Hand Routers?

[Rhyolith]

I made a small box out of log, based on a traditional oil stone box.
Little Box by Rhyolith, on Flickr
The outside went great. However for the inside I used a big Tread electric router, which was a fiasco. I had not used a router for a couple of years and I think my Tread was just too big for this job.

I want to have a go making more of these boxes and was thinking of getting a hand router for carving out the inside, having use one for my oilstone box (some else's). The seem insanely expensive everywhere so I wondered if anyone has any recommendations for one on a budget? I am interested in old and new... and before anyone says car boot I don't have regular access to one this time of year.

Equally if there is another way of doing the same job, please suggest. Bare in mind I want to be able to make these where there is no power and do it reasonably quickly.

 

[marcros]

a mortice chisel to hog out the waste and a router plane to flatten the bottom seem the likely candidates to me.

 

[mseries]

router plane, isn't that what the OP is asking about when he refers to hand routers. I was thinking about making one using a Veritas iron, a few scraps, actually a hardwood floor sample and some hardware. I agree, insanely expensive for something I'll use infrequently

 

[JohnPW]

You can use a drill to remove most of the waste, then use a chisel and finally a router plane to tidy up.

You can also make your own router plane, in the form of an "old woman's tooth".

 

[Wildman]

cut a hollow form on the scroll or bandsaw then glue a false bottom on.

 

[Rhyolith]

router plane, isn't that what the OP is asking about when he refers to hand routers.

Yes router plane is what I am asking about.

 

[John15]

There are usually several Stanleys and Records for sale on Ebay. The ones in good nick and complete usually go for £40 - £50. I bought one and find it very useful.

John

 

[ED65]

I wondered if anyone has any recommendations for one on a budget? I am interested in old and new... and before anyone says car boot I don't have regular access to one this time of year.

Any interest in making one?

Equally if there is another way of doing the same job, please suggest. Bare in mind I want to be able to make these where there is no power and do it reasonably quickly.

I was going to say Forstner bit or end mill to hog out the waste, then chisel then hand router but obviously that needs power.

Although, if you have a brace and the right type of bit you could do a very similar job. I suspect that the fastest way to do this manually is resawing the main block, removing the centre of the block and then glueing back together.

 

[PAC1]

The Veritas router at £100 seems expensive, but when you look at the engineering development they have taken the hand router to a new level. When I was looking a good second hand stanley was £70 so I looked at the design improvements on the Veritas. The blade post allows the blade to be fitted either side so can have the blade at the front or middle (most old ones you have to choose between the two designs). It has a fence so you can use it for cutting grooves. The micro adjustment is very good. You can get about 20 blades and even a fitting for cutting stringing if you are doing any veneering. Veritas have done a good job of developing this plane from a one trick pony to a versatile specialist plane.

 

[AndyT]

I think it's true to say that the older Stanley or Record 71 pattern have shot up and become the eBay trend of the moment among hand tools, maybe because people like Paul Sellers have recommended them so much. They are versatile and useful tools, but at £50+ there are other options if you don't need the full range of what the 71 will do.

One option is to buy an old wooden router plane. Often user made, they are cheaper, at least they were when I last looked. Or make your own, in the trad way. Easy if you have a lump of handrail going begging and a plough plane iron. Full instructions from the ever useful Charles Hayward are available in an excellent old booklet on making your own tools. Available alongside many other good things on Gary Roberts' site here
http://toolemera.com/Books & Booklets/booksplans.html

A more basic option is the "poor man's router" which is really just a scrap of wood with an angled hole through it and a chisel jammed through the hole. Again, Paul Sellers will provide a blog post or two and a video demo.

It's worth pointing out that this, like the OWT style, has more of a scraping than a cutting action so is better for final tidying up than it is for much excavation. But even if you had a 71 you would still want to remove most of the bulk by drilling or chiselling first - presumably what you did for the oilstone box.

Otherwise there are examples of user made routers with Stanley style bent cutters too. I'm sure there have been some on here with a cutter ground from a big Allen key - but that may be more practical for something on the scale of the 271.

 

[worn thumbs]

This is one of the rare instances where I would recommend a power tool over a hand tool.A small trimming router will do the job in a fraction of the time that a hand router will and leave a better surface finish.I did see the mention of trying to make oilstone boxes where there is no power but how long are you expecting each one to take?The other consideration is the likelihood of tear-out with the nature of the cutter in a hand router.There is all sorts of pontificating about the precise nature of honing angles and cap iron position on this forum and here we are contemplating a much cruder piece of hardware.

 

[mseries]

To the OP if you describe the problems you had using your large Trend router we maybe able to suggest ways around them - if you want of course

 

[Rhyolith]

To the OP if you describe the problems you had using your large Trend router we maybe able to suggest ways around them - if you want of course

Essential it wobbled around on the work and made a mess, as there was not much for the large heavy machine to rest on with this small box. I did think about putting the box inside a larger piece of wood or some similar jig to provide the router base with a larger surface to balance on, but thats just too much of a faff.

This is one of the rare instances where I would recommend a power tool over a hand tool

A small trimming router costs to much, but the main reason I specifically want a router plane type device is that I want to make these boxes where there is no mains power. If I was going to be in my workshop more for the next few mouths, I would probably take the time to make some sort of jig for my Tread over the router plane.

I made my oilstone box using only hand tools in a couple of days, which is fast enough for my purposes.

 

[deema]

I find a manual router to be an exceptionally useful tool. Setting in hinges, adjusting tenons, or anything where accurate Depth control is required. The excitement of either an old Record (had one and sold it) and the Stanley is when you need to sharpen the blade. It's an upside down, preferred sharpening media on the edge of the bench affair which I detested. I bought a Veritas secondhand for less than my Record sold for. The big advantage is that the blades can be detached and using the sharpening attachment sharpened 'normally' without any gymnastics invoking bending the knees.

The quality of the plane, ease of adjustment is superb. My plane came with two fences.....never understood the reason for anyone buying two.....buy someone did! I can highly recommend it. I also have a Granny's tooth router, home made, which is also very useful for very small 'holes' since the 'tooth' does nit have a fit which dictates the minimum area in which it can cut (scrape really) a depth.

The router plane is primarily for accurately creating a depth after the majority of the waste has been removed. It's not any good for removing the bulk.

For making the oil stone box, I would drill out the majority, remove the WEB Inbetween the drill holes with a Mortice chisel and then final depth and smooth the bottom with a router plane if I were to do it by hand. Alternatively, use an electric router with a bearing guided cutter and clamp pieces of wood to make the envelope of the slot and route with confidence.