can anyone recommend a decent book or two on woodwork (or useful websites)

just bought a router and would like some projects to practise before I have a crack at a utility room conversion later in the year

Not for router work but Paul sellers YouTube channel is excellent

YouTube is the place to be. Start browsing for woodworking examples and you’ll get a host of recommended videos popping up after each one. I can happily sit there watching end to end videos. A few duff ones but it’s easy to skip forward

Steve Ramsey on YouTube is quite good in the keeping it simple kind of way.

https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin/videos

Good suggestions, marking thread.

Agree with TheBrick Paul Sellers channel is really good, a proper craftsman.

A router is like a nasty dog ill treat it and it will bite hard and nastily, always hold with both hands, wear safety glasses and ear defenders, secure workpieces to bench,

as above loads of good youtube vids out there,think what you need to do and then look for the video showing it, then practice and practice some more,decent hand tools are also a god send.

Steve Ramsey

Definitely a marmite presentation style. He irritates me too much with his fake chuckling that I can’t watch. Shame because his content / projects otherwise are good.

To add to project’s post: the router is possibly the most dangerous of power tools. Bits going in excess of 20k RPM don’t stop for anything. They’ll bite and chew their way through most materials. I’ve seen somebody put a router back down on the bench before it had stopped spinning and it threw itself straight back up in the air, cut through the power cable and took chunks out of the bench, all in the blink of an eye. The kid that did it went an awful ashen colour.

Get plenty of practice on scrap – ply and MDF (urge) are best; pine will gum up bits very quickly and require regularly cleaning off before it cooks into place. Even if the router has extraction, wear a proper mask. If it doesn’t have extraction, prepare yourself for a lot of cleaning/dusting afterwards. Hardwood dust is highly allergenic and also carcinogenic; MDF dust is super-fine and will really sit on your chest and get in your eyes.

Listen out for the router screaming – you’re taking off too much and/or the bit is blunt. Cheap bits are a waste of money.

They’re fantastic tools, really improve the finish of even simple pieces. They really benefit from jigs, so check those out on YouTube and make friends with somebody who has a table saw! Pinterest is also excellent resource for how-to guides.

Does anyone else remember Blizzards Wonderful Woodwork? I used to occasionally catch this on TV as a child in the eighties. Probably very sad to admit, but I found it very compelling.

Collins wood workers manual is what we recommend to our furniture students.

Those Paul Sellers videos – he really knows his stuff. That’s my retirement sorted then

I have a James (yellow Henry) for dust extraction and just picked up a p3 face mask, found seperate googles and mask always steam up so have the choice of breathing in shit or seeing. Neither option the best really.

Just had a small shock when I saw the price of bits. I was looking for a lambs tongue and the trend bit that comes up is just shy of £100….

What is the difference with double fluted and single fluted bits?

Single flute will feed quicker but leave a poorer finish. Think of it like teeth per inch on a saw. You have to feed slower with two/three flutes but get a crisper profile.

Look at Axminster/Excalibur for bits. I don’t think they do lamb’s tongue – you may have to stay with Trend there – but they’re otherwise decent tools.

I make fitted furniture and my router is one of my least used pieces of kit. Circular saw, drills & drivers and jigsaw is what I need. Plus a kreg pocket hole kit.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Have the other tools you mention bigjohn though not a pocket jig. I have yet to use the circular saw as I either use the mitre or the jigsaw. I imagine that will change when I need to cut mdf for a new floor.

I was hoping to make my own trim matching the original but looks like it will be too expensive for the bit, when I can buy 4m of primed mdf in the right profile for less than £30.

You can frequently create them via multiple passes with different bits, having a specific bit just makes it easier and quicker. Basically you don’t always need that mega expensive complicated but.

You can frequently create them via multiple passes with different bits, having a specific bit just makes it easier and quicker. Basically you don’t always need that mega expensive complicated but.

I’ve got a few good books, which I asked to be given as gifts, but really – as above – I’ve learnt everything from YouTube. I think it’s revolutionised hobbyist learning.

If you start with Paul sellers then follow the recommendations YouTube gives you’ll soon find people making the kind of stuff you want to make and presenting in a style you enjoy.

As for making your own moulding, I’d agree you can probably find a way to make it without the posh bit, that’s where the creativity comes in. For moulding work you’ll also probably find building a table for your router is preferable – see YouTube. I love building jigs and ‘furniture’ for the workshop because it gave me the freedom to screw up and learn how to make good furniture for the house.

My uncle worked with wood all his life, never wore a mask. He died of cancer. The dust and solvents in glues i reckon, still made it to 85 but his sisters have outlived him and dont have cancer.

I love building jigs and ‘furniture’ for the workshop

I’ve built a few jigs. The one I use all the time is the one I built to cut perfect right angles in board up to 400mm wide. It’s fast and as I fitted a metre rule to it, it’s both square and accurate in length. As my saw can cut at 45 degrees, then I don’t need (or have, or even want) a mitre saw either. I can get a perfect angle on 400mm skirting board, which I doubt the biggest chop saw can do.

And yes, a dust extractor and ear defenders. I’m lucky my Festool saw has been designed so the dust extraction is almost 100% even though I use a crappy Wickes wet & dry vacuum.

My MIL’s next door neighbour did woodturning, never wore a mask and died of lung cancer that the doctors put down to the woodwork

All over the price of a mask

Some great practical tips in here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IJ0KFG2/

Not sure if it has mask recommendations.

A router definitely demands some respect, especially if you mount it in a router table as you’ve got both hands free to place near the bit.  Circular saw, you generally need both hands to operate it (RIP circular saw, 8*4 sheet blew over onto it last week and now the base is all twisted 🙁 )

I’ve had my router years but only tamed it last month, by making a DIY router table that clamps into a workmate.  First time I used it, I had it hooked up to a vacuum that turns on and off as you use the power tool.  The extraction got blocked so I removed workpiece, got underneath and detached vacuum hose, stood up, turned vacuum gack on and vacuumed around the bit to remove blockage.  Then I realised that the bit was still spooling down whilst I was sucking the sawdust out!  Had ear protection on and hadn’t realised that despite the router being a screaming banshee during use, once you turn it off it takes ages to spool down but is near silent whilst doing so!  Thankfully I didn’t try to clear the blockage with a finger, or screwdriver 🙂

This book: DIY; know how with show how Is a brillianly useful book. Straight forward projects, informative pictures, and tool guide.

Good for the whole house/room renovation.

Highly recommended. I get it’s not a specific woodwork book, but might suit your project well.

DrP

Going to repeat the h and s

Routers are scary.

MDF dust and alot of wood dust is full on nasty bad for you. Not a bit bad full bliwn bad dust mask that is up to the job not the cheapest cotton paper thing youycan find!

You’ll want a track saw they’re my favourite.

I telly uo a really cool tool I recently bought..

Worx battery saw…

Great for ripping through MDF/chipboard etc – cuts really straight with a clamped guide or the rail, and is dead easy to use…

I was using a palm router last night to ‘shave’ off 2.5 mm from the top of our new kitchen usint, so the undermount sink sits flush – spent more time making the jig (as it’s an end on route) than teh actuall tool work!

DrP

If you want any more inspiration…

Samurai Carpenter

https://www.youtube.com/user/6488jesse

If you are converting a utility room are you needing to create storage/doors etc ?

If so then a track saw and mft style top (£50)  will get you repeatably square and precise dimension components. A generic plunge saw that fits Makita and Festool rails with a decent blade is now very good value. (from£70 up)

Try not to get into a table saw – they need a lot of space around them to work with and are potentially quite dangerous , none of them do dust extraction remotely as well as a track saw.

You can build a cyclone dust accumulator easily for about £30 with a generic cyclone and blue barrel  – this will stop henry getting choked , will work great with router/saw.

The MFT style top mentioned above is very useful as a table to work with the router on top , as you can clamp work and jigs to it for repeatable accurate work.

For smaller pieces, buy or make yourself a router table and clamping it to a bench e.g. workmate  – easier to attach a vacuum hose and it not getting in your way and considerably reduce the amount of dust. All you need is a piece of plywood with a hole in it and batten to act as a fence – easier to control the depth/width of cut and little chance of it going wrong.