[RustyK]

Hi Everyone

Hobbyist woodworker who started woodworking about 25 years ago to help relieve job-related stress........retired 16 years ago from a 30 year banking career. Over the years, I've enjoyed woodworking & indeed, obtained a great deal of satisfaction from working with my hands. I filled out my profile so there's more info there. As you can see from my tool list, most of them are power tools.....hate to admit it but I'm pretty clutsey with my hands. My main claim to fame was building my own kitchen cabinets from rough maple milled myself. Custom design based on my wife's requirements.....that tested a very good 52 (presently) marriage. Raised panel doors, angled corner cabinets with lazy susans, pull out shelves & a custom counter top. Other than that I've stuck mainly to small projects like coffee & end tables, picture frames & lots of outdoor furniture.

My search for a router led me to this forum. For the past 16 years I've had an Hitachi M12 router mounted in a Lee Valley Veritas table....still going strong today. Excellent combination but just getting tired of mounting & un-mounting it for handheld purposes. Narrowed it down to a DeWalt, Porter Cable & a Bosch......leaning towards the Bosch 1617 EVSPK with the fixed & plunge bases.....Good choice???????

Just browsing the sections & subjects it looks like I'm going to learn a ton from you guys.....glad to be here.

 

[Bob Adams]

Welcome Russ! I will let everybody else give you router advise but I would really like to see pictures of your kitchen remodel, sounds great! Ok, I lied the Bosch is a great choice.

 

[difalkner]

Welcome to the forum, Russ! Glad to have you here and glad you completed your profile. I have the Bosch 1617 and it's a great router. Like Bob, we'd like to see photos of your cabinets.

David

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Hi Russ and welcome from western Canada. I used my M12 in the Veritas table too and it works fine but like you I got tired of mounting and unmounting. My solution was to build another table. I have a free standing table and I still use the Veritas as a bench top one when I need two tables going but I usually mount my VC model in it now. For the freestanding table I use an M12V2 model which has above table adjust capability, something I don't think Hitachi ever advertised. I obviously like Hitachi routers but the Bosch 1617 is as good or better according to most of our members. A growing number of members are using a Triton for their tables and it scores top marks of any router these days I would say. It does not score top marks when used handheld however. The 1617 will take over there.

One of the other reasons I built another table is so that I can use standard insert plates which allow me to remove the router from the table to change bits. That is the other shortcoming of the Veritas table is that changing bits is not that easy. These days when I use that table I have one specific job for it so I chuck the bit before I attach the router to the table and usually remove it after I remove the router.

 

[Semipro]

Hello and welcome to the router forum Russ.

 

[Knothead47]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[MT Stringer]

Welcome aboard.

 

[DesertRatTom]

The Bosch kit is an excellent choice. Great hand held and a lot of excellent accessories, including dust collection, edge guide, various base options and adapters. Hard to beat. And, welcome, glad you joined the fun. Look forward to seeing some of your projects.

 

[DaninVan]

Hey, Russ; welcome!
Another big fan of Bosch here...1619EVS and a 1617EVS. I didn't buy the package (EVSPK) and have regretted it ever since. Got the plunge base on order; can't wait for it to get here.

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum Russ.

 

[ggom]

Welcome here!

Bosh looks like a good choice.

Regards.

 

[woodknots]

Hey Russ, welcome from southern Ontario. @RainMan 2.0(on the west coast) has a collection of GI tools as well, but unlike you, he has no insulation in his garage (forum standing topic of discussion). Where do you experience your winter, out west or east coast? Glad to have you aboard.

 

[marecat3]

welcome

 

[RustyK]

Peterborough (kawartha area) of Ontario......c-c-c-cold right now.

 

[RustyK]

Thanks for all the welcomes....sorry I took so long to reply. We've downsized to a smaller house (garage/workshop is bigger though...go figure) & I couldn't find my pictures of the completed cupboards. I did find a picture of the initial start of the job in my old workshop. In my post I forgot to mention that without some great books written by Danny Proulx the job would have been much more difficult. I credit him for being able to complete what for me was a daunting project.

I attach pictures of my old workshop & the new workshop.Will post pics of the completed cabinets when I can them in *%**%^* Lightroom.

 

[woodknots]

Peterborough (kawartha area) of Ontario......c-c-c-cold right now.

I'm sure it's cold up in Peterborough. Down here in the Niagara region, we're having some really cold temps lately as well, dipping down to the -20s with overnight lows of -30 with the windchill. That's unusual for us down here. It's friggin cold:surprise::surprise:

 

[Knothead47]

Stress- overcoming the urge to choke the crap out of someone who richly deserves it. >

 

[Danman1957]

Welcome Russ
It's nice to see another Canadian joining, there are several of us. Peterborough is a beautiful area, I used to camp at the Ivy Lea campground under the bridge to the USA. Love the 1000 Islands area. I'm only about 2.5hrs away in western Quebec near the Ontario border. I'm convinced you will enjoy this forum as we all do, great bunch of people and a wealth of knowledge.
Dan

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Nice working area Russ and it looks warm, unlike Rainman Rick's over in SE BC. As Vince said, Rick is the victim of lots of ribbing for procrastinating on getting his shop insulated and heated. It's cold here too but not as bad as central Canada. About -25 has been the coldest so far here in the north Okanagan area.

 

[RustyK]

Unfortunately, I only have a 60 amp sub panel in the garage so can't run a good heater...presently operating with two small 110 V heaters.....not good enough for the -25 C temps we're currently having. Tough getting an electrician out in rural eastern Ontario to upgrade the panel & put in a 220 circuit. Hopefully for next winter. In my old garage/workshop I had a construction heater hung from the ceiling & tilted down...worked well & was fairly cost efficient.