of thumb so extend the thumb and index finger on your right hand and with your palm facing downward touch your thumb on the edge that you wish to route your finger will point in the direction of a proper push cut while using a handheld router that's the direction you should almost always work in i say almost because there are times when you may want to relinquish a little bit of control by making a climb cut if it will help you avoid tear-up tarot can happen if the wood grain slopes toward the edge of a work piece and against the rotation of the bits cutters in cases like that the cutters may want to lever up the wood fibers and that will leave a regular splintered edge one way to prevent this is to reverse your feed direction so the cutters will engage the wood in a downward motion instead of levering them away in this situation with the grain running against you a climb cut will produce better results as i explained climb cutting feed directions may allow the bit to gain some traction and pull the router motor in the direction that you're feeding it so it requires a firm grip and a light cut perhaps performing your profile in two or three passes rather than just one in fact you might even form most of the profile in the push cutting direction against the grain then take a final pass in the climb cutting direction finishing your profile shape and cleaning up any tear out climb cutting is especially useful when routing a curve because the grain will often change direction at the apex of that curve so you may be getting a nice clean cut with the grain to start out but you find yourself going against the grain and getting tear out as you complete your curve to avoid this you might start at the center of the curve make a climb cut along one half and then a push cut along the other half depending on the direction of the grain climb cutting can actually help you maintain control when you're routing into an open area such as when you're cutting large shallow mortises and inlays in that case a push cut will allow the bit to wander and you may have difficulty keeping it on the right side of your layout line while a climb cut will pull the router forward it may also help you control its path more easily in these open spaces you might experiment on a scrap of wood to get a feel for how the router will react before starting on your good work piece as a rule push cut whenever possible and climb cut only when you must and only with a handheld router everything i'm seeing here including which direction is considered a climb cut and which is a push cut only applies to a handheld router not to the router table at a router table the directions all change because the bit is turned upside down and it can be difficult to safely hold a work piece in a climb cutting situation at the router table if the bit gains too much traction a router table can pull your hands with the work piece into the cutter whereas with a handheld router you're holding onto the machine instead of the wood i'm not saying you can't get hurt with a handheld rotor i'm just saying climb cutting is much more dangerous at the router table i hope this lesson helps you use your router safely and get the best results from it i really recommend saving this video for future reference because this can be a confusing subject see you next time castle doesn't just make pocket hole jigs they make pocket hole joinery machines the internal router cuts a cleaner pocket than any drill bit
START_SPONSOR_TOKEN just make pocket hole jigs they make pocket hole joinery machines the internal router cuts a cleaner pocket than any drill bit END_SPONSOR_TOKEN