This short post is designed to encourage you to buy something in order to save time and lessen aggrivation. Though I rarely need encouragement to think about buying something, I try to resist whenever possible. But I bought a new router bit. What I didn’t realize is that it will save me time, frustration, wear on my router, and my sanity! My old router bit worked ok. I think it was over a year old. You can’t see it in the photos, but it had some burny marks on the tips of the blades.  I would use my jointer blade sharpener on its tiny blades to try to clean them off each time I used it. And it took me what felt like an hour to router out the angle on one rockin

g horse leg. I dislike this task a lot, because I have to wear the safety glasses, dust mask and ear protection all at once, and it’s really boring.  I also had a lot of resistance moving it through the wood, which will probably take a few years off my router. It was taking all afternoon to create the four legs of one rocking horse. Something finally urged me to buy a new bit. I don’t know what the general quality of this one is, a Vermont American brand from Ace Hardware. We’ll see if its better than the ones from the other big stores.  But for now, it’s wonderful! I spent one hour planing down all four legs. It moves so easily through the wood, I was able to remove much more at one time. I actually enjoyed using it to create the legs. I’m saved! I think I will be buying a new $10 router bit more than once a year if I can swing it. You should try it too.