The Quirk Router
Quirk Routers make grooves. Unlike a plough plane, they can follow curves and undulating surfaces easy. Their short sole allows them to start grooves in a space a longer bodied tool would struggle with.
I saw this tool a few weeks ago and was immediately fascinated. A week later Christina Kerr had one for sale here on the patch and I jumped on it. I’ve had quite a bit of fun playing with it in the last few weeks. It was originally intended for creating “quirks” as part of a molding. I’m trying it out as a way to establish stopped grooves in box sides for the bottom.
The work ‘Quirk’ means a groove, its a common detail in molding profiles.Quirk routers where used for many tasks other than molding. Its also handy for inlay grooves and joint grooves on curved surfaces.
The Iron of a quirk router is really interesting. It ends in two pincer like curves (check out the photos below). On one side of the pincer you have the cutter. This is the equivalent of the iron in a plough plane, on the other side you have what looks like an inverted v chisel. The tips of the V act like the slitters on a dado plane, severing the fibers on either side of the groove so the iron can lift the waste out cleanly and easily. Depending on the orientation of the iron , you can push to sever fibers with the slitters and then pull to excavate, or vice versa.
The Preston router I have can only have a fence on one side, which initially frustrated me, until I realized I could just flip the iron around if I found myself working against the grain.
The Preston router came with 3/32nd, 1/8th and 3/16th cutters. Mine came with just the 3/16th and sadly I have yet to find a source for replacements, if any of you know one, please let me know
There are two great demonstration videos on instagram.
Ethan Sincox Demonstrates - https://www.instagram.com/p/CbNx73EjAqn/ (this is where I first saw the tool, Thanks Ethan!)
Barton Moyers demonstrating - https://www.instagram.com/p/BRb2fjPhjcx/
A closeup on the description.
https://handtoolwoodworking.com/tenon-cutters/
A slightly nicer version of the Preston Quirk Router than mine, with an integrated depth adjuster. Not the straight and curved fences, and the odd pincer shape of the irons.
A closeup of the underside, Its this short sole that allows the quirk router to do jobs that a plough plane cannot!
A complete set of 3 cutters, it easy to make out the inverted V of the slitter side here.
A Quirk on the side of a molding profile.
A vintage wooden Quirk Router you can see the distinctive pincer iron.
The same tool from above. The quirk router shares a lot of similarities with the scratch stock.
A selection of Quirk Routers in the Preston catalog.
A closeup of the description
