Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing your project
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Welcome. I have both a colt and a Triton (and a couple of 1617s) If you plan to build your own table, do use Baltic Birch plywood. Make sure it isn't warped. If it's been stacked vertically as many precut pieces are in woodworking stores, it may be warped and won't do. I like a double layer. A table is sooo much safer as well. Leveling a plate is another important step, you don't want a lip of the router mounting plate to stick up above the table level, or too far below or you work piece will catch on it and mess up your routing job. Kreg makes the leveling device in the picture.
You can just use an extremely straight piece of lumber for a fence to start with, but if you get fancy (and you probably will) make one with a high vertical face. It will allow you to do the ends of longer pieces. You could make a jig for that, but there are easier ways. I learned a LOT about routing from watching the youtube videos by Marc Sommerfeld. He is selling his own jigs and bits, but he was a cabinet maker in his prior life and his methods are really easy to use. He removes safety devices in the videos so you can see what he's doing, but leave yours in place!
Stick's materials are equal to the best books on routing out there, so do read them over, in particular note the direction of grain aspects. Orienting the wrong way will lead to tearout and poor results.
Since you're fairly new to this, I've attached a pdf of the 18 plus things that accelerated my learning curve. I'd done DIY and carpentry projects all my life, but woodworking is several steps up in complexity because you're making complex projects with close tolerances. It discusses many things and is fairly long, but has lots of pictures and illustrations.
If you make a two layered table top, you can use 3/4 on the bottom layer, half inch on top. Then cut out the opening for the plate you select in the top layer and use the Kreg levelers to bring the plat up for an exact fit. Much easier than it sounds. Cut the basic openings just inside the outline of the plate, then use your Colt with a mortising bit to cut to just a hair larger than the outline. A mortising bit has a bearing the same size as the cutters, so you can lay a straight piece of wood, clamped in place at the cut line, and the bearing will follow that piece. With the Colt, don't take off any thing more than 1/8th inch at a time. The bit will overheat and become unusable.
The third picture is a way to lay out straight edges to use as guides to the mortising bit for an exact fit. You want just a hair wider opening than the plate or it will be difficult to remove. Insert playing cards all round, then clamp in place.
Hope all this is helpful. Like the others, I can see a nice marriage of leather and wood. And I wonder is some of the great leather tools might also allow you to create some gorgeous designs and textures in wood.
You can just use an extremely straight piece of lumber for a fence to start with, but if you get fancy (and you probably will) make one with a high vertical face. It will allow you to do the ends of longer pieces. You could make a jig for that, but there are easier ways. I learned a LOT about routing from watching the youtube videos by Marc Sommerfeld. He is selling his own jigs and bits, but he was a cabinet maker in his prior life and his methods are really easy to use. He removes safety devices in the videos so you can see what he's doing, but leave yours in place!
Stick's materials are equal to the best books on routing out there, so do read them over, in particular note the direction of grain aspects. Orienting the wrong way will lead to tearout and poor results.
Since you're fairly new to this, I've attached a pdf of the 18 plus things that accelerated my learning curve. I'd done DIY and carpentry projects all my life, but woodworking is several steps up in complexity because you're making complex projects with close tolerances. It discusses many things and is fairly long, but has lots of pictures and illustrations.
If you make a two layered table top, you can use 3/4 on the bottom layer, half inch on top. Then cut out the opening for the plate you select in the top layer and use the Kreg levelers to bring the plat up for an exact fit. Much easier than it sounds. Cut the basic openings just inside the outline of the plate, then use your Colt with a mortising bit to cut to just a hair larger than the outline. A mortising bit has a bearing the same size as the cutters, so you can lay a straight piece of wood, clamped in place at the cut line, and the bearing will follow that piece. With the Colt, don't take off any thing more than 1/8th inch at a time. The bit will overheat and become unusable.
The third picture is a way to lay out straight edges to use as guides to the mortising bit for an exact fit. You want just a hair wider opening than the plate or it will be difficult to remove. Insert playing cards all round, then clamp in place.
Hope all this is helpful. Like the others, I can see a nice marriage of leather and wood. And I wonder is some of the great leather tools might also allow you to create some gorgeous designs and textures in wood.
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