A DIYer’s Guide to TCT Carbide Tip Router Cutters
Posted by Connor James on
A router is not the sort of tool that a DIYer will be reaching for very often. Even a keen hobby carpenter may not use one on every project. But they are capable and effective tools that, when they are needed, do things that no other tool can do.
What Is a Router?
Think of a router as a large drill turned through ninety degrees – the router bit extends from the bottom of the drive, and you lower the router onto the wood surface to make a cut. The difference from a conventional carbide drill bit is that instead of just making a longitudinal hole, router cutter bits can cut sideways as you move it sideways.
This means you can easily cut grooves, slots, shoulders, and other shapes in wood or cut sections and shapes from the middle of a large piece. Routers can also be used to cut edges, chamfers, bevels, and radii on the edge of pieces of wood, making them perfect for adding the finishing touches to furniture, bannisters, mantles, and other decorative wooden items.
Routers are sometimes used with a router table, which provides a strong, secure, and level surface to work on. Routers can be mounted to the table on arms, slides, or brackets for extra support and precision – for instance, rail-mounted routers make straight cuts while mounting one on the arm makes perfect arcs or circles. There are smaller hand-held ‘trim routers’ for finishing rough edges off larger pieces or handling fine details.
What Are Router Cutters?
The router cutter, or router bit, is the actual cutting element of the router. As you may well have gathered from the above description of how the router works, the shape and design of the cutter let the router do the job you need it to do. It will also determine the form of the cut.
A V-shaped router cutter will leave a sharp groove. A semicircular (‘core box’) bit will produce a U-shaped channel (perfect for adding fluting to a surface), and a flat-bottomed bit will leave a square, smooth and regular slot that makes dado and rabbet joints extremely simple to cut. On the other hand, bell-shaped bits produce curved edges (for finishing tabletops, for instance). There are even router cutters with multiple grooves and edges that produce complex multi-angle shapes to create a perfect cornice in a single pass.
There are literally dozens of varieties of router cutter bits – for instance, just considering V-shaped cutters for making groves, they can be of different depths and angles to produce grooves from a shallow decorative valley to a deep right-angle cut. And then come cutters with flat tips and angled cutting edges, producing angled grooves with flat bottoms.
Now add those choices to all the other basic shapes of the router bit, and then consider that all these varieties come in different sizes, and you’ll get an idea of how versatile a router can be for your DIY woodworking projects. That’s why a router cutter set can be a great investment since it puts a wide selection of cutter types almost literally at your fingertips.
The Advantages of Carbide-Tipped Router Bits
For the ultimate in speed, durability, and accuracy, look for Tungsten Carbide Tipped (TCT) router bits. Just as with a carbide drill bit, a TCT router bit’s main advantage is its durability since TCT bits retain a sharp cutting edge for between five and seven times longer than High-Speed Steel (HSS) router bits. This also means that they produce cleaner and more accurate cuts, which are especially important when considering some of the more complex shapes of router bits. This durability, coupled with the superior heat dissipation of TCT router and drill bits, means that TCT cutters can work faster, performing more work at the same time or the same work in less time, compared to HSS bits.
Uses for Router Cutters UK DIYers Can Try
A classic use of a router cutter for a typical DIY project is making a freestanding bookshelf. A router can be used to cut slots into the inner surface of the uprights to hold the shelves. These can either be dado joint or, for shelves flush with the edge(s) of the uprights, the router can make a rabbet cut.
A simple coffee table or worktop is a perfect use for a router, with different cutters being used to produce the slotted joints for the legs, mitre joints for the various parts of the top and to produce neat rounded or bevelled edges. You could even use a router to cut out a circular tabletop.
Make a distinctive tray by glueing two planks of different coloured wood together top to bottom, then using a router to cut away the inside of the top plank, leaving the raised edges standing above the base surface of a contrasting colour.
If you’re making a clock (perhaps having cut the circular face out with a router), you can flush-mount the mechanism on the rear of the face by cutting out a square-section pocket in the centre with a router.
Shop Carbide Router Cutters at Rennie Tool Company
With worldwide shipping available, we are on hand to help you with whatever router tools your project demands. For any further information or if you have any questions, feel free to contact our friendly and helpful team at 0161 4779577, 07581 452424, or by emailing us at esales@rennietool.co.uk.