i'm often surprised how many woodworkers have no idea what this little device is or they may recognize it but they don't understand it's important so they just don't use it in this short video i'll explain what this is why you need one how to make one if you need to and how it may help you keep your fingers on the ends of your hands where they belong this is a starter pin and it is an essential safety device for all router tables if you own a router table you need a starter pin if you have a starter pin somewhere but you never use it you need to start why because freehand routing without a fence relies upon the bits guide bearing to guide the work piece without that bearing the bits cutters might drag the work piece in your hands right into the danger zone around the bit and there's no sewing back on what a router bit removes the problem is you must get past the spinning cutter before the work piece can touch the guide bearing and it's during that brief moment at the beginning of each cut where you're free handing with little control some bits that have tiny cutters present a relatively small risk but the larger the cutter the more it can catch on the work piece if it hits it just right especially if it encounters a corner or dense end grain in those cases the cutter can kick the work piece back towards you or it may even suddenly pull the end of the piece around the back side of the bit where the cutting motion is in the opposite direction pulling your hands where you don't want them to go people have lost fingers this way and it's a completely unnecessary risk because starter pins are so easy to install and use it simply screws into a hole on top of your router plate whether you have a router lift or just a plate with your router screwed to the underside virtually all commercial versions have at least one hole for a starter pin if you have a homemade router plate you can bore a hole yourself and either tap it with threads or add a threaded insert then use a bolt or a machine screw and a nylon spacer to make your own starter pin the pin creates a fulcrum point from which you may lever the work piece towards the bit giving you a great deal more control for example if i want to begin my cut at the corner of a work piece the starter pin allows me to safely align that corner with the bearing i may even switch the position of the starter pin so i can safely begin a cut on the end grain of a board that is sufficiently wide enough to route without a sled of course the pin is designed to help you begin the cut once your cut moves away from the corner of the workpiece you can take it off the pin and use the bearing alone to complete your cut using a starter pin may not prevent all catches particularly if you try to remove too much end grain at wants but it gives you the leverage you need to maintain control of the work piece preventing it from being pulled into the dangerous back side of the bit so do you have a starter pin do you use it do you even know where it is you might store it on your router bit rack or toss it in a drawer but if it's out of sight it may be out of mind many years ago woodworkers journal suggested drilling and tapping a hole right on your router table's fence secure your starter pin there where you can easily see it and you'll be more
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