Router table basics

#1

This is a pretty good video about router table basics by one of FWW's contributors Bob Van Dyke.

In one spot he talks about climb cutting and shows a piece that someone tried to climb cut that got thrown across the shop. That's a pretty good visual lesson in what can happen. I also liked how he said to keep the fence simple and I especially liked how he explained how to identify which is the correct feed direction. I hate the diagrams that I see people post because they only apply to either a router in normal position or an inverted router and one is the exact opposite of the other. It also changes if you use a horizontally mounted router and you are routing over the bit or under the bit.

As Bob points out, the simplest method for telling which is the correct feed direction is from the direction that faces the flat side of the cutter on the bit. If you do that it doesn't matter what the router's orientation is. If you feed from the bevel side of the cutter you are climb cutting.