Highland Woodworking Blog

Sometimes you just need to clean out and start over. Could be the refrigerator, the cupboard, the den, the barn, your wood shop, your life. In my case, some of those things do need to be cleaned out, but one thing I have decided to clean out and start over is my collection of router bits. In the past I bought router bits for two reasons: I thought that a proper woodworker ought to have router bits. You can't be a woodworker without router bits. The second bits I bought were pattern maker bits, the bits with a bearing on the bottom, which I used when trimming sheathing from the window openings when framing a house. Punch a hole in the sheathing and then let the bearing follow the window framing.

The first set of router bits I purchased was from a department store and has about ten basic bits in a cute little plastic box with a removable stand to hold the bits. Not knowing any better, I bought quarter inch diameter shafts with high speed steel (non-carbide) edges. I guess I got what I paid for, but they are not much.

Somewhere along the way I upgraded the router and the new one had two collets to accept quarter inch or half inch router bits. It was soon apparent that those little quarter inch steel router bits were not going to cut it, so to speak, so I started to buy a few new bits as things came up in the shop. I always made sure that any new router bits were half inch shaft and carbide edges. That is pretty much all I buy these days and life is much simpler.

As is typical for many items at Highland, there are not just a few router bits for sale. There are three walls full of all different styles, brands, profiles and sizes of router bits. You can buy sets of router bits to make kitchen cabinets. You can buy sets of router bits to make raised panels. You can buy sets of router bits to make divided light doors. You can buy sets of router bits to make crown molding.

You can buy sets of router bits to make chocolate fudge ice cream. (Well, maybe not.) But Highland Woodworking has a wide selection of router bits in a wide range of prices from several different manufacturers. If you can't find the router bit you need at Highland, you probably didn't need it anyway.