Router: climb cut example

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As I did a trial induction, I thought this might be useful for anyone new to routing. This is a real world example of when a climb cut was the best option. I didn’t expect to have any issues with this edge as the grain appears not to oppose the cutter very much.The edge shown tore out on the first pass so I didn’t complete the cut ( using a bearing guided bit). You can see that the direction of rotation of the bit, when moving the router from left to right is going to be going against the grain on the edge of the board ( entirely dependent upon the characteristics of the wood) for some of the journey. So, seeing I was getting tear out I climb cut the sections of the edge to correspond with the grain direction, in relation to the edge. I still had a bit of tear out so I then made a complete climb cut pushing hard on the bearing. This compresses the wood on the edge and effectively allows a pass which removes a few thou and most of the tear out, hopefully. The bearing will leave a dent in the edge which requires a pass with a plane to remove. I got a result which was good enough to require minor touch up with 120 grit abrasive in a couple of areas where the tear out was still visible. It is a good example of when climb cutting is a good option and it reduced the tear out and it was safe to carry out with a hand held router, the photos are taken after I cleaned up the edge with 120 abrasive, the tear out is gone. This is an occasion when a scratch stock might have advantages over a router. The scratch stock can be used back and forwards, so it can be used sympathetically, according to the grain direction. I will make one as they are perfect for beading, thumb nails etc …
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Nice one!
And if you need some scratch stock stock there should be some half cut up saw blades for that very purpose, I’ll try dig one out next I’m in.

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Nice post! I’m making up a coffee table at the moment and this will come in handy for doing the edges.

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Thanks,
I was thinking, I say in the post I made a complete climb cut to finish. I think that what I actually did was to blend the climb cuts into the regular sections. When you make the regular cuts you have to be precise and not stray into the areas with opposing grain. The climb cuts give you a bit more leeway to blend into the areas which you cut in the regular direction. Basically as long as you take light cuts initially you give yourself the chance to see what you are dealing with and what you might do to mitigate any tear out.

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If you have any pictures of your table, I would like to take a look so I can borrow all your best ideas!

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So far just a top of a table!

I bought a lump of kiln dried ash from a woodyard in Sussex (https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/ - absolutely amazing collection of wood). I was just experimenting with a flattening router sled (the bit on the far right of the photo) to make it flat. This was just with a 1/4 inch router and a 1 inch router bit and took quite a long time - but with a 1/2 inch router you could put a 2 inch bit in and it would be quite quick I suspect.

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Very nice, that looks as though you achieved a good result. I am familiar with the timber yard you mentioned. If you are ever planning a trip in the future let me know and I would be happy to chip in for the petrol. I have seen some of their waney edge boards online they look fantastic. I do like a bit of ash myself, one of my favourite timbers. I imagine the price has gone up since the trees started dying, or maybe they have a glut of timber due to mass felling of infected trees. Obviously we humans are not the only species to suffer natural disasters. I am going to build a bench, that technique would work for flattening the top or a scaled down version would give the ability to thickness and plane on smaller stock, quickly. I like it.