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Plunge routers

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benstt

Professional
Founding Member
To the woodworkers out there, I'm looking at a plunge router set to add to my home metal and wood shop. I've narrowed it down to Dewalt and Milwaukee, both are found on the Home Depot site. Do any of you have experience with either of these?

www.homedepot.com

DEWALT 12 Amp Corded 2-1/4 Horsepower Fixed and Plunge Base Router Kit DW618PKB - The Home Depot

The DW618PKB 2-1/4 HP EVS Fixed Base Router / Plunge Router Combo Kit with Soft Start has a powerful motor for routing through tough hardwood at the user's desired speed. This wood router combo kit features
www.homedepot.com

www.homedepot.com

Milwaukee 2-1/4 Max-Horsepower EVS Multi-Base Router Kit with Plunge Base and BodyGrip Fixed Base 5616-24 - The Home Depot

The Milwaukee Multi-Base Router Kit with Plunge Base and BodyGrip Fixed Base offers superior design and best in class features for professionals. You can adjust the router's linear depth at both micro
www.homedepot.com
 
benstt said:
To the woodworkers out there, I'm looking at a plunge router set to add to my home metal and wood shop. I've narrowed it down to Dewalt and Milwaukee, both are found on the Home Depot site. Do any of you have experience with either of these?

www.homedepot.com

DEWALT 12 Amp Corded 2-1/4 Horsepower Fixed and Plunge Base Router Kit DW618PKB - The Home Depot

The DW618PKB 2-1/4 HP EVS Fixed Base Router / Plunge Router Combo Kit with Soft Start has a powerful motor for routing through tough hardwood at the user's desired speed. This wood router combo kit features
www.homedepot.com

www.homedepot.com

Milwaukee 2-1/4 Max-Horsepower EVS Multi-Base Router Kit with Plunge Base and BodyGrip Fixed Base 5616-24 - The Home Depot

The Milwaukee Multi-Base Router Kit with Plunge Base and BodyGrip Fixed Base offers superior design and best in class features for professionals. You can adjust the router's linear depth at both micro
www.homedepot.com
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As a master carpenter stay away from DeWalt as they are nothing more then yellow plastic wrapped around
(Black and Decker) hardware.
Milwaukee would be my only choice if your limiting yourself to just those two brands. Don’t shy away from Porter Cable my shop had four different models of the PC brand set up for different jobs.
Keep one thing in mind is to find the router with the highest RPM available, that is the key to the cleanest cuts and don’t cheap out on router bits along with adequate dust/chip removal, you don’t want the bit to have to keep grinding on already cut wood.
 
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If you don't mind spending the money look at Festool brand as an option. Festool is probably the best wood working power tools you can buy though they are quite a bit more expensive then the popular commercial name brands but well worth the money. I've been working in construction for 20 plus years and I've used pretty much every brand of tool out there.
 
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Thank you both! I'd heard Porter Cable is basically Stanley these days, I'm glad to know I'm wrong. My dad had some old PC stuff in his shop that did a bang-up job. I'll be sticking with my Milwaukee, then. I've always liked their stuff at their price point.
 
benstt said:
Thank you both! I'd heard Porter Cable is basically Stanley these days, I'm glad to know I'm wrong. My dad had some old PC stuff in his shop that did a bang-up job. I'll be sticking with my Milwaukee, then. I've always liked their stuff at their price point.
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Milwaukee definitely makes a great power tool and it's probably the most popular tool I see in my area for the past few years.
 
Milwaukee and DeWalt are both good tools for the homeowner or for on the job. Like anything else, you have to take care of your tools. Just like Ford or Chevy, everyone has their preferences. When I was out in the fleet and also using tools at shore-based ship repait facilities, we predominately had Milwaukee tools. Their good tools, and they probably gave the gov'nt the best deal when bulk purchases were being made.

I'm a DeWalt fan personally. :)

Porter Cable used to be top notch stuff, but I've heard the quality has dropped.

Bosch was good stuff also, but haven't heard much about them lately.
 
Porter Cable is my choice by all measures. Milwaukee USED to be a great company, but since they were bought out by the Chinese, their quality has dropped dramatically. All tools are made in China now, but PC is still owned and design controlled by Americans. Festool is supposed to be the best but at an average of 8 times the cost of other brands, I have never tried any. At present I am down to 4 PC routers, I gave a few away because of my inability to do much woodworking anymore.
 
papadan said:
Porter Cable is my choice by all measures. Milwaukee USED to be a great company, but since they were bought out by the Chinese, their quality has dropped dramatically. All tools are made in China now, but PC is still owned and design controlled by Americans. Festool is supposed to be the best but at an average of 8 times the cost of other brands, I have never tried any. At present I am down to 4 PC routers, I gave a few away because of my inability to do much woodworking anymore.
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Both of the routers I have, which I haven't used in many years, are older Craftsman models from Sears. One was my Dad's.
 
ScottJ said:
Both of the routers I have, which I haven't used in many years, are older Craftsman models from Sears. One was my Dad's.
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I have an OLDDD Craftsman that belonged to my Grandfather, still runs, but I wouldn't want to try using it, the cobwebs would catch on fire! :cool: :cool:
 
Since there is obviously some woodworking talent here (I don't mean me :) ), do any of you have recommendations for carving tools for hardwood, specifically walnut heartwood? It's for carving letters is cursive. The strokes will not be very wide, maybe 1/16" and 1" to 1.5" high but with tight turns, if that helps.
 
benstt said:
Since there is obviously some woodworking talent here (I don't mean me :) ), do any of you have recommendations for carving tools for hardwood, specifically walnut heartwood? It's for carving letters is cursive. The strokes will not be very wide, maybe 1/16" and 1" to 1.5" high but with tight turns, if that helps.
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Look for tooling made from Carbide. The trick to longevity in staying sharp is to keep them clean. Alcohol works the best and I don’t mean your good Bourbon, use that to steady your hands. 😂😂
Oh and use a soft cloth with the alcohol not a paper towel. You can also use a very light coating of linseed oil on the tool while carving to help it slide through the wood and not separate the grain and cause splintering.
 
I'm glad I don't have to share my bourbon. :) Thanks for the linseed oil tip; it would have taken me years to figure that one out. With my history I'd probably have just started hitting it harder with the mallet.
 
benstt said:
I'm glad I don't have to share my bourbon. :) Thanks for the linseed oil tip; it would have taken me years to figure that one out. With my history I'd probably have just started hitting it harder with the mallet.
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The trick is to shave very little a time, linseed works like shaving cream, it allows the tool to glide through the wood. Now don’t discount high quality steel as Carbide tooling is expensive and steel can be sharpened easier but will not last long between sharpening’s Carbide for length of overall tool life is a better value.
 
Here is a set.
FCA20DBB-7015-44FB-9A0C-22138D0BF9A1.jpeg
B62982E3-2913-4849-A7B3-72FDEF794EC6.jpeg
 
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