# A router sled is born.



## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Just want to thank everyone who had guided me in making a router sled, And posting videos.
Here's the set up I have. This is an oak burl that I got from aardvark. To hard to sand, so ill be doing it with a router. This is awesome. 









Here's the sled in position









Here's a couple of passes on the left. (Look at that beautiful figure). The right side is before. 
I finished one side, but do to the rain were getting today, I had to stop. I do most of my sanding and plaining outside. 
Thanks for looking.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Dominick, looks like a very good sled. :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting the pictures. I am going to have to make one for myself. I have a maple laminated top which needs re-finishing.

Looking at this burl it would have taken forever to sand. A thread in the Hand Tools forum has some folks advocating hand tools over power tools.

I think this is a good example where a power tool saves a lot of time and energy and actually produces a better result.

You are correct, that is beautiful figure. :thumbsup:

I am looking forward to seeing more pictures of this puppy.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Yea thanks Dave. This is the first time doing anything like this. The sled isn't anything fancy, but it seems like its working. I'm only using a 1/2 inch straight bit, so its a slow process. 
I'm going to see about getting a bigger bit later. 
Thanks again.
Also sanding this by hand would be insane. 
You couldn't even use a hand plane. So for guys who do woodworking with just hand tools would nearly be impossible.


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## J Thomas (Aug 14, 2012)

That's a really pretty burl Dom! Can't wait to see how it all comes out.
Is the rain on it gonna cause any issue?? I have horrors of half finished stuff getting soaked.
Glad the sled's working out for ya..
Keep the pictures coming.
..Jon..


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

J Thomas said:


> That's a really pretty burl Dom! Can't wait to see how it all comes out.
> Is the rain on it gonna cause any issue?? I have horrors of half finished stuff getting soaked.
> Glad the sled's working out for ya..
> Keep the pictures coming.
> ..Jon..


Thanks. As soon as the rain came down I packed it up. Thanks for looking.


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## RedArrow (Jan 19, 2011)

Pretty wood! I want to make one of those for leveling cookies, thanks for the pics.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Totally cool Dom. I bet that is going to be beautiful! That sled looks pretty simple, but I know looks can be deceiving. Looking forward to more pictures.


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

Just another approach:yes:


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## Upstate (Nov 28, 2011)

jschaben said:


> Just another approach:yes:


That's a pretty good idea, but how easy is it to make sure each rail is both parallel to the other rail and perfectly level? Seems like it'd be easy for one of the wing nuts to shift slightly and the router would bind when sliding it back and forth or it'd be easy to rout a flat, but non-uniformed thickness surface. Do you just measure from the bottom of the bit on both sides to check? Does the vibration from the router loosen the wing nuts?


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## J Thomas (Aug 14, 2012)

Here's a router sled for ya!!


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

Upstate said:


> That's a pretty good idea, but how easy is it to make sure each rail is both parallel to the other rail and perfectly level? Seems like it'd be easy for one of the wing nuts to shift slightly and the router would bind when sliding it back and forth or it'd be easy to rout a flat, but non-uniformed thickness surface. Do you just measure from the bottom of the bit on both sides to check? Does the vibration from the router loosen the wing nuts?


With that setup your reference is the table top. Spacer blocks or similar will make sure the rods/router are spaced correctly. Depth setting on the router gives you fine tuning. You guide it with the end frames (cheeks) so the whole assembly scoots around on the table. Downside; you need a fairly large, level and smooth worksurface. The workpiece must be immobilized somehow. Upside is it is very controllable. :smile:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Just a couple of pics of the oak burl. I was using a half inch strait bit and it was taking forever, so I went out and got a 1/14 bit and now I'm flying. That was the biggest I could get. 
What a difference. I got one done and I have a few more to do. I'll post pics of the rest when done. Thanks for looking. 




















I splashed on some denatured alcohol to show grain.


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## CasinoDuck (Jun 15, 2011)

Very nice!  here's a link to the bit I'm using on mine. Much quicker:thumbsup:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

CasinoDuck said:


> Very nice! Video Link: http://www.amazon.com/Amana-45480-FLUTE-DIA-SHANK/dp/B0002DSW00 Much quicker:thumbsup:


Thanks duck. This 1"1/4 seems to be working out good. Like I said, this all I could find and I didn't want to order one and have to wait. I'm impatient. Lol.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I only got 3 of 4 burl slabs done. The last one is kinda rough, so I'm not sure what ill do with it. 
Thanks for looking.


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## Upstate (Nov 28, 2011)

Looks like its working pretty good?! How many hours of sanding are you going to need to do


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Upstate said:


> Looks like its working pretty good?! How many hours of sanding are you going to need to do


Thanks. There was minimal sanding. It took about 10 min per burl slab with ROS 150. 
Thanks for asking.


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