# Routing kitchen worktops



## cusimar9 (2 Sep 2014)

I'll shortly be embarking on giving our tired kitchen a facelift.

I'll be replacing all the laminate worktops with 40mm full stave oak worktops.

I only have a weedy 1200W Black & Decker router so I'll be sure to keep my passes very shallow.

I'm a little confused by the number of worktop jigs ranging anywhere from £25 to £150+. Does anyone have experience with worktop jigs and is there any you'd particularly recommend?


----------



## John Brown (2 Sep 2014)

As far as I know(not very far), you don't really need a worktop jig for a solid timber worktop. The worktop jig is used to achieve the so-called "Mason's mitre", which makes the neat join in the corner where two preformed rounded edges meet. With solid timber you can make a straightforward butt joint and rout the nose of the worktop in-situ. Of course this leaves you with a stopped roundover, as the router bit won't go all the way into the corner. If this displeases you, I believe some people finish the job off with a chisel.


----------



## cusimar9 (2 Sep 2014)

I did think that but then I've seen so many youtube videos of that joint that I became convinced that was the proper way to join a kitchen worktop!

OK then so I just need to ensure the worktops have a square front edge and then rout the nose after fitting.

I couldn't quite picture what you meant about the corners, but a quick google revealed this which I think describes what you're talking about. I might need to practice that before I try and ruin a 3.5m worktop!

So... just a straightforward butt joint, held together with bolts as normal.

Anything else I should bear in mind?


----------



## kostello (2 Sep 2014)

I like to stop the roundover or chamfer about an inch from the corner.... Then as the top moves nothing gets out of line


----------



## Wuffles (2 Sep 2014)

I'm probably a heretic for this, but I have been known to use a bit of sandpaper, just to take off the sharp edge of a worktop which is easy enough to then get right into the right angle and make it all look the same.

You'll still likely need a template for the "mushrooms"/"bones" underneath for the connecting bolts, but try and borrow one? And a guide bush/template guide for your router, or you'll be very unpopular with whoever lent you the template.

And a biscuit or a domino or two helps keep things nice and lined up for glue-up and forever more.


----------



## Ed Bray (2 Sep 2014)

You could do what I did a few years ago, hire a jig and then use it as a pattern to make your own. Still have mine.


----------



## kostello (2 Sep 2014)

Bolt slots can be done with a forstner bit and straight router cutter for the slot


----------



## Wuffles (2 Sep 2014)

And balls of steel in a full stave oak worktop )


----------



## cusimar9 (2 Sep 2014)

Cheers for the info guys. I'm not overly concerned with the bolt slots I can rough cut a template with a jigsaw and just use that.

I don't have a biscuit cutter, so I assume the bolts allow some flexibility to get vertical alignment absolutely perfect. Is it worth using glue to keep the alignment fixed? It doesn't seem like a good idea if the kitchen ever needs to be dismantled, but I suppose if it needs to come out it's nothing a circular saw couldn't sort.

Lovely vote of confidence there Wuffles 

I quite fancy this edging, no doubt the inside corners are a real pain to get right:


----------



## Phil Pascoe (2 Sep 2014)

If you wish to align things, you can get a slot cutter for your router that'll let you use biscuits. I used one for ages before I bought a biscuit cutter.


----------



## Wuffles (2 Sep 2014)

Good idea on the jig sawing out a template. But I've yet to see a set of solid wood worktops be exactly the same thickness, so routing out a biscuit or two (which could easily be done with a biscuit cutting router bit?) using the top as a reference, would help. Does depend on how you react to details like that. I married a detail finding nightmare.


----------



## Wuffles (2 Sep 2014)

Jinx! And I did the same with the router bit as Phil.


----------



## cusimar9 (2 Sep 2014)

Biscuit cutting router bits... every day's a school day for me it seems! Need to get me a set of those...


----------



## Wuffles (2 Sep 2014)

Slippery slope after that.


----------



## John Brown (3 Sep 2014)

+1 for using a router to cut the biscuit slots. That's what I've done in the past as well.


----------



## pcb1962 (3 Sep 2014)

Wuffles":3spvxn4v said:


> And a guide bush/template guide for your router, or you'll be very unpopular with whoever lent you the template.



lol  



Wuffles":3spvxn4v said:


> And a biscuit or a domino or two helps keep things nice and lined up for glue-up and forever more.



Definitely do this. The beech block worktop in my kitchen was installed with only connecting bolts underneath and now the joins are bouncy after ten years of the children climbing on the worktop to get to the sweetie cupboard.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (3 Sep 2014)

If you are buying an arbor, spacers and bearings anyway, you could buy a 6mm slot cutter. You could then use a loose tongue, making a tongue from 6mm ply (cut on the diagonal).


----------



## cusimar9 (3 Sep 2014)

phil.p":1xim4zus said:


> If you are buying an arbor, spacers and bearings anyway, you could buy a 6mm slot cutter. You could then use a loose tongue, making a tongue from 6mm ply (cut on the diagonal).



Sorry Phil I'll have to give away my ignorance here and admit I don't have the foggiest what this means (homer)


----------



## Phil Pascoe (3 Sep 2014)

You can buy a one piece 4mm (I think) slot cutter for biscuits, or you can buy an arbor (1/2" shaft) that the cutter fits on with spacers so that you can control the depth of the cut and bearings so that it will follow the edge of your worktop or any pre cut pattern or template you wish. This is more expensive, but much more versatile in the long run, as you can buy different width cutters for the same arbor. Have a look at "Wealden" cutters. 
If you visualise joining two pieces of the grooved side of t&g floorboard together, the loose tongue is the strip you would need to fit both grooves. If you cut the strip diagonally off a sheet of ply, there is no weak, short grain in the strip - one veneer will go diagonally in one direction, the next veneer diagonally the other. It's stronger than having one veneer perfectly straight and strong, and the other completely cross grained and useless. OSB would be a possibility, as well.


----------



## Ghengis (3 Sep 2014)

This is what you need

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... t_138.html

Or if you dont intend using again

http://www.screwfix.com/p/biscuit-route ... 41mm/78101

And biscuits

http://www.screwfix.com/p/trend-no-10-j ... eces/34020

Or if you intend making a habit of it a budget dedicated cutter

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb37 ... 240v/33513


----------



## cusimar9 (4 Sep 2014)

Hmm I've edge joined a fair bit of stuff without a biscuit jointer, but I can see how it would make a worktop easier to assemble, given the lack of access when assembling in situ in tight corners.

I'll have 3 joins to do on the worktops and no doubt lots more edge joining to do in the future so I'm not against investing a little but £200+ for a dewalt/makita biscuit jointer is a tad over my budget.

Perhaps a cheap screwfix jointer with a good returns policy would seem to be a good option? Certainly I got lucky with a £17 angle grinder from there a few weeks ago!


----------



## Phil Pascoe (4 Sep 2014)

I think all the reports I've read on cheap jointers have said that they tend to be inaccurate - you might be better off with the cutters as detailed above and a good router. If you've a decent router anyway, it's certainly a cheaper option.


----------



## pcb1962 (5 Sep 2014)

cusimar9":6vuylvhu said:


> I can see how it would make a worktop easier to assemble, given the lack of access when assembling in situ in tight corners.


If access is restricted then you're much better off with the biscuit cutter in a router option, as you need only separate the edges a few inches to get the router bit into the gap.


----------



## cusimar9 (5 Sep 2014)

I suppose for the sake of £15 these should be worth a go

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-biscu ... set/65290#


----------

