posts there are many who are willing to share their experience with a recruit as raw as I am. I sincerely hope that I don't bore them with what might appear to be some very, very basic questions.

I live in Selsey, West Sussex in England after having served for 28 years in the Royal (dropped after 1997) Hong Kong Police. I'm married with two delightful daughters aged 16 and 21. I have a reasonably sized workshop, I have recently been given one router and have purchased a second, I have a couple of circular saws, a couple of electric drills, a drill press and a burning desire to use them all in a useful fashion!

I'm initially looking to build a work-bench and then a router table. Can anyone give me a steer in what to include, what to avoid and any tips and hints that I should take on board?

Regards,

selsey.steve

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Hamlin

Welcome to the router forums.

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Ken

"A VETERAN"
"Whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life". That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -Author Unknown

Router is still my name

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, you are already on the right track. building your own bench and R-table is the only way to go.

So, these are just few things to consider.
The height you will be comfortable working both workbench and R-Table.
As far as the workbench, how large do you need it to be? If you will be building large projects than your Bench has to accommodate that and then some.
Same thing with R-Table.
They both have to be flat. Although router table has to be dead on flat.
I work with large projects and my main tool has always been Router table so I prefer large tables. I also prefer offset router plate and not in the center as in commercial tables since everything behind the fence is waste of real estate why place the plate in the middle.
Both tables can be super simple designs or fancy with all the bells and whistles.
There are many links here on router tables.
Here's one I did way back....

http://www.routerforums.com/tools-wo...6-dont-do.html

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router è ancora il mio nome

Dr.Zook

Welcome to the Router Forums Steve. Thanks for the intro. Please feel free to ask questions you have, basic or not. The members here are more than willing to help and share. So, don't be shy, jump in.

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Dave
the "Doctor"

In woodworking there is no scrap, only firewood.

Please edit your profile with a name and location so we can better assist you and make for a friendlier forum.

George II

Steve, welcome lad and enjoy. Here you will find a wealth of information as well as many different views on the same question as well as subjects.

The work bench, personally I like the 18th century English style. To build one I will use those depicted in the book, "Workbenches from Design & Theory to Construction" by Christopher Schwarz.
This book is distributed in the UK by David & Charles
Brunel House
Newton Abbot
Devon TQ 12 4PU
England
Tel. (+44) 1626 323200
E-mail: postmaster@davidandcharles.co.uk
Give it a look and by all means use this forum for all your questions and research.

Good Luck and best regards,
George II
aka
George Cole

nzgeordie

G'day Selsey Bill er... sorry, Steve and welcome to the forum. As you can see, you've come to the right place for advice. Enjoy and show us some pics of your work when you can.

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Pete
I've cut it twice and it's still too short! But only at one end.

challagan

Welcome to the Router Forums!

Corey

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chippypah

Welcome Steve,
Nice to see another britt, and liveing so close as I am at ford.
Cheers
Pete

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selsey.steve

Greetings All,

Well, what a welcome! Thank you for making me feel at home straight away. I don't think I shall fear asking the dumbest questions now!!

GeorgeII, I've sourced the book on Amazon and have placed an order for a 2nd hand copy, really cheap, too.

Router Is Still My Name, WoW Some pic, that! I've done a fair amount of drilling into metals and I know only too well the heartsinking feeling when you hear the dreaded "SPANG" of a drill bit pushed beyond its endurance. I'm going to have to remember that wood is just as hard as any metal when the cutting tool is turning at many thousands of RPM.

A general question, do the Forum Members consider MDF to be a suitable top-surface for a work-bench, and if so, what thickness would they recommend?

Once again, many thanks for the warm, world-wide welcome!

Steve Brown.

George II

I have made mine out of MDF. It does what I want it to do. As I live in Georgia, and yellow pine is cheap that will be my next bench top, as per the book. No matter what you use or how assemble it you will always find something you should have done or an afterthought, that is the nature of the beast we call woodworking. No matter what you do just go for it and learn and push forward.
Best of luck you you.

Best regards,
George Cole
By the way I lived in East Sussex whilst I worked at Gatwick for Delta Airlines in 1989.