Trevor’s Routing Station

Thought you may be interested in this router station I made primarily for machining tenons and dovetails on longer boards. I found mounting the dovetail or tenon jigs on a standard bench a bit limiting. The unit is 42″ high by 38″ wide which allows me to keep my two dovetail jigs, Tenon jig & accessories in the same vicinity, saving space in my small shop (18 x 18) and providing a very comfortable working height. The top and base are 18″ deep so I can leave two jigs mounted back to back and the mounting boards are simply clamped down making it quick to remove or swap a jig. The whole thing is made of some oak scraps I have from an old church about 300 years old. It’s mounted on locking castors and is surprisingly stable. I have been building a couple of loft beds for my grandchildren and they presented a problem of machining tenons on stock of 78″ x 1 1/8″x 7″. The tenon box is made as a slide on fit (not too tight) score round the stock with a marking knife and simply line up the score mark with the edge of the channel and using a template bit cut the tenon cheek in a couple of passes, flip the board and repeat. Once the router depth is set they can all be cut accurately. The jig is held in place by clamping in the center of the MDF, this flexes enough to grip the stock. The black knob you see on the picture was an adjustable stop but I found it a bit inaccurate hence I score round the shoulder. It solved a problem for me and I hope it may be of use to others. I have seen similar jigs but not with a means of supporting the routers on both sides, the router can’t tip and you get perfect tenons every time.