Router Table

A router table mounts a handheld router upside-down beneath a flat table surface, bit projecting up through an opening, converting a portable handheld tool into a stationary one. With the router fixed in place, both hands are free to guide the workpiece against the bit and a fence, rather than one hand steadying the router itself -- generally safer and more controlled for edge-profiling and joinery cuts than freehanding the same cut with a handheld router, especially on smaller workpieces that are awkward to hold while also maneuvering a router over them.

Commercial router tables range from simple benchtop units to full cabinet-style tables with dust collection and material storage built in, but a shop-built table -- a flat top, a fence, and a router mounted underneath -- does the same fundamental job and is a common first serious jig project.