# What was your first Router?



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

My first router was a Stanley hand router, routing door butt hinge mortises. 
Then my dad got a Stanley 7/8 h.p. router (domey) with a whole metal box full of accessories. I remember the door hinge templates and rods, a right angle attachment, an offset spindle driven by a belt, edge triming guide, laminate trimmer guide a set of 1/4" HHS bits,a circle cutting jig, a contour cutting jig, and a whole lot of little knobs,washers, gizmos, and who knows what, it was like a Lyman reloading set.

Herb


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I bought a Craftsman at a yard sale. It came with a few HSS bits. I may still have some of them. I can't remember how much I paid anymore. That was back in the early 70s.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

hand me down Stanleys..
1st one ever purchased... Ingersoll Rand...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

A Craftsman circa 1980 probably, maybe earlier but not later. Bought that Vermont American pantograph I posted a pic of, at the same time...never used the pantograph.
I bought my Ryobi laminate trimmer a short while later. Both of those old routers are 1/4" collet.


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Mine was a small Black and Decker. I got it used from a brother-in-law for $10...still have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was mid '70's.


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

Black and Decker 7616 (mid to late 70s) - still have it and the book that came with it: Black and Decker Router Craft by George Drake.
Funny though, the caption on the front cover says: "A Handbook designed to make the do-it-yourselfer.....a router expert"

THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!


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## Al B Thayer (Jun 2, 2014)

Mine was a Crapsman. It flew apart cutting dovetails in some drawers. I hated it. Nothing worked with it or fit on it unless it came out of a clothing store. I still have my second router its 30+ years old PC 690.

Al


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Herb, there is a photo of that router/attachments somewhere on the forums.

My first was a Craftsman with a work light. Then I bought a Bosch 1617 and the world changed!


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

After I was on my own I got a Craftsman on sale for $39.00 and a few years later I got a Sears router table and while routing some long stock a screw vibrated out of some thing and fell into the motor and when I started it up all the fan blades came flying out and the router took off like a jet engine and was jumping all over the table. Then I got a PC 690 and it lasted for ever, it was what we used exclusively on the jobs.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Herb Stoops said:


> After I was on my own I got a Craftsman on sale for $39.00.


That sounds like the one I bought, prolly about 1974. I actually still have it and it runs fine. I have it mounted on a little table and dedicated to roundovers. It's down now because the bottom of the motor casting cracked where the shaft lock lever attaches. If I see another one like it on craigslist or a yard sale, I'm going to get it so I can keep that roundover setup, because the rack and pinion height adjustment was a lot better than their later models.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Black & Decker, 3/8 collet, Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Away, I've still got it, never get rid of a Router. N


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

It was a Skill from HD, along with a small folding table. Later I looked at the Bosch 1617 and it was obviously more precise and better built. Sold the Skill and table for $60 at a swap meet. It was a rinky dink connection to the table that was most troublesome. I never understood how folks could have a collection of routers, but here I am, two 1617s, a Colt and a Triton TRA001 later. Nice to leave them set up, and I just don't think you can beat the Triton under a table. During the last year, I've switched to Sommerfeld's matched sets with their Easy Set jig. It has made making doors and fancy face frames easy.


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## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

Ha! A crapsman in 1979. $39 on sale, iirc. I still have and use it. It's still a poor excuse for a router. Cheesy rotor lock. Setting the depth of cut is a tricky affair (still). You raise/lower the bit and know that tightening up the hold knob adds about 1/16" to the depth. I use it for noncritical things like round-over where being off by a little doesn't hurt. I've been expecting it to die for the last 20 years so I could replace it with a decent router. Maybe I'll give up waiting. However, I do take a bit of perverse pleasure in owning a tool that just refuses to die. Anyway, when the right sale comes along, it's toast.

One strange thing about the design. It has a light which uses a 12V automotive light bulb that is in parallel with the motor. It used to work pretty well but now the replacement bulb just blows out. I have assumed that this means the brushes are going south (more resistance which puts more V across the light) but that's been going on for 20 years now.


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## rjpat (Apr 16, 2012)

My first router was also a craftsman, but, unlike some of you, it was a great little router. 1 HP with a work light and it has given me many years of good service. I bought this new in the 1960's and I still use it today.


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## RÖENTGEEP (Feb 18, 2014)

Another Craftsman router here, about 1970+ish. Still working find.


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## N'awlins77 (Feb 25, 2011)

Black & Decker, early 80's.


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## rwoods4764 (Feb 3, 2010)

my first one was a craftsman it belonged to my father-in-law 1950s still have it that was in the early 80s i bought a 
Freud 1/2" 3 1/4 HP plunge in the 90s i have pick up a few in yard sales that has those cant pass up prices think i got about 7 or 8 now dont have to keep making setups


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Herb Stoops said:


> My first router was a Stanley hand router, routing door butt hinge mortises.
> Then my dad got a Stanley 7/8 h.p. router (domey) with a whole metal box full of accessories. I remember the door hinge templates and rods, a right angle attachment, an offset spindle driven by a belt, edge triming guide, laminate trimmer guide a set of 1/4" HHS bits,a circle cutting jig, a contour cutting jig, and a whole lot of little knobs,washers, gizmos, and who knows what, it was like a Lyman reloading set.
> 
> Herb


Herb,
Are you referring to the Lyman 310 Tongs with the 7/8" dies that you only do neck resizing with. That's what I started loading with back in 1954. Very slow but it worked and was portable.


My first router was a Craftsman that came in a bundled purchase of very used woodworking tools. I gave it away, never used it, then bought a cheap B&D that went "gunny sack" in a short time and I ash canned it and bought a PC 893 PK, the motor for that router is in the table now in a Mast R lift, I ash canned the two bases for the router. The fixed base was not designed for use in a router table as the dust and chips would get in between the motor and the base and cause the motor to bind in the base, the Mast R lift remedied that problem. Then I bought a Dewalt 611 PK. The PC and Dewalt fill my needs just fine for the time being.

I am courious about the larger Triton maching that I read so much about on the forum, but for now, the ones that I have, are, as I said above, all that I need.

When I first got interested in woodworking I had no idea of how important a router is in a shop.

There 55 years in between my first interest reloading with the Lyman 310 Tong tool and first Craftsman table saw, which by the way I gave away to a friend shortly after buying it. I was a cheap table model, I thing that I paid about $167 for it. So many of my tools came from learning that the less expensive ones just would not do what I had in mind doing. I've given away the Craftsman Router, the Craftsman TS, a PC bench jointer, two bench Band saws, and an Osborne Miter gauge.

The Osborne gauge was purchased just to see how it compared to my Incra V27. They both worked the same and I didn't need them both so I gave the Osborne to a very good friend.

So, Herb, that's my answer to your question,

Jerry


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

Black and Decker and I still have and use it.
Sid


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Jerry, that little squeeze hand loader you mention was really popular. Lyman had a benchtop loader that they had a ton of accessories for reloading rifle and pistol cartridges. in the 40's and early 50's they were sort of the standard of the industry for hand loaders. Then the market exploded and all kinds of companies jumped in and had simpler tools and Lyman faded away.

Herb


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Herb Stoops said:


> Jerry, that little squeeze hand loader you mention was really popular. Lyman had a benchtop loader that they had a ton of accessories for reloading rifle and pistol cartridges. in the 40's and early 50's they were sort of the standard of the industry for hand loaders. Then the market exploded and all kinds of companies jumped in and had simpler tools and Lyman faded away.
> 
> Herb


Herb,
I thought that you might pick up on my error. I said that the dies were 7/8", but they were 5/8". The tool that was made to be mounted on a bench was the Tru Line Jr., as you will recall, it used a turrent to hold the dies and you moved from station to station by simply turning the turrent. I graduated to this tool later, but the final press was RCBS's Rockchucker for both loading cartridges for hunting rifles and swaging bullets for benchrest competition.

The Tong tool sold for $13.50 back in the 50's. I see that you can still buy the tool for $73.95.

Jerry


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Yep, That the one Jerry.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

A little Craftsman...circa 1980 ish


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Well in our generation it looks like Craftsman routers were the majority of the starter routers. They were cheap and chinsy and the bits burned and smoked ,but in our generation they were the most used router.

Herb


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## N'awlins77 (Feb 25, 2011)

N'awlins77 said:


> Black & Decker, early 80's.


And I still have it and it works. It's the only router I'll loan out!!


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## RÖENTGEEP (Feb 18, 2014)

One question, the Triton routers are made in USA?


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## olson4107 (Jul 21, 2010)

Chessnut2

I just gave one like that away. If you really want one, I can get it back and send it to you for the packaging and postage/shipping charges. It worked fine, send me the model no. so I can verify if you are serious.


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## Clouseau (Oct 12, 2009)

Also a $39.95 on sale Craftsman in 1974. Burned up the first day I used it to make signs. It's replacement is still going strong. Well at least as strong as they ever could. I have a few of them from yard sale purchases. After a Craftsman die grinder melt-down and parts launching I came started testing almost all electric tools right after buying them. I safely mount them on a bench or the floor, plug them into a power strip with a switch, run them in for short bursts, lock the switch, and let them run full speed for a while. Those that have lasted through the test are still going. They don't get used much, but neither do the other 16 or 17.
Dan Coleman


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

Mine was a rebuilt Sears with vacuum hook up, 1/4" collect and fixed base and bought sears router table for it and I still have it. I have bought a new sear router with fixed/plunge base and mounted the fixed base to the table and drilled a hole in the table so can adjust bit height from top now.
Allen


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

A used Stanley, by 1985.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

papasombre said:


> A used Stanley, by 1985.


That reminds me of the one my Dad had, the Domey,the motor looked like a hoover vacuum cleaner motor. It was hard to change bits because of the dome .

Herb


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## Duane Bledsoe (Jan 6, 2013)

My first router was a Craftsman, about 1997 maybe? I had it for a week, table and all (the metal tables they sold at the time) but I realized I didn't have the money, patience, or desire to learn all the things I needed to know to get into this hobby. Plus I was just outright afraid of the thing so I gave it to my uncle and he still has it. 

About 5 years ago I decided to try again, so I bought a Craftsman 17543 combo kit. It worked and I used it from then until January of this year, but it was hard to adjust, so I sold it and all the others I had picked up since then and moved on to DeWALT.


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## jayvansickle (May 24, 2015)

*Craftsman*

My first router was a Craftsman. My mother-in-law gave me this router in 2005. She worked at Sears. Company policy at that time was returned items were not put back on the shelves. Employees could buy them for pennies on the dollar. She gave me this unopened box that was all yellow with age. When I got the router out of the original box it looked brand new. There was a coupon for 10% off any router bit purchase that I made. The coupon expired in 1985. Since then I have added 2 Triton , and 1 Freud router.


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