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Types of Router Bits 2024 – Router Bit Names & Profile Chart PDF

Types of Router Bits

Woodworkers work on a wide range of tasks that require different materials, widths, and thicknesses of stock.

Wood is a common material with which they prefer to work when building a variety of projects.

Wood shaping plays an important role in such undertakings; hence you’ll find numerous tools linked to wood shaping.

A wood palm router is one such tool. Routers are common tools that make woodworking easier, but they’re useless without the right router bit.

The use of a best router bit allows for the creative contouring of a wood object.

When choosing adequate router bits, you must first understand the types of router bits and their uses as various types of router bits are for various purposes, and you may select the most appropriate router bit sets for your workplace.

Whether it’s carpentry or joinery, the router is one of the most versatile power tools you can own, as it can be used for everything from cutting channels to mitering worktops, trimming, and shaping edges, and cutting a variety of wood connections.

Hence, Understanding the most common router bit types and their uses becomes a fundamental skill for every aspiring woodworker.

Types of Router Bits

Wood Router Bit Names – Router Bits Explained

There are many different types of router bits in the market, and each one is designed for a specific type of woodworking.

As a result, every woodworker should have a set of wood router bits that are designated as the most useful for their specific woodworking projects.

We’ve compiled a router bit guide of the 13 basic and important router bits to assist you in determining which ones you’ll require.

1. Straight Router Bits – The Most Common Wood Router Bit

Straight Router Bits

The straight router bit is one of the most often used router bits.

All the router bit shapes are different, this has a straight shape.

With the help of these pieces, you can make straight cuts and hollow areas on your workpiece quickly and simply.

When browsing for this router bit, you’ll notice that it comes in a variety of diameters ranging from 3/16 inch to 1.5 inches, so you can pick one that suits your preferences and project requirements.

A plunge cut is another useful cut that the straight cut bit may perform.

This is the point at which the bit is dropped onto the surface and begins to cut into it.

Plunge cuts are very suitable for removing mortise joints, hinges and striker plate recesses, and door lock latch and bolt recesses.

Though some gear such as saws and chisels can be used to make all these cuts and joints, using a router, and straight cut bit is frequently faster and results in a much neater and more exact cut.

Straight cut bits have one disadvantage: they are usually unguided, which means you’ll need to use a guideline but have a very steady hand to achieve a straight and exact cut.

A straight router bit can also be used in drilling.

These routing drill bits are adaptable to a wide range of applications and materials.

Straight router bits can be used for drilling tasks in addition to cutting flutes in molding and creating rabbets and mortises.

2. Flush Trim Router Bits – The Excess Eliminating Bit

Trim router bits

The flush trimming bit, as its name implies, is meant to trim overhanging and unsmoothed edges so that they could be flat with the outer surface.

These are guided router bits as they come with a ball bearing that is the same size as the router bit’s cutting radius.

These router bits are ideal for edging and trimming materials, and they may be used to create several identical forms.

The use of laminate and wood veneer coatings is a fantastic example of this.

When applying a laminate or veneer to a panel, it’s common to have overflowing edges which need to be cut back, especially if the laminate or veneer is covered over and around curved elements.

Cutting bits are frequently directed to keep them flat with the surface you’re trimming back to.

This implies it will have a bearing that is the same diameter as the cutting bit at both the top and bottom of the bit.

This guarantees that you don’t trim back any further than the bearing’s running surface.

3. Rabbeting Router Bits – What is Rabbeting?

rabbet router bits

​Most of the time the router bit names define their purpose.

The rabbeting router bit, which has an intriguing name, can readily cut material in either a vertical or horizontal position.

The usage of this tool makes material edging easier, and it includes ball bearings in a variety of diameters and sizes.

This function allows you to create various rabbet dimensions without having to purchase multiple routers of various sizes.

The rabbet cutting router bit is specially designed to cut rabbets, not the small charming fuzzy ones that are common in most gardens.

Rabbet or shoulder joints are a typical type of joint used in furniture construction, particularly for the construction of drawers and the connection of cabinet frames.

Because the diameter of the bearing attached to the base of the bit determines the depth of the cut, rabbet bits usually come with a variety of various sized bearings so that you may cut a variety of different depth joints.

Rabbeting bits are used to create a rabbet joint by creating an L-shaped shoulder or dado.

Hence, it’s also called a square router bit that goes against the grain and is on the edge of a piece of material.

4. Edge Forming Router Bits – The Routed Edges Bit

woodworking Router Bits

The phrase “edging bit” or “edge cutting bit” is a bit of a misnomer because various distinct sorts are depending on the edge shape you wish to achieve.

Edge forming router bits can be used to create a variety of innovative and beautiful edging on your wood object.

Edge shaping router bits come in a range of shapes and sizes, and which one you choose will be determined by the task at hand.

The following are a few of the most prevalent. They are the woodworker’s go-to wood router bits for different types of routed edges.

  • Round over bits, which is used for rounding off the edges
  • Cove routing bits, which is used for cutting down a concave
  • Ogee bits is used to get an s-shaped cut and much more

To summarize, the edge cutting bit is used in cupboards and furniture construction to cut and create decorative edges, also known as beads, in cabinets and tabletops, chair and table legs, and a variety of other objects and surfaces.

5. Chamfer Router Bits Profiles – The Bevel Cut Bit

chamfer router bits

This router bit is the most ideal one for bevel cuts or giving wood different types of router cuts at a certain angle.

These are typically used by woodworkers for artistic edge cutting on doors and panels.

The chamfer or bevel cutting bit is widely used to shape the edges of objects like bookshelves, worktops, and tabletops, as well as any other object that requires the removal of a sharp 90° edge.

These router bit profiles are mainly used in shaping lumber edges and moldings.

They are also widely used to ‘bevel’ the edges of two neighboring surfaces to make a miter joint so that they meet to form a right angle since they essentially cut a 45° bevel edge.

Chamfer bits come in a variety of angles to cut such as 11.25 degrees, 15 degrees, 22.5 degrees, and 30 degrees, allowing you to produce a variety of curved products.

These bits, like other wood router bits that require precise cutting, include a pilot bearing guide attached to the bit’s base.

6. Rail and Stile Router Bits – The Decoration Bits

rail and stile router bits

For construction work involving panel cutting and combining horizontal and vertical layers of material.

The Stile and Rail components come in a package, and you may use them to create horizontal rail and vertical stile router bit profiles by combining them.

The rails are the horizontal elements of the outer frame and are used for cabinet doors, entry doors, and many other types of doors and frames.

The term “stile” originates from the Latin Word “stigel,” which means “climbing equipment.”

It has nothing to do with the word “style.” It refers to the frame’s vertical elements.

Stile and rail wood router bits cut a decorative profiles and panel slots into the inside edge of the door frame, as well as a particular “mirror image” profiles, called a “cope” into the ends of the rails, allowing the sections of the frame to be linked together fast and correctly.

7. Raised Panel Router Bits – For Paneling Applications

Raised panel router bits

The raised panel bit is used to make attractive door panels and various wood profiles.

With its horizontal and vertical layout, you may add variety to your woodworking operation.

Raised panel wood router bits, particularly horizontal raised-panel router bits, are large.

The first rule of thumb for safely using these wood router bits is to always use them in a router table rather than a hand-held router.

A router with varying speeds is required. Fixed-speed routers have a rotational speed of roughly 24,000 RPM.

A horizontal raised panel router bit should spin at half that speed or 12,000 RPM. At roughly 18,000 RPM, even a vertical raised-panel bit is better suited.

8. Ogee Router Bit

ogee router bit

This roman ogee bit is the most fundamental of the 13 bits.

A carpenter can’t imagine his router bit set without it.

And this is visible in all the router bit sets we’ve evaluated.

It makes creating a compound and s-shaped profiles a lot easier and gives you a lot of options when it comes to applications.

9. Glue Joint Router Bits

glue joint router bits

The bit’s quite useful and does an excellent job of gluing wood pieces together, resulting in a huge panel.

It outperforms conventional wood router bits for this type of joinery by generating a large connecting surface for increased adhesion.

10. Edge Beading Router Bits

edge beading router bits

It is one of the most important woodworking bits for shaping the edges of furniture pieces with edges, as the name implies.

Tabletops, bookcases, chair arms, benches, and other items are frequently used.

11. Dovetail Router Bit

dovetail router bits

This bit is ideal for making intricate cuts like rabbets and tapering dadoes.

It has a broader base and a flatter bottom with slanted sides.

12. Cove Router Bit

Cove Router Bits

This will give the furniture a more ornamental edge, boosting its appearance. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cabinet door or a Chester drawer’s legs.

13. Carbide Tipped Router Bit

1/4 router bits

This bit comes in a variety of diameters and lengths such as 1 by 2 inches, 1 by 4 inches, and 1 by 8 inches, and it transforms the square bottom into straight grooves.

These were 13 basic router bit types and their uses.

Other than these are some other cnc router bits as well that one should know about. Different types of router bits explained in the video below.

Core Cutting Box Kit

Also known as the router cutter, with a concave base, the core cutting bit cuts grooves and forms.

It can be used to create decorative aspects in wooden beams such as doors, table edges, and other similar objects in addition to how to cut channel in wood.

Because the bit is non-guided (i.e., it doesn’t have a bearing), it can also be used to hollow down objects to remarkable effect.

V Groove Cutting Router Bits

tongue and groove router bits

The V-groove bit is like the core cutting bit above, but instead of leaving a rounded form, it creates a “V” shaped channel that leads to a point.

These routing cutting bits, like other decorative cut bits, come in a variety of shapes and angles, allowing you to create anything from a deep or a thin channel to a wide shallow one.

Rounding Over Router Bit

dremel router bits

Different cnc router bits have different purposes.

The rounding bit, like all other bits that make precise cuts, has a bearing guide at the base that is also used to adjust the depth of the cut.

The rounding bits come in several sizes; it’s bearing sizes can be swapped out depending on the depth of cut required.

It’s commonly used on the edges of shelves, tables and cabinet edges, chair arms, and any other area where a smooth edge is required.

Specialist’s Router Bit

The bits are widespread in terms of use, and most joinery workshops will have them.

However, some wood router bits are exclusively used for specialized jobs, and these are known as specialized bits.

Most of the time, these are shaping or molding bits that are utilized to make specialty moldings and forms, occasionally two in one pass.

Specialty bits like these are typically only used in routers that are positioned on a table or bench.

The biscuit cutting router bit, which is used to cut biscuit joints in the absence of a biscuit jointer, is another example of a specialized router bit.

Other than these, here is a router bit types chart that will enable you to look for the router bits and find the perfect one.

Router Bit Types Chart PDF 2024

router bit types chart pdf

Final Thoughts

It will be easier for you to select acceptable wood router bits now that you have all the specifics on which cnc router bits are suitable in which situations and now that you have grasped all the fundamentals.

For beginners, after deciding on a decent wood router, the following step is to look for appropriate bit types to use at first.

The router bit type you use is mostly determined by the nature of job you’re working on.

Then you can see the router bit types and their uses. After that, make your decision: is purchasing a router a reasonable option for your job?

How much will you put the bit to use?

And how much are you going to spend on it?

If you won’t be performing the same thing every day and have a range of tasks, buying a basic set would be a better choice.

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