# Edge Banding Router Bit Sets



## patlaw (Jan 4, 2010)

The idea of an edge banding router bit set is appealing to me, as a beginner. Edge banding is a challenge to get things lined up. That being said, take a look at the reviews on the MLCS 7733:

MLCS 7733

They talked me out of the purchase. I wonder if the Infinity Tools set would fare any better?

Infinity Tools 61-506

I don't mind spending the money, but I hate wasting it. What do you think?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

spline it instead...

as strong...
easier set up...
very accurate...
way long bit life...
way less money...
less mess...
almost no waste...
more versatile...

Freud Tools | 2" (Dia.) Stacked Slotting Set


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

It depends on what you are making. If it's a shop cabinet you could just wrap the plywood and use glue and a pin nailer. Of coarse you might want to do it like Stick says for practice on later projects. It's all about what you want to do.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

splines are added strength..


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## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

I've done lots of plywood edge banding. You can use a bit set like that or splines but frankly a butt joint will be just fine and a lot less work. I make the band slightly over sized and use a trim bit on it - looks good and is pretty easy to do. Given that my edge bands are 1/4" - 1/2" thick, there isn't much need for strength - a butt joint is good enough.


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## MikeMa (Jul 27, 2006)

The router bits do seem like overkill. If want the added strength, go with the spline method that Stick recommends. Since you are getting a long-grain to long-grain glue up, a butt joint will be more than strong enough for edge banding.


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## billyjim (Feb 11, 2012)

I felt the same way a while back so I bought a set. They are still sitting in the original packaging. There are other, and better perhaps, options available.

Bill


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## 48394 (Oct 25, 2010)

Mike,
I agree with all the comments and add that at the end of run on both the male and female edges they tend to drop into the cutter when the right end of the workpiece passes the end of the infeed fence. One either has to add length to the workpiece and then cut it off or mount the workpiece on a carrier board that is longer than the workpiece to maintain contact with the fence to avoid the "snipe" at the end of the workpiece.
Using either veneer tape or thicker shop made banding is easily trimmed to exact thickness after gluing using a bearing guided trim bit and a simple sandwich setup and a handheld router. Stand the banded edge pieces that are exactly the same width on edge on the workbench banded side up. Slide longer 2x4's between the banded pieces and clamp the sandwich together and the outside 2x4 to the wokbench. Now you can use the banded edges to support the router and cleanup the overhanging banding by moving the router router, left to right. along each workpiece. This way you buy an inexpensive trim bit instead of the banding pair and don't have to deal with the nasty end effects at the router table. 
Hope this helps,
Regis


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## patlaw (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks for the input. By the way, Stick, here's a quote from the Splines PDF that you posted:



> Using multiple shorter splines is an option that might work but should
> make you consider the benefits of using biscuits, a glue line router bit or even a
> shallow tongue and groove joint.


I don't have a table saw, so any grooves would have to be cut with my router or with my Elu 3380 biscuit joiner, which seems like a challenge.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I like splines, cut on a router table (or saw). I don't get snipe on the ends, but I still cut an overlong piece and cut it off later, unless I want a 45 to wrap the banding around the ends. Cut with the face down because that's the face you want to be seen. Use a trim router on the bottom edge. I use splines for the added strength. Cutting the spline may be a challenge without a table saw. You might have to buy precut, quarter inch hardwood and either cut it using your table mounted router, or see if you can find precut strips about 3/3 wide, by a quarter inch deep. That means cutting your grooves slightly over 3/8ths deep to accommodate glue.

Biscuits would be much easier, but work face up to manage the alignment, then glue up face down to keep the faces aligned. I'd glue up on wax paper so the squeeze out glue doesn't glue the piece to your assembly table.

Since you're new at this, I'm adding the following, which is long, and a guide to the things that really accelerated my learning curve. Perhaps it can help you avoid some of the expensive and frustrating experiences which the following represents. This has been posted before, so skip it if you've seen it before.

These are the 17+ things that really helped me get going with woodworking. Hope it helps you as much as they did me.

1) If you are using Firefox browser, get a free add on YouTube download helper app. Search for videos on all aspects of woodworking that interest you and collect them. I watch a video on the topic of whatever project, or phase of a project, on which I'm currently working. VERY helpful to see it done a few times before you try it yourself. 

I use a YouTube downloader that’s free using the tools menu/add ons. It puts a download button under the video on YouTube. Click the button, name the file (I always label it according to the tool or job it works on. For example, anything to do with routing, I label as "Router", which clusters all the similar videos together in Windows Explorer. All my videos go into a single folder. I sometimes watch woodworking video while on planes, which triggers some interesting conversations.

2) There are hundreds of used books on woodworking on Amazon. Order some on basic tools and woodworking. You'll need to learn to tune up saws and other tools, and books are how I learned to do these things. It wasn't until I tuned up my saws that good results began to happen. My saws cut exactly 90 and 45, or any angle I need now. Two books I really love are Bill Hylton’s “Woodworking with the Router,” and “The Joint Book” by Terrie Noll. The Noll Book is a really concise and heavily illustrated reference with great hints for making every variety of joints. There are lots of good table saw guides.

3) Make some first projects with MDF before using more expensive wood. Make the same project several times with improved skill, material and workmanship each time. Great learning method.

4) Consider making cabinets or stands for each of your power tools as first projects. My first cabinet was of MDF and my sander and all my sanding gear still sit on and in it. I can't tell you how much confidence I got from building space efficient shop stands and now, all the tools in my smallish shop are on casters and easily moved around for use and cleanup. Put doors on every cabinet to reduce wandering dust. BTW, if you add casters, use two non swivels on the back and two locking casters on the front--make sure the lock secures both the wheel and the swivel so your carts don't skip around in use. My shop made stands also take up far less floor space than the spread-legged ones that came with the tools, which makes it far easier to move tools around in a compact shop--which is necessary to clean out the insidious sawdust.

5) Many of the woodworking supply stores in the US (and I imagine overseas) have demos on weekends. Attend and get to know the people you meet there. They can turn you on to sources of wood and you can get some nice help and begin a friendship or two. Don’t forget to talk with the employees as well. At our local Rockler, several of the employees are serious and experienced woodworkers and always eager to help. I’ve also found some of the big box stores employ a few very experienced wood workers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers. You just have to start a brief conversation, if they seem knowledgeable, ask them about what they did before they worked at the store.

6) Among your first purchases should be some form of dust control. Many woods are proven carcinogens and can quickly damage your lungs. Dust collection information is on this site. I have a 4-inch system installed to collect sawdust, but I also have and recommend a dust mask with a small fan that pulls in pressurized air that not only keeps dust out, but also keeps my glasses from fogging. Got mine at Rockler and keep a couple of sets of rechargable AA batteries ready to use. For cutting just a piece or two, I keep surgical style disposable masks handy. I also built a box with 20x20 filter inside and a fan that pulls air through to remove fine airborne dust over time. You can even tape a filter to the back of a fan in a pinch. Don't take your mask off right after cutting or cleaning up because there is always dust floating around for awhile. If you start coughing, it means you need to pay very close attention to dust control and wearing a mask. It takes months to recover from a bout of working unprotected with MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) without a mask. 

7) Take your sweet time with projects, there's no rush and it is easy to have a project nearly complete, then make a careless, quick cut or other error that ruins all your good work. In most cases, it is best to fit pieces by putting them in place and marking rather than just measuring and cutting. Cut a bit over and shave it down (or use a good block plane) for an exact fit. A good block plane, nice and sharp, is a basic tool you'll use more often than you think.

8) Buy the very best table saw you can manage. It will quickly become the most used tool in your shop. A little debt could move you up a notch and help you produce better results and cut thicker wood. Get the best tools you can afford. Read the reviews and ask questions on the forum before you choose. To me, it is worth it to use credit if necessary to move up the quality scale. 

There are models called hybrid saws that have the mechanical works attached to the cabinet rather than the top, which is good. I recently replaced my old contractor saw with a Laguna Fusion saw. My shop is not wired for 220, so I was happy with the 110volt, 1 3/4 hp motor. Many forum members have been very happy with less expensive models, Grizzly for example, but I prefer the Laguna for its amazingly flat table and extensions and its fit and finish (and reasonable price). Learn to set up and tune up your saws and tools (books and videos show you how) because you can’t make anything great if your tools are even slightly off.

The best safety device is paying very close attention to what you’re doing with a saw, but a close second is a MicroJig Gripper, which lets you control wood on the saw while keeping your fingers safely away from the blade. There is a fancy and a simpler model, either of which is good.

9) If you can, get an electrician to add a 220 outlet or two to your shop. If you set up in the garage, you may be able to use the electrical outlet for the dryer. There are many tools that require 220 volts to work best, and many used 220 v tools are available at good prices--if you feel comfortable buying used. Another tool source is to visit estate sales. Every once in awhile, you find tools no one else in the family desires or knows the value of, so you can get them cheap.

If you don't have a router yet, I have come to like the Triton TRA001, which is perfect for table use, particularly since you can adjust height quite precisely from the above the table with its built in lift. That feature really saves my knees. However, it is just too heavy for this old guy to control freehand. I really like the Bosch 1617 EVSPK for hand held use. There is a newer model that has a light and switch on the handle that costs more. Both come in a kit with fixed and plunge base. It has many accessories available that are very well made. Others like different brands, but Mike recently checked in on the topic and compared PorterCable and I thought the Bosch came out a bit ahead. I prefer the raising and lowering mechanism on the Bosch with its precise micro adjustment knob. The Bosch fixed base can be used as a lift in a table. The books on routers and other topics are really useful for understanding some of the arcane woodworking terms associated with this must have tool..

10) When it comes to router bits, try to stick to the half inch shafts with carbide cutting tips. These are astonishingly sharp. Bosch and Freud are easily available at HD and Lowes, but there are lots of other excellent brands including the well liked Whiteside and Sommerfield bits. Be careful of those ultra sharp tips, which are fragile. I'd suggest storing them in one of those foam lined cases you can get pretty cheap from Harbor Freight, loosely packed so they don't click together. A few of the cheap bits don’t have carbide tips. Spiral bits are sometimes used to cut grooves. Carbide spiral bits are both expensive and fragile and it takes very little abuse to ruin them. Many use high speed steel bits for that purpose.

I buy bits as I need them and don't much care for the kits. However, someone recently suggested getting a kit to start out with, then gradually replacing only the bits you actually use with top grade bits. This makes some sense to me, but stick to the half inch shafts if you can manage it--most kits I’ve seen have 1/4 inch shafts. I would avoid huge sets with odd bits you are unlikely ever to use. A few standard bits most of us have are the round over bits. You can get them in different sizes, but mostly you’re likely to use the quarter, half and ¾ sizes. Another bit that is very useful for cabinetry is the half inch rabbiting bit with a bearing. Some come with a changable bearing that allows you to change the size of the rabbit. Doing fancier stuff makes those cash register numbers spin because those door bit sets are pricey! 

One more thing about using bits, don’t try to take off too much wood in one pass. Make several passes taking a little more wood with each pass. Pay attention to the grain of the wood (that is covered in most books on routing) with a final pass just shaving and making for a very smooth finish. My personal rule is to cut no more than 1/8 th of an inch per pass. The larger the bit, the slower you should set the speed control. 

11) The most useful item I own for my saws is a Wixey digital angle gauge, which allows me to set up all my saws to exact angles (eg: 90 degrees to the table). It wasn't until I started being meticulous about this that my projects started working out right. These are about $30 on Amazon.

I have a Bosch 10 inch compound sliding miter saw that I also love, but use it mainly for cross cutting long pieces, but its ability to cut at precise angles is wonderful. 

12) Pocket Hole jig and construction. Although there are many ways to make cabinets and face frames, I have found that pocket hole screws have really made making them easier. Just remember, coarse threads for soft woods, fine thread for hard woods, and I find the square head easier to drive correctly than the Phillips type. My jig is mounted on a chunk of plywood that I can clamp down. The thing makes a lot of sawdust so dust collection is a good idea. I also find that with careful, exact 90 degree end cuts to the wood, the pocket hole approach produces absolutely square cabinets and face frames. You’ll need a couple of face clamps and a Kreg right angle clamp if you use pocket hole joinery. There are many helpful videos on this jig.

13) Make a table saw sled (lots of YouTube videos on how to) for perfect 90 degree cuts on your table saw. I had a little more money than time, so I bought the sled Rockler makes that has a swinging fence and a very precise angle scale. I love that thing and set up a special shelf right next to my table saw to store it and keep it flat. Cross cuts on the sled are wonderfully exact and it prevents most tear out, the ragged or splintered area at the end of a cut. The sled is also a much safer way to cut short pieces as well. You set the sled to a precise 90 or 45 angle using a drafting square. 

Most saws come with a miter gauge, but I prefer one of the precision gauges. I have an Osborne gauge I really like, but many here like Incra’s gauge. Precision is important with gauges.

You will read a LOT about jigs here and in your books and videos. Jigs, accurate T squares, a good straightedge are all incredibly useful for producing good work. The more I venture into really good hard wood construction, the more I appreciate how jigs produce accurate results without wasting expensive wood through mis-cuts.

14) I had a lot of problems with tear out at first, but most of that stopped when I started using a sacrificial backup block to push the last bit of a piece through the router. I often use square pieces of MDF (medium density fiberboard) because it is cheap and stays flat. When it gets torn up, I just cut off a chunk and use what’s left. Really helps! You can do the same with any piece by putting a backer board behind where the cut goes--you cut through the piece first, the backer last. You may also want to use feather boards to hold boards in correct alignment to the fence and blade or bit.

Zero Clearance Inserts for the table saw: On the table saw, buy or make blank inserts to make zero clearance inserts (see YouTube for how to do it), this really helps make great, tear-out free cuts. I also found that I wanted to push that last quarter inch through the bit too fast, now I feed at a steady pace all through the cut. 

15) Clamps: The joke is you can never have too many clamps. The ones I use most are about $3 each at Harbor Freight, about 9 inch F clamps (they look like an F). I have 18 of them at a couple of bucks each. The same source has longer versions up to 24 inches and I keep 4 to 6 of the 18 and 24 inch models. I have four sets of two of 24 to 60 inch (Jet) parallel clamps for making really square cabinets and other items where holding things square for glue up is important. The better the quality of bar clamps, the thicker and stronger the bar will be. I’ve all but given up on plastic clamps, but have a few that look like scissors for lightly holding things together or down. Depending on what you’re making, a few wooden hand screw clamps could be useful, including holding small parts for safer routing. I recently added a couple of special steel C clamps that have a 12 inch open throat. Very handy item! 

16) Hand planes and hand tools: Learning to use these is something of an art, as is proper sharpening and setting of their blades. There are lots of woodworkers who really love working with hand tools, most will suggest you buy used and clean and tune them up--which is actually quite fun. Chisels are important particularly if you are making furniture. Sharpening chisels is a basic skill involving many ultra fine grits of sandpaper, ultra flat surfaces, maybe diamond grit sharpening stones—arcane stuff, but anything less than a razor sharp chisel is pretty useless. Don’t scrimp on chisels, cheap ones get dull fast. Look up sharpening methods on YouTube, it takes patience but not much money to work sharp. I recently bought a diamond sharpening device with diamond dust imbedded in a nickel steel plate. It has small cut out ovals so the metal grit doesn't clog the diamond surface. Use these sparingly and use one of the specialty diamond sharpening lubricants with it. I use this for quick sharpening touch ups, just 4-5 strokes will do. It’s a little easier to use than the sand paper method, which I save for major sharpening tasks.

17) If you have a dedicated shop space, take the time and trouble to insulate it. You will enjoy working in it much more if you're not roasting or freezing. I recently installed a middle sized window AC unit through a shop shed wall for relief from our desert summer and it is now even more of a pleasure to be out there. Insulation also holds in heat during winter. A couple of heaters bring the temp up, but just one keeps it comfortable after that. Cold fingers are clumsy, not good around spinning blades!

Finally, Stick suggests that you use the Forum’s archives when you have questions. There is a wealth of answers to any questions you might have. He also cautions about using one word search terms, which can return massive amounts of information. Here’s the link: https://archive.org/

Woodworking is not necessarily a cheap hobby. Wood can be costly, so are decent tools, And there's hardware, stuff for jigs, dust collection and on and on as you get going. My good wood supplier is 60 miles away, so I often work in decent local pine and plywood with as many layers as I can find. I found some decent Maple faced plywood at HD. Before long you will hear how superior Baltic Birch is to the best of HD, but you have to ferret out a decent source. Chinese made birch ply is generally no match for the real stuff, which, when you cut it shows no voids inside. 

This has run pretty long, but I think the information is helpful for someone new to the hobby. The suggestions represent a LOT of trial and error. And yes, you can spend a lot getting set up,


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

cutting slots w/ a biscuit joiner can be trying because of the no slip features on the fence...

short splines are usually cross cuts to get perpendicular grain...
also, they are a plan ''B'' for those that haven't a biscuit joiner.. why buy biscuits when you have the material already on hand...
splines in lieu of T&G conserve material relative to the size of the panel... 

ie.. this table top in front of me is made from the drops of rabbets... assorted maples if you must know...
the drops are 1-9/32'' square, 6' 4'' long...
there are 28 rips/drops... the 12 - 16'' long cross cuts were ripped down used as the splines...
if I had T&G'd the joints I would have lost 28/4's across the width at an absolute minimum... that's 7''....
IRL it'd be more like 8¾'''...
that's a lot of sawdust ...

BTW...
the splines were made from normal sized rabbet drops...

rough cut your rabbets... a lot less waste and the drops help out the bottom line...
save the drops..
turn them into splines, inlays, repair fillers, stickers, boarders, thin strips, layups, shims, contact cement glueup spacers, dado repair, turn them into projects, accents and a host of other things..

no TS.. use your slot cutter to rough cut it out... you can hav as little as a 1/16'' kerf...
large diameter thin kerf slot cutters are called Keyseat cutters (the spline being the key) and hog shear cutters...


waste not want not...


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Combine the two....

I did see an episode of NYW, where Norm used a router to cut a spline groove on both pieces and the just used biscuits along the length.

I believe it was in his kitchen makeover series.....


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I looked at those V shaped bits and decided it would be an ordeal getting them to line up. Nice of the company to talk you out of them.


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## patlaw (Jan 4, 2010)

DesertRatTom said:


> I looked at those V shaped bits and decided it would be an ordeal getting them to line up. Nice of the company to talk you out of them.


Out of curiosity, if you run the top edge of the shelf and the top edge of the banding without moving the bit, wouldn't they have to line up? The bottom edge of the banding would have to be flush trimmed or sanded.


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## 48394 (Oct 25, 2010)

Mike,
There are two bits in the set; one "male' ad one "female'. It takes a bit of fussing to get the shelf and the banding to align perfectly. Otherwise, you're back to a flush trim bit to clean up the edges.
If you are looking for the edge band to offer sagging resistance then you are better off putting a rabbet the width of the shelf thickness on one corner of an edge piece that is about twice as wide as the shelf thickness and gluing that in place. 
I hope this helps,
Regis


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Mike (patlaw); no TS?! I'm sure you have excellent reasons for not having acquired one (yet), but _not_ having one makes woodworking so much more difficult.
Could you fit Stick's favourite, the Bosch 4100, into your shop space?
Robot Check


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