[mike222]

Hello -

last year I made several simple bookcases. They are wall cases, approx 82" tall...10"pine sides and tops, same sized shelves evry 11 inches. I bought a craftsman router to channel out the slots on each side of the uprights to fit the shelves into. The problem is that I freehanded the router for each cut, and they arent as straight as I would like...is there a way to use a router table or other tool to ensure straight cuts? thanks.

 

[GoonMan]

Hello -

last year I made several simple bookcases. They are wall cases, approx 82" tall...10"pine sides and tops, same sized shelves evry 11 inches. I bought a craftsman router to channel out the slots on each side of the uprights to fit the shelves into. The problem is that I freehanded the router for each cut, and they arent as straight as I would like...is there a way to use a router table or other tool to ensure straight cuts? thanks.

Hello mike222, Welcome to the RouterForums

Yes there is a way to route dadoes for shelves. You can use a straight edge. I use a 10 foot 2 piece aluminum straight edge clamped to the wood on both ends when cutting dadoes with my router. Or you can use the straight side of a piece of plywood or any straight edge. I picked mine up from Ace hardware I also use it for cutting the full length of a sheet of plywood with my circular saw.

There are also jigs that some build, or buy to use for this.

You can do a Google search for cutting dadoes. Here is a link to Router Dado Jig from ShopNotes web site.