Hit 500 board feet of perfect dados this month and it changed my mind about router tables

I always thought router tables were overkill for cabinet work. Figured a good handheld router with a fence was all you needed. But I hit exactly 500 board feet of dados this month on a kitchen cabinet job in Tucson and I had to eat my words. The handheld setup was giving me tearout on maple plywood and I was spending too much time sanding. Switched to a borrowed router table from a buddy halfway through the job and my dados came out clean every time. No chattering, no wandering bits. Now I'm shopping for my own table because that number proved to me the tool matters more than my stubbornness. Any of you guys use a router table for cabinet jobs or still stick with handheld?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_williams1d ago

So you're saying the table made that much of a difference for dados... I've been using a handheld for years and never had that much trouble with tearout, even on maple ply. Might be more about the bit quality and your feed speed than the tool itself, honestly.

lisab321d ago

Nah, Kevin, bit quality matters but it's not the whole story. I ran the same Whiteside bit on both setups and the table still cut cleaner. The real difference is the weight and stability. Handheld you're the one fighting gravity and keeping the base flat. The table holds everything dead level and lets you push the stock through without fighting deflection. Plus a featherboard changes everything for consistency. I was getting tearout on the handheld even at perfect feed speeds because the maple ply was just lifting off the surface mid-cut. Table fixed that in one pass.

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kimr911d ago

Man, I've been using a handheld for years and never had that problem, sounds like you're overthinking this.