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Introduction

The WoodRat is the only machine/tool/jig that I have used that has virtually unlimited uses and seems to grow on and with you! There is a bit of a learning curve, and be prepared to make or purchase a few jigs to assist in clamping work to WoodRat face. But I believe that the time and effort spent towards taming the WoodRat is well-worth the investment.

Is the WoodRat Right For You
Normally I don't begin a review with a ton of opinions, but the WoodRat has generated a ton of interest—I receive frequent emails asking whether or not purchasing a WoodRat is a wise choice. So here goes...

My simple answer: If you want a turn-key jig to occasionally produce box joints or dovetails...NO. However, if you want a tool/machine/jig that will produce virtually all cabinet-making joints and you don't mind fiddling around a bit...YES!

Furthermore, the WoodRat is especially beneficial to those who want the hand-tool look and quality in their joints, with production-capable repeatability. I believe that even production or professional shops could make good use of the WoodRat given its unique capabilities and wide range of cutter options.

Bottom line: Download and read the manual before purchasing the WoodRat. Download and view the demonstration video. Envision the steps and fixtures required to make the joints you plan to produce. Or email me. I am always more than happy to provide my side of the story.

So What is the WoodRat?

The WoodRat is not a dedicated box joint jig nor is it a dedicated dovetail jig, nor a mortise and tenon jig. Rather, it is a unique router-driven machine, similar to a Machine Shop Mill, but for woodworking. Will it do box, dovetail, and mortise and tenon joints? Yes, and with more varieties and cutter options than any jig currently available. Given its versatility, the WoodRat requires some experimentation, clamping fixtures, shop-made stops, and so forth.

A Few Words of Advice
A few bits of advice to those starting out with the WoodRat:

1. Download or purchase the WoodRat demonstration video and watch it a dozen times. Martin Godfrey, WoodRat Inventor and all-around gentleman, is a delight to watch and listen to. The video teaches the unique approach the WoodRat takes to making joints.
   
   
2. Read the manual through several times and then proceed through it (making the joints), front to back, it's laid out the way it is for a reason.
   
   
3. Start with the standard WoodRat cutters for dovetails. The WoodRat supports virtually any cutter, but I have better success with the standard cutters. As it turns out, calculating the "button" setting is not always fool-proof.
   
   
4. Purchase accessories as your expertise grows and projects require them. Learn the basics of the machine, then invest in the accessories. I spent considerable time with the accessories and non-standard cutters before learning the WoodRat and paid for it in lost time and some frustration. Note that most of these accessories were offered by a third-party and are no longer available.
   
   
5. With that said, two accessories that I do recommend right off the bat: The WoodRat plunge bar and an eliminator chuck for your router. The plunge bar allows for one-handed plunge operations and greatly simplifies most plunge router operations. However, the plunge bars make it more difficult to replace cutters. Plus, the router sits vertically affixed to a phenloic plate in the WoodRat making cutter changes even more difficult.
   
   For this reason I recommend the purchase of an eliminator chuck, such as the Eliminator RC product. It sounds trivial, but changing cutters on the WoodRat has caused me to release a few choice words in the shop. The Eliminator RC chuck looks simple at first, but having discussed its design with its inventor/designer, it is a marvel in router chuck engineering.
   
   Click the following link to read our Elimiator Chuck Review: Eliminator RC Chuck Review.

Where are the Images and Videos?
Good question. They are in various forms of production. I have changed computers (PC to MAC), cameras, camcorders, you name it, and just have not gotten to the editing. Stay tuned!

WoodRat Links
A few key WoodRat Web links:

• WoodRat
  The Main WoodRat site. Access the videos and documentation from this site.
  
  
• WoodRat Forum
  A great place to get information regarding the WoodRat.
  
  
• Aldel's Personal Site
  Another great place to get information regarding the WoodRat.
  
  
• Mike Humphreys Tutorial
  Mike Humphrey evidently is or was a WoodRat trainer. This tutorial is an absolute treasure.
  
  
• Little Rat Review (Excellent)
  Clearly written, great pics and examples.

WoodRat Installation - The Wall

There is no arguing that the WoodRat should be installed on a wall. Those without walls, cob up something to attach the WoodRat to a workbench. This works, but if you spend anytime at all with the WoodRat, you soon wish for a wall. Our shop has absolutely no open wall space, and I did not want to attach the WoodRat to one of our workbenches, so I decided to suspend a WoodRat "wall" from the shop ceiling.

The design is intended to allow me to swing the WoodRat wall up to the ceiling when the WoodRat is not in use while providing a perfectly stable and flex-free wall for the WoodRat when needed. As it turns out, I store my WoodRat accessories, books, etc. in the suspended wall. Thus, swinging it up and out of the way has not been an option. Thus, it takes valuable space right in the middle of our shop.

I used construction 2 x 6 lumber for the basic frame and the ceiling bases, planed and jointed for appearance. I used lag screws to mount the frame to the ceiling joists. I used 3/4" material for the support arms--nothing more substantial is required. I used 3/4" melamine for the "wall" surface. It provides a solid, stable surface, that I can write on, clean, etc. I used 3/8" bolts to join the wall frame, ceiling base, and the support arms. Once tightened down, there is absolutely no flex whatsoever to the unit.

I made the WoodRat mounting bracket to the specifications described in the WoodRat guide. I planed and jointed construction pine to 2" x 5" and crosscut it to match the length of the WoodRat (36"). I mounted the bracket to the melamine using four 3/8" bolts. I produced the WoodRat hangers to the specifications described in the WoodRat guide, except, I made mine 10" long rather than 9" long. I milled the required rebate to 6mm x 12mm and mounted the hangers to the bracket as described in the WoodRat instructions.

The following are a few drawings I worked from to build the WoodRat wall.

Slide One

The basic frame is made from 2 x 6 material, planed and jointed to 1-3/8 x 5". The ceiling bases measure 5" x 60" and are mounted to the ceiling joists using 4 lag screws. The wall frame measures 39" x 60" and fits between the two ceiling bases with a tight fit.

Slide Two

The wall frame is mounted to the inside of the ceiling bases using 3/8" bolts, washers, and nuts.

Slide Three

The wall is 3/4" melamine cut approximately to 39" wide by 36" tall. It is screwed to the wall frame using 1-5/8" countersunk square-drive screws. The angled support bracket is 3/4" thick by approximately 58" long and is mounted to the wall frame and ceiling joists using 3/8" bolts, washers, and nuts.

Slide Four

Slide Five

The WoodRat hangers are planed and jointed to be square and flat, again, fabricated to the dimensions provided by WoodRat (1" x 2" x 10"). Actually, WoodRat specifies a 9" length dimension, I made mine longer because (add your best reason here). I rabbeted the hangers as specified by WoodRat (6mm x 12mm). The hangers are attached to the bracket using #8, 2-1/2" wood screws, with the cull of the rabbet located 25mm below the top of the bracket.

Slide Six

The WoodRat fits tightly over the hangers and bracket. The top surface of the WoodRat is approximately 50" from the floor, which is approximately 18" from my eye-level.

Slide Seven

The WoodRat wall swings up and out of the way to clear the area when needed.

Installation Photos

Packaging

Photos of the Front

Photos of the Rear

The rear provides storage for my WoodRat accessories, manuals, and so forth.

What I like About the WoodRat

• As one tool, one system, it will produce the majority of joints that cabinetmakers and general woodworkers need: Box joints, Dovetails, mortise and tenon, slotted dovetail, dados, nested dovetails, and so forth.Honestly, the number of joints this system is capable of is virtually without limit.
  
  
• It supports a wide range of cutters for box joints and dovetails (and the other joints as well). Unlike most dovetail jigs, even those I like (i.e., AKEDA, Leigh, Porter-Cable), you are not limited to a finite set of cutters. Certainly, WoodRat offers cutter sets, and they are excellent. But you can use practically any cutter—you are not limited to WoodRat-specific cutters.
  
  
• No templates, no guide bushings. This means you can layout joints anyway you like. Variable spacing, symmetrical, asymmetrical, offset, tiny pins, large pins, it is all up to you. This allows machined dovetails to appear as intricate hand-cut dovetails, and so forth. I just pencil in the layout on the edge of a workpiece and go from there.
  
  These first three likes perhaps is what makes this machine/system attractive to professional woodworkers who otherwise shy away from "non-commercial" jigs.
  
  
• Router table operations. The WoodRat may be used for edge profiling, slotting, producing dowels, and so forth. Almost anything you can do with a typical router table you can do with the WoodRat. Though gravity is against you with the WoodRat, clamp-mounted brushes do a great job of holding the work against the underside of the base plate. And having the cutter above the work greatly simplifies alignment and alignment accuracy.
  
  
• Does not need ton of extra accessories. Yes there are a few accessories, but the fine folks at WoodRat do try to keep it simple. And no, you really DO NOT need dial / digital calipers and similar devices.
  
  
• Manual power feed. This ingenious mechanism allows you to easily and steadily feed the work piece past or through the cutter, with the work piece clamped to the feed bar. This results in a safer and cleaner cut. Even climb cutting can be performed with reasonable caution. The controlled east/west manual-power feed tracking of the sliding bar, the north/south tracking of the router on the base plate, and the up/down movement of the plunge-bars offers unprecedented control and visual accessibility to the work. Note, I have had a few problems with the feed mechanism jamming. It’s a problem with the cable. 95% of the time it works great.
  
  
• Comfortable and ergonomic to use. With two herniated disks in my back including a pinched nerve that numbs my left foot 24x7, many tasks in the shop cause great discomfort. Machining several drawer sets with router in hand can be problematic, and if nothing else, after awhile I fail to control the router as I should leading to tear-out, and other nastys. The WoodRat is simply much more ergonomic. I can stand in front of it without the need to slouch or bend down. I am not "controlling" the router, but rather sliding it within confined "fences". I don't have chips flying my way. Other than the router noise, the overall experience at the WoodRat is much nicer than typical "router-in-hand" operations. The plunge bars are an incredible idea. They do get in the way of mounting/unmounting cutters, but they're worth that aggravation.
  
  
• Able to gang work. I typically do not do this, but you can tape multiple common workpieces together and clamp them in the cutter clamp. A real time saver.
  
  
• Minimal, low-cost technology. A decent .5mm mechanical pencil, a Papermate Pink eraser, a couple of quick clamps, some blu-tak, and a couple pieces of thin acrylic is about all you need to get started on most joints. Box joints require a pencil, straight cutter, and the workpieces. Could not be simpler.
  
  
• Martin Godfrey (WoodRat inventor) is an absolute delight. He alone is worth the price of admission. He is engaging to talk with and is quite accessible either by phone or email. He has a real love for woodworking as well as his invention, the WoodRat. Rarely does an inventor, manufacturer, and businessman make himself so available (Kevan Lear from AKEDA, David Osborne from Osborne Mfg-EB3 Miter Gauge being a few others).

What I Don't like About the WoodRat

• I have a hard time with the dovetails. Box joints, dados, stopped sliding dovetails, tenons, mortises, are a piece of cake. But dovetails, though in theory easy to perform, often cause me problems. Better said, the pins cause me problems. Setting the "button" is the key and as often as I get it right, I get it wrong. I confess that I have not sat down and actually done the math [((dovetail cutter diameter + straight bit cutter diameter) /2) * slope value] or [ATAN(slope value)*180/PI()]. Some use these formulas with excellent results. I have used the online calculator with little success. I have used the charts in the book. And sometimes they work, sometimes not. Am I alone with this? No. Do other WoodRatters have success 100% of the time? Yes. Am I just slow? Probably.
  
  
• I have not purchased the alumimum mortise bar fixture. You need it or something shopmade for many mortising operations. Just the other day I needed to mortise an odd shaped workpiece. Perfect job for the WoodRat. It would have taken longer to mount the cutter than to make the mortise. Yahoo! But I could not find a (quick) way to clamp it. Dang! I typically do not have the time to mess around making a jig, in this case, to hold the work. I need to think this through...Again, most WoodRatters would have choice words for me in this regard.
  
  
• Where do you mount the WoodRat? This is a biggie for me. You should mount it to a wall, but I have zero open wall space! I ended up suspending it from the ceiling and will soon move it to a rolling cart. Mounted where it greatly hinders my shop flow—it is always in the way. If you have an empty wall with several feet of clearance on each side, great. Mount in on your wall and forever be happy. Of course, the first thing most shop visitors notice is the WoodRat!
  
  
• Mounting and unmounting cutters always seems to be a pain. Even with the eliminator chuck. Maybe it is my large set of mitts I call hands. An eliminator chuck is absolutely mandatory. Period!
  
  
• Sliding bar rattles—Great for baby, less so for me. My sliding bar rattles like crazy. Since the work mounts to the sliding bar, you want it to be solid. Right? I have tried several fixes and suggestions and either they work for some operations and I forget to implement them, or they don't work at all. (Update: The newer WoodRat models do not have this problem.) It is most commonly a problem when I suspend the clamping fixture for mortising and so forth. Not a constant problem, but it has stopped me from using the WoodRat on several occasions. Which is frustrating, because often the WoodRat WOULD BE the best tool in the shop for the job, only to find out once everything is mounted, the sliding bar rattle stops me dead in my tracks.
  
  
• Gut check. During my first project using the WoodRat, evidently I didn't clamp a workpiece tight enough in the cutter clamp and it came flying back at me, hitting me squarely in the stomach. Lucky for me the wife feeds me well and I have no time for exercise.
  
  
• Thick material requires that you extend cutters farther down out of the collet than I feel comfortable with. The WoodRat cutter shanks are plenty long, but regardless, the length that the shaft extends from the router collet is sometimes on the border of being unacceptable (breakage, chatter). I realize there are extenders, I ended up purchasing one, but they tend to introduce unacceptable runout.

Bottom Line

Is the WoodRat right for every home and commercial woodworker? Probably not. However, if you want a tool to grow with that WILL machine all of the joints described above, and you’re willing to tinker and work with the tool, learn it, and you’re willing to build or buy some accessories, the WoodRat is hard to beat. If you want the traditional, hand-cut look for your joints, no jig I know of compares to the WoodRat. It offers almost infinite joint (box joint, dovetail) layouts and size options and produces all of the joints necessary for traditional furniture making.

And for a rating. Because of its uniqueness, versatility, ease of use (dovetails notwithstanding), safety, ergonomics, and everything else, I give the WoodRat a 5. Due to the sliding bar rattle and dovetail craziness-frustrations, I originally gave the WoodRat 4 stars. But given that the newer versions are rattle-free and include t-channels for clamping, and other features, I have updated the rating to a full 5 stars.

Rating:

out of 5!

Machining WoodRat Box / Comb / Finger Joints

Here is the procedure I follow:

1. Prepare and mark the four work pieces.
2. Using a .5mm lead (or sharp) pencil, mark the joint layout on the edge of a work piece. I begin with the work piece that has a pin at the bottom and top.
3. Mount the work piece in the right (cutter) clamp.
4. Choose and install a straight bit into the WoodRat router.
5. Set the router depth stop. Plunge and hold the cutter to rest on top of the work piece. Use a mating work piece to adjust the depth stop.
6. Track the WoodRat sliding bar to align the cutter with the first socket. Make the first cut.
7. Without moving the sliding bar, remove the workpiece and place it in the left (mark) clamp.
8. With a pencil, carefully trace the inside wall of the socket (just cut into the workpiece) onto the WoodRat face. We call this the "mark". The mark represents the cutter and essentially becomes our template.
9. Place the opposite side workpiece (sized identical to the workpiece in the left clamp) into the cutter and cut the first socket. Flip the workpiece (paddle boat flip) and cut the first socket.
10. Remove the cutter workpiece.
11. Remove the marker workpiece from the left clamp, flip it (paddle boat flip), and mount in the cutter clamp and cut the first socket.
12. At this point, I rout the remaining sockets in the two workpieces, using one as a marker workpiece. It sounds complicated, but in reality, there is nothing to it. When I am done, the two opposite sides are done. Now for the adjacent sides.
13. Mount one of the original workpieces in the mark clamp.
14. Mount one of the adjacent (mating) workpieces in the cutter clamp.
15. Move the sliding bar to match the first pin with mark on the WoodRat face. When cutting mating pieces, you always align the wood not the gap at the marker end of the WoodRat.
16. Cut your first socket. Flip the board and cut the first socket on the opposite end.
17. Move the bar so that the next marker template pin aligns with the mark and cut the next socket (both ends).
18. Repeat until all sockets are cut.

Again, the instructions are more complicated than actually performing the operations.

Machining WoodRat Through Dovetail Joints

Machining WoodRat Mortise and Tenons

Machining WoodRat Profiles

Other WoodRat Tidbits

Blu-Tak
Looking for "blu-tak"? You can purchase the Elmer's version in the U.S. at virtually any large stationary store, or even the stationary section of department and grocery stores. I purchased two packages at Office Depot for $1.30/pkg. By the way, other adhesives that you might try: rope caulk, Hot melt glue....

Elmer's Tack 'N Stick Reusable Adhesive, Stock Number #98610

WoodRat Brush
You can purchase a brush from WoodRat. If you want a local, less-expensive option, check out the Rubbermaid G192.

RubberMaid G192 Vegetable and Hand Brush
FDC-G192-D3, Bar Code: 41301 00804

Erasing Pencil Marks
You want a good eraser for removing pencil marks from the WoodRat's aluminum face? A simple Papermate Pink eraser works just fine.

Formulas
The following is a very detailed description written by Dave Richards taken from the Router Boss web site...

"I don't know if this will help clear it up but my Excel-based calculator which I originally wrote with the WoodRat in mind but which works just as well for the Router Boss uses the following formula.

((Ddt + Ds)/2) / TAN(Θdt) Where Ddt = Diam. of dovetail bit, Ds = Diameter of straight bit and Θdt = the dovetail bit angle. I suppose you could substitute contangent for tangent with the approriate other changes to the formula but this works fine. Ddt+Ds= the base of the entire triangle but since the dovetail angle is given as half of the total angle between the sides of the pin, we use half the base to calculate the height.

As Lewis points out, we are establishing a pivot point at the height of apex of a triangle. Whether or not it is truncated is immaterial and is just due to the thickness of the wood. The height of the triangle is calculated from half the base and the bit angle. I used the tangent function because

TANΘ = Opposite/Adjacent

Opposite is the base of the right triangle and Adjacent is the height. Since we know Θ and the base of the right triangle, we rearrange the formula to be Opposite/ TANΘ = Adjacent.

And of course We need to work with the centerline of the straight cutter. Thus we use half the diameter of the straight bit."

Comments / Questions

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