How to Use a Router Table
Learn how to use a router table step by step. Covers setup, bit selection, feed direction, speed settings, safety accessories, and common operations like edge profiling, dadoes, and rabbets.
A router table turns your handheld router into a stationary woodworking station. You mount the router upside down beneath a flat table so the bit pokes up through the surface. Instead of moving the router across the wood, you move the wood across the router. That one change makes dozens of operations safer, more accurate, and more repeatable.
Edge profiles, grooves, rabbets, raised panels, even jointing edges without a jointer. A router table handles all of it. But it also spins a sharp carbide bit at up to 25,000 RPM with nothing between your hands and the cutter except good technique and the right safety accessories. Feed direction, bit speed, cut depth, fence setup. Every one of those details matters.
This guide walks through the full process from mounting the router and choosing the right bit to making your first cut and running common operations. We wrote it for beginners, but even experienced woodworkers might pick up a speed chart detail or a fence trick they had not thought about.
A router (2 HP with variable speed recommended) A router table with insert plate and fence Router bits (1/2-inch shank preferred) Featherboards Push sticks or push blocks The bit guard and starter pin that came with your table Safety glasses Hearing protection A dust mask Shop vacuum or dust collector Combination square or bit height gauge Collet wrenches
Get to know the parts of your router table
Before you turn anything on, take a minute to identify the key parts. The tabletop is the flat surface where your workpiece slides. In the center is the insert plate, a removable panel that holds your router underneath with the bit poking through. The fence is a straight guide that clamps across the table and controls how much of the bit contacts your wood. Most fences have two independently adjustable faces and a dust port on the back for connecting a shop vacuum. You will also find a miter gauge slot running along the table surface for guiding crosscuts. Finally, look for featherboard slots or T-tracks where you can mount featherboards to hold your workpiece firmly against the fence and table.
Mount the router and choose your bit
Unplug the router before you touch any of this. It is the first rule in Bosch's safety rules for router tables, which say to unplug the tool before setting up in the table, making adjustments or changing bits, because an accidental start-up can cause injury. Porter-Cable repeats the same instruction at the head of its adjustment procedures. With the cord out, remove the insert plate from the table and attach your router to it from underneath, following the plate manufacturer's hole pattern. Drop the plate back into the table and use the leveling screws at each corner to make the plate perfectly flush with the tabletop surface. Even a small lip will catch your workpiece and ruin the cut. Now choose your router bit. Use 1/2-inch shank bits whenever possible. A 1/2-inch shank has four times the cross-sectional area of a 1/4-inch shank, which means less vibration, smoother cuts, and longer bit life. Set how far the bit sits in the collet before you tighten anything. Push the shank in as far as it will go, then back it out slightly. Bosch specifies at least 5/8 inch of shank inside the collet with the cutters 1/8 to 1/4 inch clear of the collet nut face, which is what gives proper grip and keeps run-out (bit wobble) down. Porter-Cable words the same step differently, bottoming the shank and then backing it out about 1/16 inch. Tighten firmly with the collet wrenches, and never tighten an empty collet, which damages it. If you are swapping bits partway through a session, give the cutter a minute first, because it will be too hot to handle.
Good to know: Router horsepower matters for bit selection. A 1 to 1.5 HP router handles basic edge profiles with 1/4-inch shank bits. A 2 HP router works with both shank sizes for most tasks. For large bits like raised panel cutters, you need at least 2.25 HP and variable speed.
Set the bit height
With the router still unplugged, reach under the table and adjust the router's depth so the bit extends to the height you need above the tabletop. For most edge profiles like roundovers and chamfers, match the bit height to the profile you want. For grooves and rabbets, raise the bit 1/8 to 1/4 inch per pass and step down to the final depth in stages. Neither Bosch nor Porter-Cable publishes a fixed maximum depth for a single pass, because it depends on the bit, the wood and the router. They do both describe what going too deep costs you. Bosch lists a cut that is too large for one pass among the causes of an overloaded motor, and Porter-Cable notes that more than one pass may be necessary in hard woods to reach the depth you want. A pass that is too deep also loads the bit harder and tears out more grain. Use a small combination square or a dedicated bit height gauge held against the table surface to set the height precisely.
Set up the fence
The fence controls how much of the bit contacts the workpiece. For non-bearing bits (straight bits, slot cutters), the fence is what determines cut depth. Move it closer to the bit for a deeper cut, farther away for a shallower one. For bearing-guided bits (roundovers, ogees), the bearing itself limits the cut depth, but the fence still helps by providing continuous support along the full length of the workpiece. Set the fence faces as close to the bit as possible without touching it. Close the gap in the fence opening around the bit using the adjustable fence faces so the workpiece is always supported. Lock the fence down firmly with both clamps and check that it is parallel to the miter slot.
Set the router speed for your bit size
Larger bits must run at lower speeds, and the reason is rim speed. Spin a 3-inch bit at 24,000 RPM and its outer edge is moving at about 214 mph. That scorches wood and loads the bit far past what it was rated for. Two separate limits apply and you want the lower of the two. The first is your router's manual. Porter-Cable's manual for its 891 series, a 1/2-inch collet router running 10,000 to 23,000 RPM, is blunt about it. Bits larger than 2-1/2 inches belong between 10,000 and 13,000 RPM and must never go above 13,000, and 3-1/2 inches is the largest cutter the tool accepts at all. The second is the bit, which carries a maximum speed from whoever made it. Bosch arranges its own speed dial by application rather than diameter, 8,000 to 16,500 RPM for larger diameter bits and cutters and 20,000 to 25,000 RPM for smaller ones. It also says plainly that exact settings come down to the operator, and that the bit manufacturer may have a speed recommendation of its own. Working settings inside those limits: bits up to 1 inch at 22,000 to 24,000 RPM, 1 to 2 inch bits at 16,000 to 20,000 RPM, and 2 to 2.5 inch bits at 16,000 to 18,000 RPM. Anything larger than 2.5 inches belongs at 13,000 RPM or below, which is where panel-raising bits sit. If your router has no variable speed, you are limited to the smaller sizes. Err on the slower side when in doubt.
Heads up: Large bits belong in a table, not in your hands, and manuals cap how large they can go. Porter-Cable's 891 series tops out at a 3-1/2 inch cutter, and only with the speed control between 10,000 and 13,000 RPM. Bosch warns that once the template guide is out of the base, bits greater than 2 inches will not fit through the sub-base at all. Check your own manual before you mount a big cutter.
Attach safety accessories
Clamp a featherboard to the table or fence before the bit (on the infeed side, never directly beside or after the bit). Featherboards use angled fingers to press the workpiece firmly against the fence and down onto the table. This prevents the wood from drifting mid-cut and keeps your hands away from the bit. For narrow stock, set up push sticks or push blocks to feed the piece through without putting your fingers near the cutter. Connect your shop vacuum or dust collector to the fence's dust port. This part is not housekeeping. OSHA groups routers with sanders and shapers as the machines that generally produce the greatest amount of dust, and ties wood dust exposure to asthma, chronic bronchitis and dermatitis. It also records that certain hardwoods, oak, mahogany, beech, walnut, birch, elm and ash among them, have been reported to cause nasal cancer in woodworkers where exposure is high. Run the extraction and wear a dust mask. Put on safety glasses and hearing protection. Porter-Cable spells out something worth repeating about the first of those, that everyday eyeglasses are not safety glasses, and that eye protection should meet the ANSI Z87.1 standard. NIOSH sets its recommended exposure limit at 85 dBA averaged over an eight-hour day, and advises hearing protection whenever noise goes above 85 dBA regardless of how long it lasts. We could not find an agency measurement for routers specifically, and the figures published elsewhere disagree wildly, so treat it as loud enough to matter and put the muffs on. Keep your hands well away from the cutter too. Bosch makes the point that router cuts are blind cuts, but that the bit still protrudes through the table, so you have to stay aware of where your hands are relative to it.
Feed the workpiece right to left
Stand at the front of the table facing the fence. Feed your workpiece from right to left. Bosch says to always feed the workpiece from right to left across the front of the bit, and the reason is rotation. The bit turns counterclockwise as viewed from the top of the table, so feeding right to left drives the wood into the fence and gives you control. Feeding left to right (called climb cutting) lets the bit grab the workpiece and throw it. At 18,000 to 24,000 RPM, the pulling force can rip the piece from your hands faster than you can react. Feed at a steady pace. Too fast and you get a rough, chattered surface. Too slow and friction burns the wood and the bit. A consistent pace with gentle pressure against the fence produces a clean cut. Start the router before the wood touches the bit, never with the cutter already buried in the workpiece, which Bosch warns can let the cutting edge grab the material and take the piece out of your control.
Heads up: Climb cutting on a router table is extremely dangerous. The bit can grab your workpiece and launch it across the shop like a projectile. Always feed against the bit's rotation, which means right to left when you are using the fence.
Make the cut in multiple passes
Look the board over first. Bosch warns that running a bit into a nail or screw can dislodge the carbide and throw it back toward the operator, and advises against routing warped or wobbly stock at all. Where that is unavoidable, cut it with the concave side against the table so the piece cannot rock. Then, for anything beyond a light edge profile, make multiple shallow passes instead of one deep cut. Set your initial bit height or fence position for a light first pass, using the same 1/8 to 1/4 inch step from step 3. Run your piece through, then raise the bit or move the fence for the next pass. This approach gives you cleaner cuts with less tearout, puts less stress on the motor and bit, and is significantly safer because the bit is removing less material at once. On the final pass, take off just a hair of material. A light finishing cut is what removes the ripples the heavier passes leave behind. If you are routing all four edges of a panel, do the end grain edges first, then the long grain edges. The long grain pass will clean up any tearout at the corners left by the end grain cuts. That order comes straight out of Porter-Cable's manual, which says to cut the end across the grain first so that any chipping is removed by the next cut parallel with the grain.
Run common operations
Edge profiling is the simplest place to start. Install a roundover, chamfer, or ogee bit, set the height, and run the edge of your board along the fence. For dadoes and grooves, use a straight bit. Set the fence to position the groove where you need it, set a shallow bit height, and make multiple passes, raising the bit each time. Rabbets work the same way but along the edge of the board. Use a straight bit or a rabbeting bit with a bearing guide. For raised panels, use a dedicated panel-raising bit and take at least four passes, raising the bit about 1/8 inch each time. These cutters run past 3 inches across, which puts them under the 13,000 RPM ceiling from step 5. The router table also excels at edge jointing. Offset the outfeed fence face forward by the amount you want to remove, and run the board edge along the bit. This gives you a jointer-straight edge without owning a dedicated jointer.
A router table is one of the most versatile tools in a woodshop, but only if you respect the basics. Feed direction, bit speed, cut depth, fence setup. Those four things determine whether you get clean profiles or burned edges and thrown workpieces. Start with simple edge profiles on scrap wood. Get comfortable with the feed rate, the sound of the motor under load, and the feel of the wood against the fence. Once the basics become second nature, you will reach for the router table more than almost any other tool in the shop. The fence is your best friend. The featherboard is your safety net. And right to left is the only direction that matters.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
Always feed your workpiece from right to left when standing at the front of the table facing the fence. The router bit spins counterclockwise as viewed from above, so feeding right to left pushes the workpiece into the fence for control. Feeding in the opposite direction (climb cutting) lets the bit grab the wood and throw it.
A 2 HP router with variable speed and a 1/2-inch collet covers most router table work. A 1 to 1.5 HP router handles basic edge profiles but limits you to smaller bits and 1/4-inch shanks. For large panel-raising bits and heavy stock removal, you want at least 2.25 HP.
Use 1/2-inch shank bits whenever your router accepts them. A 1/2-inch shank has four times the cross-sectional area of a 1/4-inch shank, which means significantly less vibration, smoother cuts, and longer cutter life. Reserve 1/4-inch shank bits for small detail work or palm routers that only accept that size.
Raise the bit 1/8 to 1/4 inch per pass for grooves and rabbets, and about 1/8 inch per pass for large profile bits like raised panel cutters. There is no single published maximum, because the right depth depends on the bit, the wood and the router, which is why step 3 works down in stages instead of naming a ceiling. Let the tool tell you. If the motor note drops or the wood starts to burn, you are taking too much at once.
Burn marks usually come from feeding too slowly, which creates too much friction between the bit and the wood. Other causes include a dull bit, taking too deep a cut in one pass, or running the RPM too high for the bit diameter. Speed up your feed rate slightly, check the bit for dullness, and reduce the cut depth.
Not always, but never with nothing at all. Bearing-guided bits like roundovers and ogees can work without a fence because the bearing controls the cut depth, which is what lets you follow a curved or irregular edge. Bosch is specific about what replaces the fence. When the table is used without one, piloted or bearing bits must be used, and whenever possible the starter pin should be used as well, along with the appropriate guard. The starter pin is the post that drops into a hole in the table beside the bit. You brace the workpiece against it and pivot into the cutter, because the moment before the bearing makes contact is the moment the bit can snatch the piece out of your hands. Non-bearing bits like straight bits always need the fence. Where the edge is straight, use the fence anyway, since it supports the workpiece along its whole length.
Start from the bit diameter, then check that against your router's manual and the bit's own rating and use whichever number is lowest. Bits up to 1 inch can run at full speed, 22,000 to 24,000 RPM. Bits 1 to 2 inches run at 16,000 to 20,000 RPM, and bits 2 to 2.5 inches at 16,000 to 18,000 RPM. Anything larger than 2.5 inches should stay at or below 13,000 RPM, which is the limit Porter-Cable prints in its router manual and also where panel-raising bits fall. A 3-inch bit at 24,000 RPM has a rim speed of about 214 mph, which is why that ceiling exists.
You can, but with limitations. Palm routers typically have 1 to 1.25 HP motors and only accept 1/4-inch shank bits, which restricts you to small edge profiles and light cuts. They also lack variable speed in most cases. A mid-size or full-size router with at least 2 HP and a 1/2-inch collet is a much better fit for table mounting.