Hello all

Glad you decided to join the fun. I hope Stick will come along with a link to a number of documents that will also help. Getting your router into a table will greatly increase your safety. I only rarely use my 1617 freehand because I'm older and occasionally drop things. Using the router in a plunge base instead of the fixed base is also a safer way to use it freehand.

Personally, I don't like being anywhere near a spinning blade or bit. I use that fear to motivate me to think carefully about every cut I make. I also use push blocks and featherboards on the table to further decrease risk. Norm Abrams videos are really helpful as well.

If you decide to make dovetail joints, get one of the newer jigs you use on top of the table, so you move the jig with wood clamped in against the fixed table mounted router and bit. I have the older Katie jig by Sommerfeld tools, but there are other brands as well. Marc Sommerfeld has a number of videos on YouTube that show his technique for using a router table. He uses his own tools, bits, etc, but he's a cabinet maker who went into the tool busienss, and his videos are superb examples of how to get the most from a router. I don't think I've ever noticed him using a freehand router. I think there are more than a dozen all together. I sure have learned a lot from them.