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You need a flooring router bit set that cuts both the tongue and groove profiles. The Floor Making Router Bit Set is designed for this purpose, allowing you to mill custom tongue-and-groove flooring from rough hardwood lumber.

A slip-tongue bit routes a centered groove on the edge of a floorboard. A separate strip of wood or spline — the “slip tongue” — fits into the grooves of two adjacent boards to join them. This is commonly used when changing flooring direction or when two groove edges must meet. See the Slip Tongue Flooring Router Bit with Bearing Kit.

Oak, maple, hickory, walnut, and cherry are among the most popular hardwood flooring species. All are suitable for router milling with carbide bits. Harder species like hickory will dull bits faster, so inspect and sharpen between long runs.

Yes. A router table with a tall fence is the recommended setup for milling flooring stock, as it keeps long boards supported and the cut consistent. Use featherboards to maintain even pressure against the fence and table surface.

The bearing on the Slip Tongue Flooring Router Bit with Bearing Kit rides along the edge of the board to center the groove automatically. For fence-guided operations without a bearing, set the fence precisely to center the groove on your board thickness.

Most professional flooring router bits are available with a 1/2-inch shank, which provides the rigidity and stability needed to mill the precise tongue-and-groove profiles required for hardwood flooring. A 1/2-inch shank reduces vibration and deflection compared to a 1/4-inch shank, resulting in cleaner, more consistent profiles. You can browse available options in the carbide router bits collection.

While a powerful handheld router can manage flooring profiles in a pinch, a router table is strongly recommended for milling flooring stock because it provides the consistent feed rate, stable workpiece support, and repeatability needed for uniform tongue-and-groove joints across many boards. Running boards freehand introduces inconsistencies that can cause gaps or squeaks in the finished floor.

A floor-making router bit set typically includes the matched bits needed to cut both the tongue and the groove that interlock adjacent flooring planks, and may also include a profile bit for the top-face bead or chamfer. Using a matched set ensures the tongue and groove are sized to fit together accurately. See the Infinity Tools floor-making router bit set for a complete solution.

To minimize tear-out in difficult grain, take lighter passes, use a sharp carbide bit, and feed the workpiece in the correct direction relative to the grain. Climb-cutting a very light finishing pass can also help on particularly troublesome boards. Keeping bits sharp and clean is the single most effective way to prevent tear-out regardless of species.

Yes — the Infinity Tools learning center covers router table setup, bit height adjustment, and fence alignment techniques that apply directly to flooring work. Visit the Infinity Tools blog and learning resources for step-by-step guidance, or browse the router tables and accessories collection to find the right table for your shop.