How clamp down long piece of wood to allow routing along its length?

[toolsntat]

Thank you! I didn’t know those existed. Sounds like a good approach. I will buy one and experiment. Groovy!

Without any doubt in my mind, doing this handheld is your best option when only having a router, regardless of power rating.
Afraid of not having enough power for a deep wide cut can be bypassed by having a larger bearing on preliminary passes.
Chipping out can sometimes happen but a good sharp cutter helps along with running a marking gauge down the cut line, failing this, and definitely not recommended for an unexperienced user is a controlled backfeed precut....
Cheers
Andy

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Your first sentence could do with an edit.

 

[toolsntat]

Your first sentence could do with an edit.

I blame the new lapeltop.....
Ta, how's that?

 

[Sideways]

Not a specific recommendation but maybe to inspire some lateral thinking.

I bought some used 160x40mm aluminium extrusion with the aim of building an MFT type bench on steroids.
The bench won't happen for a little while but even a single length of this alloy is handy for supporting and clamping long thin stuff in a temporary workspace.
It's very pricey so secondhand is really the only way to go, or just rout a couple of lengths of T track into a timber beam for a lot less money.

Underside

 

[Chris West]

Sounds like you need a router table. You won't regret it. They are incredibly useful. For this job, I would put a feather board vertically on the fence of my router table (one feather board on either side of the cutter) and you can cut as long a stile as you need. I've done it many times this way.

 

[Helixfarm]

Practice on some cheap softwood.

start by trying a dry run -the key is learning where to hold the router, how to move you feet forward, how to position the cable and how to deal with entry and exit points.

If they are stopped grooves, I would do plunges first at beginning and end, first form a hole, then move cutter a few mms and plunge again, do it until you get a bit of a slot.

If they are through grooves, then maybe clamp a long bit of timber that overhangs the ends and run your router against that.

If you are doing a groove that is wider than the cutter, when you adjust your fence for the 2nd pass, make sure you are running the router in the correct direction…..it may not be the as the first pass.

Also and especially in oak don’t take too much off.

Make sure your plunge action is nice and smooth, wax the rise and fall chrome bars if necessary

Check the bottom of your router, I always sand a little round on the edge of the bottom plate to make sure there’s no rough bits that might snag

 

[Helixfarm]

Practice on some cheap softwood.

start by trying a dry run -the key is learning where to hold the router, how to move you feet forward, how to position the cable and how to deal with entry and exit points.

If they are stopped grooves, I would do plunges first at beginning and end, first form a hole, then move cutter a few mms and plunge again, do it until you get a bit of a slot.

If they are through grooves, then maybe clamp a long bit of timber that overhangs the ends and run your router against that.

If you are doing a groove that is wider than the cutter, when you adjust your fence for the 2nd pass, make sure you are running the router in the correct direction…..it may not be the as the first pass.

Also and especially in oak don’t take too much off.

Make sure your plunge action is nice and smooth, wax the rise and fall chrome bars if necessary

Check the bottom of your router, I always sand a little round on the edge of the bottom plate to make sure there’s no rough bits that might snag

Great advice. Many thanks. I now have all the kit I need and will start routing at the weekend.

 

[Helixfarm]

Not a specific recommendation but maybe to inspire some lateral thinking.

I bought some used 160x40mm aluminium extrusion with the aim of building an MFT type bench on steroids.
The bench won't happen for a little while but even a single length of this alloy is handy for supporting and clamping long thin stuff in a temporary workspace.
It's very pricey so secondhand is really the only way to go, or just rout a couple of lengths of T track into a timber beam for a lot less money.

View attachment 195813

Underside
View attachment 195812

Thanks for the thoughts. Lots of ways to think about this.