If you're new to woodworking and you're not quite sure which bits to buy first let me show you the
five that i recommend the first bit and the one that's easiest for beginners to learn with is
the round over bit roundover bits are designed to round over or ease sharp edges roundovers
come in many different sizes and each one can be adjusted in the router to remove as little or as
much material as the capacity of the bit will allow for example here is one pass with a half
inch or 12 mil round over bit and here's that same bit just now lowered slightly in the router
as you can see each bit can produce a different look simply by raising it or lowering it in the
router when it comes to the different sizes it helps to understand that roundover bits are sold
by the size of the radius that the bit can cut for example if we look at a half inch round over bit
you can see that the half inch refers to the measurement from this point to this point if
we compare that now to a 3 8 or 9 mil round over you can see that the radius is slightly smaller
so how do you choose the right bit for you well it helps to start by thinking about what types of
projects you're going to be working on are you planning on building large projects that need
large round overs or maybe you're just doing smaller projects that really only require
just taking off the very edge if you're uncertain about what you're going to be doing
let me recommend either a quarter inch or a 3 8 round over bit both these bits are very universal
and work on a lot of different projects before we move on i do want to quickly talk about the shank
size differences you've been seeing in the bits we've looked at so far the shank is the part of
the bit which gets installed into the router the shank sizes here in the us are either a quarter or
half inch most smaller routers except only quarter inch while most other routers accept quarter and
half inch why you may choose one over the other is mostly based on the size of the bit itself
and preference i personally order more half inch shank than quarter inch simply because i find
that they actually function better especially when you're spinning large bits but don't get worried
about it too much because over time you're going to figure out what works best for you
and for the routers that you have the second bit to look at is a straight cutter straight cutters
are mainly designed to cut straight dados grooves or mortises in the middle of the wood straight
cutters cut on the sides of the bit as well as the bottom what this does is it allows you to plunge
the bit into the wood first and then move in any direction when it comes to sizing straight cutters
come in different diameters as well as different lengths it just all depends on how deep you need
to be cutting the most common standard straight cutter comes with two flutes or cutting surfaces
and you can see them here more advanced cutters like the spiral upcut has three flutes which cuts
much more smoothly and cleaner than a standard two flute bit up cut bits are unique as they actually
lift the waste material up and out of the groove instead of leaving it behind to build up therefore
if you think you're going to be doing a lot of mortising which requires deep cuts a spiral up
cut bit may be the best option for you if you're just getting started and you don't want to spend a
lot of money right now i would recommend buying a standard either quarter inch or half inch
straight cutter the third bit to look at is a chamfer bit these bits like round over bits are
designed to be used on the edges of wood chamfer bits cut 45 degree angles and what's nice about
these bits is that you can adjust the depth of the bit to change the look or the amount of chamfer
the other type of bit worth mentioning here is an edge bevel and i only bring this bit up because
it looks very similar to a chamfer bit and it can easily be confused for one edge bevel beds
cut a bevel that runs the whole width of the edge unlike the chamfer that only cuts a small portion
of the edge they're not as popular as the chamfer bit but they do come in many different options
and generally they cut bevels anywhere between 7 and 30 degrees again this is not a bit that
i recommend you buy right now and personally i've never had the need for one but i at least
wanted to make you aware of it when it comes to buying your first chamfer bit the most common size
and the one that i recommend is a 5 8 or 16 mil cutting length the length is this measurement here
so be sure that that measurement is noted on the product before you purchase one the fourth bit to
look at is the rabbit or rebate bit this bit along with the round over and the chamfer bits are all
designed to work on the edge of the material this bit really has one job and that is to cut a rabbit
or a rebate which is a groove with two sides that is open to the edge rabbits are great for
creating different types of joints and they also can be used to conceal edges of paneling like this
the two bits that i have here both cut a 3 8 or 9 mil groove which is this measurement here the only
other difference outside of the shank size is the depth of cut this bit cuts a 3 8 deep rabbit and
the other one cuts a half inch when it comes to buying a rabbit bit some companies like freud sell
bits that come with multiple bearings so that you can swap them out to change the bits depth of cut
other bits don't come with that option and what you buy is what you get whatever option you decide
to go with i think you'll be just fine i do want to tell you though that for the most part a 3
8 rabbit bit has been my go-to for 90 of my work the last bit is the flush trim bit flush trim bits
are used to follow a pattern or trim off excess material when working with veneers if you look
closely at the two styles i have here both of them have bearings which are flush with the cutters
what this does is allows the cutters to cut flush to the surface that the bearing is riding
on however what is different is the location of the bearing the first one has the bearing
on the top while the other one has the bearing on the bottom the difference is that one trims
with the template or pattern on the top while the other trims with the template or the pattern
on the bottom why the difference well it just all depends on preference and what types of operations
you're going to be performing the only downside to using a top bearing flush trimmer is that when
you are following a pattern if you accidentally tip the router slightly the cutter will gouge the
work piece but if you make that same mistake with a bottom bearing bit the bit will actually move
away from the work piece which means all you have to do to fix your mistake is to make another pass
if you're going to be making curves or custom patterns or duplicating things like legs on a
table or parts of a chair the flush trimmer is the bit to have there are a ton of options out there
for flush trimming bits including these amazing spiral bits that perform really well but they're
also very expensive therefore i would recommend starting with a standard two flute half inch
diameter bit the five bits that we just covered in my opinion are the most commonly used but
that doesn't always mean that they're perfect for you so i do encourage you to do your own homework
but regardless of what your future looks like in woodworking if you continue with it i guarantee
these five bits will be in your shop i'll leave all my recommendations below in the notes section
i'll also leave a link to my favorite bit set which includes an extra bit from the one we talked
about today which is the cove bit and this by far is my favorite bit set to buy be sure to follow
me on instagram if you have any questions or would like to share videos of photos with me that is the
platform that has been working the best thank you for watching i'll see everybody in the next video