Router Table Push Stick

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Photo: Steve Scott This stick is made from 1⁄2-in. plywood, and the shape is cut on the bandsaw. Edges are rounded over with a rasp or router.

Photo: Steve Scott Rout narrow stock without fear. This notched stick, with handles attached, keeps hands away from the cutter.

By Peter Schlebecker

The safest way to get a routed profile on a narrow workpieces to cut the profile on the router table before ripping the stock to final width. Working with wider stock allows you to feed the work past the bit without putting your fingers in harm’s way.

occasionally, though, you might need to rout a shape onto a piece that’s already quite narrow. Featherboards will help hold the piece firmly to the table surface, but you’ll need a push stick to guide the work snugly against the fence.

An effective push stick is a simple piece of plywood with a notch cut into one end. The strip lies flat on the router table, with the notch at the trailing end. Two vertical handles, mounted with countersunk drywall screws and glue, make the push stick easy to grab. For the handles, I use scraps from our wood-turning studio, but a large dowel or rounded square stock will do fine.

(Originally printed in the Sept/Oct 2006 issue of Fine Woodworking magazine (FWW #186))

Posted by: Peter Schlebecker - member

October 31, 2010

in Workshop, Shop Projects, Shop Safety, Routers, Push Sticks