Wood routers are one of the most versatile tools you can have in your workshop, they can do so many different things, I'm sure the inventor never dreamed all of the things that routers could possibly do with a few jigs and a little bit of ingenuity.
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The components that make routers so useful can often be expanded to allow them to do even more, or make them even more convenient to use, and here are some examples ...
Working Bit Holder
I almost always use more that one bit during a routing session and rather than put the unused bit back in the cabinet (because I will be using it again shortly) I often just leave it on the workbench, which is not a great idea. Sometimes they get buried under other items and in some cases, they can get bumped against metal tools or even fall on the floor which means that sometimes the carbide can get chipped or cracked. Router bits with chipped or cracked carbide should NEVER be used again because they are now compromised, which means the affected carbide could fly off at any time during use and create a serious injury. To fix this issue, I made a temporary or "working" router bit stand that stands out and makes it easy to find and protect my router bits. 
Push Blocks
We NEVER use a miter gauge on a router table when also using the router fence. What works much better and is safer is to use a push block, and because I go through so many or these, I just use 3/4 inch plywood scraps, square them off, double check that the corners are square and when I do that I draw an arc over the corners to indicate that the block has been checked as absolutely square, and it's ready to use ... all 4 corners.
Easy Mortise or Slotting
This could be the easier Mortising Jig or Slot Cutting jig. It's easy to make and easy to set up, check out the video for details.
Hole Enlargement With a Router
How many times have you cut a hole and found out it wasn't large enough, or that you didn't quite have the correct hole saw size. Easy to fix with a router, just use a rabbeting bit with whatever size bearing is most suitable (usually smaller cuts are easier to work with) and make an internal rabbet which can then be easily enlarged using a flush trim bit.
Jointing Wood With a Router
Jointing wood using a router is easy when you use the factory edge of something like MDF as a guideline for the bearing on the bit to ride against, clamp your wood firmly to the MDF and allow a small amount to overhang the edge and that will be trimmed off neatly and cleanly by the router bit.
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Copyright Collin Knecht
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