The WORST router flush trimming MISTAKES (You’re doing it WRONG) 

These are great tips and I don’t mind the humor or swearing. It’s a nice change of pace from the “typical” videos

I hardly ever make snap judgements, but this is the first video of yours I've seen and it was well thought out, informative, and genuinely funny (not cheesy). I look forward to watching more of your work. PS, Your wife is such a good sport - nice touch!

Nice tips mate. And thanks for being genuine. No problems with swearing like a trooper - especially with yourself.

I've purchased a few of your templates and they have been on the shelf. So thankful to see this how-to. They fact that you are kewl as hell is a bonus.

Cheers! I appreciate the advice. Never thought to soften the edges with water to avoid bad tear out. You learn something new every day.

I love you're no nonsense way of describing what it is that you are doing.....excellent job....I am a subscriber!

This was the first video I watched from you. I loved it! You do a great job. You weren’t kidding! That little sander is EXPENSIVE! Subscribed!

ABFAB. Absolutely the best presentation of valuable points, and supplying a comprehensive list of suppliers. Many thanks Donnie.

I'm going to be buying my first trim router pretty soon, so your tips will certainly come in handy. Thanks very much and hi from Calgary, Alberta, Canada! :) Oh, the router I'll be getting is a RIDGID corded 1/4" shank.

Thanks for this video! Super helpful - I've bought a bunch of your templates and now I just need to make a ton of Christmas gifts with them. Going to the garage to try out the water on the edges trick now! Also going to practice on some softer common board. I always like to "go big or go home" so I got a bunch of hardwood to make projects with, but maybe a practice board or two wouldn't hurt after hearing your tips :)

Thanks for the router advice. I’ll always keep in mind, maintaining my work on the frontside of the router bit. I had some issues routing inside holes with a template. Holy cow, it was pretty spooky for a beginner.

Terrific video and tips. I’ve been doing this years but learned some great tips and also very handy to see tips I had seen before well explained in one place.

Thanks for the video! I don’t have a table, rather just a palm router. I’ve noticed the slower the speed on the palm router, the less tear out. Will try the water trick

Just starting on my router journey. Thanks for the tips!

Love all your templates! Didn’t realize your channel was so awesome (and informatively funny) 😂

Cool job mate, thanks for all the tips, I’m an ex- mechanic, retired and learning how to munch up wood

One of the scarier things to happen in woodworking is when a router bit catches the grain the wrong way and sends the piece flying. Despite being observant and careful, it happens. I bought an expensive bit just because of the issue, Whiteside Model UDC9112 Spiral Combination for about $200. It's not a 100% effective, but it is much better than anything else I've tried. As you mentioned in the video, it's very important to get within 1/8" or less to the finished line. I'm going to try your water trick next time, never saw that before. Thanks for posting. Mark

I admire all your work and want to build stuff just like you! Thanks for the video!!

Great tips - first time I heard of the water on the edges. Will need to try it out in near future. I’ve been eyeing that sander in your IG and YT shorts. Will need to check out the link. I have noticed your focus on templates and small projects lately. Just watched your table video where you talked about losing your shop - it all comes together now. Keep the information coming.

This was an awesome video and thank you for the lessons here. Woodworking seems to be my Achilles Heel but determined to get better at it.

Great video…appreciate the advice. So new at using my router this is a great help.

Good video. A lot of useful advice and an interesting project. Thank you for sharing.

Really beautiful work, Donnie! 😃 Thanks a bunch for all the tips! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

Excellent tips, did not know about the water trick. Thanks!

Love your wooden platters!! Great tips and tricks!

Bro. Thank you for this. I was using the wine caddy template on some canary wood. Hit an area with reverse grain and almost what myself.

literally had blow out on some oak last week, would have loved to try that water tip. Next time!

Good content. I need to make a template for oak, the luan I used earlier was so-so (had a soft spot and caused a divot. Hardboard or masonite might be better. But I used some clear pine because that’s what I have here. Plan to try your water trick in a few minutes.

Thanks for the tips! You weren't kidding about the price of that sander. I'll have to get a job...

i love these longer form videos keep it up man!

Oh I definitely subscribe to your channel, love it!😊

Thak you sir, your video just saved my fingers!

Good mix of tips and humor

Nice video - no nonsense and some good tips. You have a new subscriber !

Thanks for the excellent demonstration and tips! I'm interested in the 1/2 compression bit you showed and recommended, however the link is for a 5/8 x 7/8. Hoping you might be able to include a link to the 1/2 x 1-1/4.

Great tips. I really wanted that sander when I saw it on another one of your videos. But man... that price tag is pretty high. Higher than I expected. I guess I'll just have to put it on my list and save for it. But first... need to start making those kinds of projects again lol

Great info. Thanks!

There are some very important topics that you need to cover regarding router table usage. First, the router rotation is clockwise. When the router is inverted, the router bit rotation is counterclockwise. This means that the workpiece should be fed to the left side of the bit. Second, only up-cut spiral bits should be used in a router table. Up-shear flush trim bits should only be used in a router table. The up-cut helix will pull the workpiece towards the router. Never use down-cut spiral bits in a router table. Third, rough cutting the workpiece has many advantages. The distance of the rough cut is dependent upon the diameter of the router bit being used. Typically, the rough cut distance should be half the router bit diameter. Another tool most people don’t know about is a router shield. You can purchase this tool from Mobile Solutions. The template is attached to the router shield and the workpiece is attached to the template. This is a much safer way of machining small parts. Additional information regarding router bits should also be covered. One, how to distinguish the difference between an up-cut and down-cut spiral bit. Second, there is no such router bit called a straight bit. The proper name is a plunge bit. Again, only up-cut plunge bits should be used in a router table. Hand held applications, a down-cut plunge bit or down-cut spiral plunge bit can be used. These bits prevent tear out on the top side of the workpiece.

Great explanatory video! May I ask where you acquired your heavy duty black saw horse stands (@4:27)? Thanks!

Thanx for the advice. Nice plate created 👍 Do you have advice regarding router lifters in the midle price range. I will try put some water on the sides, looks like a good trick.

I was always taught to do the end grain first. If you chip out on the end grain at the corner then some of that will be routed off on the straight grain side. BTW I have your face template and love it.

Great tips and beautiful work. Subbed immediately. I, for one, love the casual, straightforward approach to your narration. The "language" that some others are complaining about complements your work. Great stuff man!

You've solved a couple of my issues! Yeah!

Hey great video but what tool do you use to get your counter sink holes (with the ledge) on the acrylic I have a 90-degree reaming bit but that leaves an angle on the drilled hole how do you get that smooth straight wall on your counter sink holes Regards, Rick

I subscribed because of your reaction to the "Does size matter?" question LOL

Wow, I've never had a tear out problem on any wood I have used in the past 50 years of wood working and I've made a lot of money with it. No matter what wood I have used, I have just not had the problems you show... I use a 1/2 inch shearing bit on all my work soft or hard.

The game changer for me was buying a band saw, some lumber like jatoba is nearly impossible to route without massive blowout unless you cut off all but a millimeter from the template

You’re right, I was not prepared for the price of that mini sander haha

We bought several of your acrylic templates and they're great and we've had absolutely no problem flush trimming,, up till now. We have the double Christmas tree,, where one slides inside the other to form the tree. Although we've done these in the past, for some reason, no matter what we try, we're still getting terrible kickback when we first entered a router blade. The only thing that we're doing different than your video is that we're using a straight bit which we have used in the past with no trouble. Do you have any idea whatsoever? What we could be doing wrong? Of course, other than the bits that you suggest.

I wonder what one of these would look like with finger/box joints between each member. I'd love to try it with Jatoba (possibly my favorite wood to work with) and Maple!

Great video Donnie. Good tips.

Hi, I'd appreciate a little shared experience from you Donnie. I find jigsaw is really slow and vibrates like a total bastard. Mine is a cheapy and has only speed variation, no oscillating change at all. With new high quality blade suitable for the MDF I'm cutting I was still struggling. I tried a small bandsaw and wow... effortless by comparison. I even ended up using my reciprocating saw with a demo blade to rapidly cut out the excess for my template routing tasks (I let the narrow blade end cut it's way into a drill hole and make straight cuts between drill holes... it actually worked great since the rough edge is being routed anyway. Not easy at bench height though so I ended up doing it on a millk crate.. Is this normal for a jigsaw or do I just have a crap one? I don't have the space for a 10" bandsaw and only the trash quality ones are light enough for me to store it and carry out to the bench when I need it.

Where did you get the little hand grips for your acrylic base? Thanks

you're a wealth of knowledge but damn you're a bad influence! 🤣😂 I've been eyeballin that Mirka since first seeing your videos a while back. Today I said Happy 4th to myself and pulled the trigger! Thanks for you videos Donnie!

Thanks for the video, Donnie. Last year I bought your mouse template and it is easily the hardest routing I’ve ever done. Those antlers go in every direction and there’s not much to hold onto. Any specific tips when routing tight curves would be greatly appreciated

DONNIE….. thank you so much for your video!!! Great info on all this Shit I’ve been doing wrong/right 🤣 Greatly appreciated

That's good shit right there! Thanks for sharing!

Good shit.

Wholly crap.... that sander is beyond expensive!!! Thanks for the water tip.... I'm going to try that later today

Man this came at the right time. I made my first cutting board with an acrylic template and I got some hideous blow out. I didn’t even think about the type of wood. I’ve been using templates on ply for ages but I can cut the ply on my laser now so I moved to thicker hardwood (acacia). The first one came out great, the second was a hot mess. I need that but as the straight blades and the size of the bit I think we’re the problem. Thanks for all the tips! Probably going to grab the Mirka air sander version as it’s cheaper and my compressor could use the outing once in a while.

You be you! F&@$ the haters! I actually subscribed because of the language and stayed around for the great tips.

Thanks

Super tips 🎉

I think most woodworkers lean toward wood horders. I use my scraps for everything - different sizes for different solutions. And decent plywood and hardwood offcuts? Nope, I don’t throw them out. 🙂

So here's my dumb story... got a stratocaster guitar template for Christmas and I glue up my laminate of live oak (fiberous, dense, hard as hell, heavy, cross grained AF...) but its cool cause i got my nifty ultrashear carbide compression bit right?! So I bandsaw out everything to within a quarter inch (mistake 1) and leave the whole shebang in the neck cutouts because its a tight radius and i just know my bandsaw is going to complain about it (mistake 2) which is of course where i decided to start routering... thats important because I laminated 1x2" strips vertically so that was nothing but end grain (mistake 3) and didn’t use the safety pin because i was just going to freehand the hogout (mistake 4) long story short i looked up this video afterwards and now I know exactly why my knuckle is bleeding and the spindle on my router is bent! Dummy! 😂

Donnie, you curse in a very funny way... 😂😂😂 Great video

Good stuff Donnie. I can always use more tips on template routing. The water tip looks like a winner, reminds me of a tip I picked up a while back on planing hardwood through the thickness planner and that is using a spritz of water on the surface to minimize chip out. Seems to help. I’ll be looking into your acrylic templates too. Thanks.

Good video and great pace. Informative and I picked up some good points. The downside was the language drops you added for no reason. You limit your audience with that.

Nice Templates but the price is a bit high to send to Germany, but your work explanation is very useful.👍

Subscribed.

I looked up that infinty bit specs.. after a huge blowout.. Yea 18K RPM maximum.. smh I had it running at 25K on #6 speed only needed it on #3. Any tips on RPM's?

Have you done a review or thought about a review on that mirka sander. I already saw the price - high but if used alot may be worth it. Where do you source the paper. are there sponge pads, etc. I would watch in a heartbeat and it may push me over on actually getting one. Something to think about.

does the template fit the Skil Router?

Nice to see someone else use the yard blower to tidy up 😂

Thanks for the video. I want to build some of these when I find the time. I’m rebuilding my house right now. The only thing wrong with this, it’s not deep enough. That tray doesn’t hold enough for one person. Is it an easy fix?

Great video. I actually have your router base plate. It's on my dewalt battery palm router and it does amazing but I never paid attention to if the one I have has the holes for the thumb handles. I've had it for about 3 or 4 months now I think. If it doesn't can I order the thumb handles from you and drill it myself???

Why can you only use the "front side" of the bit (at 1:49 in the video), assuming of course, that you maintain the correct direction of rotation against the workpiece? If you stand on the opposite side of the table, the front and back swap over - everything is symmetrical, so what difference does it make?

How do you create those templates?

So i have a compact router. And I have a template for a shape that isn't working. I don't have a router table and running into the issue the that the template is face uo and not down. Any tips. Also where did you get the router face plate and the base

Nice

Awesome

Hey Donnie I ordered the template now i'm buying white oak online can you please tell me the width of the puzzle part size including the nub ..thanks man...Chris

You mean use the bit then while the edges are still damp? Does that dull the bit?

Please give me the link to the acrylic plate for the router.

Another question what jig saw blades do you use to cut say black walnut?

Donny, the reason those things weren't available when you started is because we weren't "creators." Those who came up in the trades learned at the hands of masters and not some ham and eggers on RU-vid. Good luck with your hustle.

Man sure like this video I'm going to order thee templates. Can you reply and let me know what you priice thiis out when you sell?

You weren’t kidding on the price of the sander. It does look like it’s the perfect tool for the job, though.

I mean... sure she said size matters but a solid runner up is a dude that knows how to handle wood

Please provide a source for the 1/2” flush trim bit shown at 6:20 it appears to be a spiral design. Spiral bits with a top bearing are fairly rare. Thank you.

That one corner is end grain to edge grain... Not concerned about wood movement?

Great job good tips Did not care for language

Do you sell the jobsite router template as a digital file so i can make it myself?

This is the first one of your videos that I have seen. The information was great and so was the project, but the use of all the foul language is ridiculous.

Wow! That sander is pricey!

I don't get the same router bits when I click on your links

The term hardwood is not related to any physical characteristics of the wood. Or how dense the wood is.

What could that little sander possibly do that could make it cost $800?! It looks like something that would cost $60!

@4:12, you missed a prime opportunity for "let's ask my wife"!

Your random use of profanity got you another subscriber 😂