If you've ever admired furniture with elegant rounded edges or decorative molding and wondered how it's done, the answer is surprisingly accessible. A router—that loud, spinning tool that might seem intimidating—is actually one of the most forgiving power tools once you understand a few fundamentals.

The secret isn't buying expensive equipment or having years of experience. It's knowing which three basic bit profiles handle 90% of decorative work, understanding why feed direction matters more than speed, and learning the patience of multiple shallow passes. Master these concepts, and you'll transform flat, sharp-edged projects into pieces that look and feel professionally crafted.

Walk into any woodworking store and you'll face walls of router bits in bewildering variety. Here's the liberating truth: roundover, chamfer, and ogee bits will handle the vast majority of decorative edge work you'll ever need. Everything else is specialty territory you can explore later.

The roundover bit creates a smooth, curved edge—think of the comfortable feel of a well-worn handrail. It's forgiving and works on almost any wood. The chamfer bit cuts a flat angle, typically 45 degrees, creating clean modern lines that catch light beautifully. The ogee bit produces that classic S-curve profile you see on traditional furniture and molding, adding instant elegance to simple projects.

Start with a 1/4-inch roundover and a 45-degree chamfer. These two bits cost under thirty dollars together and will serve you for years across dozens of projects. The ogee can wait until you're ready for more decorative work. Quality matters here—carbide-tipped bits stay sharp dramatically longer than high-speed steel and produce cleaner cuts from day one.

Takeaway

Begin your router bit collection with just a 1/4-inch roundover and 45-degree chamfer. These two versatile profiles will handle most decorative edge work while you develop your technique.

Here's where routing gets serious, and where many beginners create dangerous situations without realizing it. The router bit spins clockwise when viewed from above. You must feed the wood against that rotation—moving left to right along the edge closest to you, or counterclockwise around a piece's perimeter.

When you feed with the rotation instead of against it, you're climb cutting. The bit grabs the wood and pulls it—and potentially your hands—toward the spinning cutter. On a router table, the workpiece can shoot across the shop. With a handheld router, the tool can lurch violently. Neither scenario ends well.

Think of it like petting a cat: go with the grain and everything's smooth; go against it and you get resistance. That resistance is actually your friend with routing. When feeding correctly, you feel steady pressure as the bit cuts. If the router suddenly feels like it wants to run away from you, stop immediately—you're likely feeding the wrong direction. Mark your feed direction with blue painter's tape arrows until the correct motion becomes instinct.

Takeaway

Always feed wood against the bit's rotation—left to right on the near edge, counterclockwise around perimeters. If the router feels like it's pulling or running away, you're going the wrong direction.

The most common beginner mistake isn't wrong bit selection or even feed direction—it's impatience. Trying to remove too much material in a single pass creates rough, torn edges, stresses both the bit and motor, and often burns the wood. Multiple shallow passes produce dramatically better results than one aggressive cut.

For decorative edges, set your initial depth to remove no more than 1/8 inch of material. Make your pass, then lower the bit another 1/8 inch. Repeat until you reach full depth. Yes, this takes longer. Yes, it's worth it. The final surface will be smooth enough that minimal sanding is needed, and you'll avoid the scorched patches that plague rushed work.

End-grain presents the biggest challenge—those board ends where fibers want to splinter and tear. Route the end-grain edges first, then the long-grain sides. Any tearout at the corners from end-grain routing gets cleaned up when you pass along the adjacent long-grain edge. This simple sequencing trick eliminates most edge-finishing headaches before they start.

Takeaway

Take multiple passes at 1/8-inch depth increments rather than one deep cut. Route end-grain edges first, then long-grain sides, to automatically clean up corner tearout.

Professional-looking edges aren't about expensive tools or natural talent—they're about understanding three bit profiles, respecting feed direction, and embracing the patience of shallow passes. These fundamentals apply whether you're softening the edges of a simple shelf or adding elegant profiles to a jewelry box.

Start with scrap wood. Practice until correct feed direction feels automatic and you can hear the difference between a proper cut and an overloaded one. Your first real project with routed edges will surprise you with how accomplished it looks—and how satisfying it feels to have made it yourself.