# Knowingly Unskilled



## Son of a Birch (Dec 4, 2011)

I joined this forum a few days ago when I bought my first router, thinking it would make things easier to understand.

Instead I have found out that my ignorance of the uses of a router is profound!

What are bushings and bearing used for? Just a brief response will help elevate me from entirely ignorant to little informed!


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## Kristin D (Nov 20, 2007)

Warren, 

We all have a learning curve, so asking questions is normal.

The bearings are ment to ride on the perimiter of your material and alow the profile cutter to follow the shape, conversly the bushings are to follow a template and guide the cutters without bearings.

There are also other uses for the cutters with bearings one primarily comes to mind is triming laminate counter tops where there is a slight overhang, the cutter follows the edge of the workpiece and makes a small bevel to smooth the top surface where it meets the vertical.

For the bushings imagine you wanted to make slots in something, there would be a guide that would be larger than the slot and using the busing follow the slot with a small diameter cutter to produce the correct shape, also used for cutting dovetails, the bushings fit in a router base designed for them and keep the machine from digging past the desired depth.

Kristin


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## Son of a Birch (Dec 4, 2011)

*Thanks*

Thanks -- that makes sense. So about half the bits I bought in a set already have bearings that allow me to hand route edges. Thanks again.


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## Kristin D (Nov 20, 2007)

You're welcome and welcome to the forum, keep asking questions and you will always be able to count to 10 on your fingers 

Kristin


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Warren, spend the time to read the sticky threads in each section. They are packed with useful information.


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## Son of a Birch (Dec 4, 2011)

Thanks, guys — I do like the notion of counting 10 using my own digits! And thanks, Mike —*I have been reading the sticky tabs, and they have had lots of good information. What a nice community here.


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## papawd (Jan 5, 2011)

Welcome,Yes having 10 fingers is nice ,I know and have met a few fellow woodworkers with nubs for a finger and they will tell how a simple mistake will cost Ya and they all say now they double check things before jumping in so to speak


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