Thread: Winning tip - the RH thumb tip

Two of my three routers have an arrow showing the direction of bit rotation moulded into the metal of the router base/plate. Handy for hand-held use, but not too practcal for the table-mounted variety. But, then again, why? Rotation of the bit is always clockwise looking down at your work, over the router, i.e. the electric motor in the router spins teh shaft and bit clockwise.

But the earlier confusion is not about rotation so much as contact between the bit and the wood and teh feed direction.

Hold your righthand fist palm-down and extend your index finger and thumb. They form a right angle - the thumb indicates contact between bit and wood and the index finger the feed-direction.

But, oh dear! What about timbers with knurly grain where you need to climb-cut and reverse the feed...but that's another story.