today I'm answering a subscribers question by reviewing the best routing direction for
both inside and outside edges for those of you that are new to the channel if you've
missed the first two basic router videos I'll leave a link below so you can check those out
as a review router spin their bits clockwise therefore the best direction to feed the router
is against the bits rotation or counterclockwise around the workpiece this type of cut is what's
called a push cut and it's counter clockwise feed direction is by far the safest contrary to that
if you feed the router in the same direction as the bits rotation which is known as a climb cut
the router is less stable and of course not as safe now this counterclockwise feed direction
only works when you're routing outside edges no matter how I spin this board or where I start
from the direction always stays the same but it gets a bit confusing when you go from routing
just outside edges to routing inside edges as well if you look at this frame you can see that
it has both inside and outside edges you can correctly assume that the outside edges would
indeed be routed in a counterclockwise direction but if you were to feed the router in the same
direction on the inside edge you would mistakenly be making a climb cut without even knowing it to
better see this let's look at the bit rotation again with a bit rotating clockwise and against
the outside edge the bit naturally wants to pull the router to the left or clockwise therefore to
make a push cut we already established that the feed direction for an outside edge needs to be
counterclockwise but as soon as we jump over to the inside edge that same clockwise rotation now
wants to pull the bit to the right or counter clockwise so that tells us that when routing
inside edges the direction of feed has to change from counter clockwise to a clockwise direction
to make the same push cut ultimately taking this extra time to think about the feed direction will
definitely help you maintain better control over your router at this point you might be wondering
what would happen if I made a climb cut what would I experience and before I answer that let's take a
few more minutes to talk about each cut and why some people actually prefer the climb cut often
time those who prefer clam cuts or experienced woodworkers guys and gals who really know their
routers plus they understand fully when and where to use that type of cut and for the most part they
decide to make this cut simply because that feed direction produces a cleaner cut and here's why
if we look back at our frame you can see that the grain on this board is running in this direction
if we reintroduce a spinning bit in a counter clockwise feed direction the bit has a potential
to lift the grain or pull it out creating tear out or worse chipping but if we feed in the direction
of a climb cut the bit now actually compresses the wood fibres inward creating a better chance for a
cleaner cut and now you know why some people prefer the climb cut over the push cut again
there are so many variables to consider before deciding to make a climb cut like the type of
wood the grain direction the type of bit in the milling operation itself and that's something we
need to talk about in future videos ok so back to the question if you were to make a climb cut
what might you experience you would most likely experience the router actually pulling its way
through the wood this time unlike when you made the push cut we were actually had to push it a
bit in some cases the router could pull itself out of your hands especially if you weren't prepared
to make a climb cut you might also experience a wavier jumpy cut oftentimes the router climbs
creating these small waves in the profile of the cut however these wavy cuts can easily be cleaned
up by simply making a shallow push cut as a final pass and lastly you might experience a different
sound coming from the router itself as it is now cutting differently through the grain bottom line
push cuts are the safest way to feed the router and for the most part they make some really clean
cuts so hopefully now that we've walked through that you're able to better understand the feeding
direction for both inside and outside edges thanks for watching thanks for hanging out in supporting
training hands Academy if you have any questions leave them below and if you like me to make you a
video on any topic about carpentry leave me a comment below thanks for watching bye bye