Router 101 Skills And Safety Workshop

About this course

The workshop introduces trim routers and handheld routers through setup and cutting exercises. Topics include router mechanics, feed direction, choosing between router types, selecting bits, and adjusting fences and bit height for repeatable results. Participants also examine jig design, including registration faces, clamping and guide-bushing offsets, before building a straight-edge guide jig. Practical work includes making a template-guided recess and combining different router and jig-guided cuts on a sample board. The course focuses on transferable router skills rather than producing one standalone project.

What you'll learn

• Explain how a router motor, collet and bit work together
• Select suitable router types and bits for different woodworking tasks
• Set up a router, fence and bit height for repeatable cuts
• Design and build a straight-edge guide jig using registration faces, clamping and guide-bushing offsets
• Produce a template-guided recess and combine router techniques in a sample board

Is this course right for you?

The course is intended for beginners and for makers looking to develop router skills through active workshop work. Participation involves setting up routers, making cuts and constructing a guide jig. The emphasis is on learning several techniques rather than completing a single project.

• Skills-focused rather than centred on one finished project
• Involves practical router cutting and jig-building exercises

Before you go

• Participants take home a shop-made straight-edge guide jig and a router skills sample board.