Incra LS Super System (router table) vs Router Boss or Wood Rat

[Ken Frohnert]

I was reading some of the post to my earlier question on dovetail jig sizes. There were several recommendations for the Router Boss for my small home workshop. I had never heard of that so I did some research - that thing is really interesting. However, I was at a woodworking store over the weekend and talked to a guy and he suggested i look at the Incra Super System for a router table. I am not familiar with that system but I do have the Incra Miter Gauge for my table saw which is a great product. So I am favorably disposed to Incra products. However, I also see there is a Wood Rat which appears to be a slightly less evolved Router Boss. It may also be a bit cheaper too and is carried by Lee Valley which must say something about it.

I would like to be able to do most joints - dovetails, finger joints, mortise and tenons on whatever I go with. I want it to be pretty user friendly and fairly quick since I work a lot my time in shop is limited and I need to get things done.

It seems like the Router Boss is pretty amazing but I expect it will be $1,300 till you get a good router and collect most of the accessories you would want - not that you would need all that to get started. The Wood Rat is probably 2nd in cost. With the Incra Super System and a good router table with a top 3rd by a small margin.

I wonder which is going to give me the most capability for joints and other things? What about easy of use? And then safety - the Router Boss looks like the best bet here maybe? Finally what happens down the road long term as far as support - the companies that make the Router Boss and Wood Rat are smaller and seem to offer only one product - Incra is much larger and has a wide product line. Is there a better change 10 years from now that the Incra parts will be available when the other two companies may not be?

I would sure appreciate you folks experience with these different products and thoughts about them.

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

I do have both - Incra LS system and RouterBoss. In my opinion - setting up time faster with router boss, repeatability - probably same, with Incra - you can see that DT made on machine, with RB - more elegant, looks like handmade. Incra - best router fence in my opinion over any fences. Mortise and tenons - faster with RB( if you do a lot same size), but height of your tenons depend on length of the bit.
Incra easy and more user friendly system with perfect manual and very good tech or forum support. RB - no forums exist, support - one guy and not very friendly ( in my experience). With RB very steep learning curve, but when you know - the best system on the market.
I never work or seen Wood Rat, practically RB - improved and some say, better quality made system with digital readout ( for me it was a turning, decision making point).
Both system - save with a limit of user stupidity mistakes.
Ed.

[Dave Richards]

I have had a Router Boss since they first were released. I had a WoodRat for about 9 years before that. My brother has it now. I also have a very nice router table. I had the router table first but with the Rat and then the Router Boss the router table mostly gets used with the Porter Cable PC-111 OSS. It's great for that. Most of the things I would use a router table for get done on the Router Boss. Both the Craftsman Gallery and WoodRat may be small companies but they've both been around for a long time. No reason to expect either to go belly up.

You're right about the accessories with the Router Boss and the Rat. You wouldn't need to get all of them.

There is a lot to recommend the Router Boss and the Rat for joinery. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose the Router Boss for a number of reasons.

Safety is a good reason to be looking at these two. since the router and the work can be held safely, you don't have to get your fingers in close. And you can see what you are cutting.

Also, they are very intuitive to use and very flexible. For example, dovetails can be made with absolutely any dovetail router bit you can find. There are no special templates required to make any joints. I could go on but this would get to be too long.

I don't agree with Ed about the steep learning curve. I find it to be very intuitive but I expect that's something that varies from one person to the next.

Good luck with making your choice.

[Prashun Patel]

I have the incra. Its good for joints especially if you have many to do.
the fence is great for its capacity and microadjustability.

[Frank Martin]

I owned a Woodrat for 10 years and only recently upgraded to the Router Boss. Router Boss addresses all the shortcomings of the Woodrat. The original idea came from Woodrat, but the inventor was in my opinion a bit too strong headed and always pushed back on user feedback to improve the machine. Lewis was the distributor of Woodrat in the US and he made and sold some good accessories for it as well. When the patent ran out, Lewis made the much better machine, the Router Boss. I purchased my Router Boss used from a member here and realized the main channel was defective (significantly out of square). Lewis replaced it for only shipping cost. By the way the machine was long out of warranty. I always had great response from him regarding user questions and service.

I personally really like the concept behind this machine. It is super versatile. Before I purchased a Domino, I used it (back then my Woodrat) for all joinery including lose tenon. It is also great for dovetails and nearly any other joinery. One thing about this vs. Incra, I think Incra is limited in terms of the size of pieces you can mill with it. Router Boos (or Woodrat) can handle fairly large pieces.

Before the Woodrat, I purchased and returned a Leigh D4 jig as I thought it was too finnicky in setup. I find Woodrat / Router Boss a lot more intuitive and versatile.

[Earl Rumans]

I have the Incra LS system and table mounted in my Table saw and I really like the system. For a home hobby guy, the system is very easy to use and comes with a fantastic book with all the different patterns and how to set them up. The plus is it's also a great fence setup for all your other router work. I think you would be hard pressed to find a better system for a hobby guy.

[Ken Frohnert]

What about the quality/durability of the Incra Router Fence System - I have read on-line that it has some plastic shims and the attachment points are somewhat delicate?

[Eduard Nemirovsky]

I have Incra for more then 4 years, never problem with any part of it. You can remove it from RT and put it back in less than 5 minutes and it will keep it setting perfectly. As any precise device it is need a proper handling, but I would not call it flimsy or very delicate machine at all.

Ed.

What about the quality/durability of the Incra Router Fence System - I have read on-line that it has some plastic shims and the attachment points are somewhat delicate?

[Prashun Patel]

I don't know where the plastic attachment points are. There is very little plastic on the LS Positioner system. The carriage and fence are very robust. There are only 2 negatives with the contraption:

1) The long carriage requires a wide (or deep) router table. If you are spaced-challenged this may be an issue.
2) There is a little learning curve. It feels very gadgety; some people don't like this; always having to reach for your hex screw driver. But if you are used to this on your miter fence, you will not be bothered by this.
3) The right angle attachment that carries boards through on end is kind of weird. It works perfectly, but doesn't feel right. You'll know what I mean when you go to use it.

Last, it machines perfect - almost TOO perfect joints. The whole thing works off templates for joint spacing. While you have about 30-40 to choose from, that's it. If you want to vary the spacing, you can do it, but you'll basically have to make your own template for it. Doable, but not as easy as doing variable DT's on say, the Leigh D jigs.

However, even if the LS couldn't do joints, it's still a marvelous router table just for that micro-adjustability and independence of the two halves of the fence (they shim with integral wedges; so elegant).

I would also say if you are going for this, get the MastRLift. It allows precise vertical positioning and makes bit changes easy.