Flush-Trimming Router Setup

Here's a way to quickly trim the solid-wood edge banding on plywood shelves yet still give good support for your router. First, cut dadoes to fit the shelving in a single piece of scrap plywood; then rip that piece down the middle to make two perfectly matched caps.

Clamp the shelves between the dadoed caps, as shown, and then trim the banding with a flush-trim bit in your router. The shelves on either side keep the router from tipping.

If your router wants to tip when routing the outer shelves, rout all of the inside edges first, then unclamp the caps, swap the outside shelves with a pair of inside shelves, and trim the remaining two edges.
—Ike Evans, Coralville, Iowa

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