Making wooden sandals (Scholl's style)

Step 6 First cuts with the router

This shows the initial removal of material using the router bit as a drill. There is a vacuum hose set up behind the drill; there is quite a lot of material to remove and it has to end up somewhere.

Another approach would be to use a drill, not a router bit, and make a series of drill holes using the probe to control the depth. That would leave a rectangular blank covered with a grid of small holes. Then use some other method to remove excess wood, such as a hammer and chisel or grinder, stopping when the pilot holes are no longer visible.

SAFETY: Wear eye protection (got my reading glasses); wear ear protection (I did with the grinder,; it's noisy); tie back hair (didn't do that); have a kill switch (yes, but not positioned to be usable); keep hands away from tool (oops!); wear a dust mask and/or control dust (forgot the mask, did have a vacuum); keep workplace tidy (you're kidding, right?)