Woodworking Tips Index

Flush Trim Jig Recently I built a bookcase with several plywood shelves, and to conceal the front edge of the plywood, I glued a hardwood strip onto each shelf. But there was a problem when I tried to use a router with a flush trim bit to trim the edging. The front surface of the edging wasn't wide enough to support the router. So I built a simple jig to solve this problem.

As you can see in the picture, the jig is just an L-shaped "shelf" that clamps to the side of the workpiece to provide a surface for the router to ride on. It's made from a couple pieces of ¾" plywood that are glued and screwed together. A small brace block is added to each end (see drawing). And before the jig can be used, a shallow notch is cut along the face to create clearance for the edging (detail a). To use the jig, just clamp it to the workpiece, flush with the front of the edging.