# Down cut spiral bit correct?



## Mark Mayo (Jan 27, 2011)

I just finished routing rectangular mortises for drawer pulls and the drawer fronts. I used a template I made and all went well. I used a downcut to get the best top edge and it did that. I found I had to stop very often to vacuum out the recess. Could I have down the same with an upcut? Would the edge be worse? How much?


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## jschaben (Jun 21, 2009)

Mark Mayo said:


> I just finished routing rectangular mortises for drawer pulls and the drawer fronts. I used a template I made and all went well. I used a downcut to get the best top edge and it did that. I found I had to stop very often to vacuum out the recess. Could I have down the same with an upcut? Would the edge be worse? How much?


Hi Mark. Yeah, those downcuts sure pack the chips in. I use one for shelf pin holes and sometime have to dig down there with a pick to loosen them up enough to vacuum.
Yes, you certainly could have done the job with an upcut. How much worse is the edge? Tearout is kinda subjective.. One person won't even notice a couple of splinters and the next considers it firewood:sarcastic:.
You could control it somewhat by scribing the cut line. If you were using a pattern bit with your template, just run a box cutter around the inside edge of the template to get your cut line. A somewhat pricier solution is to go with a compression bit, sort of an up/down cut. The first little section of the bit has down spirals and the rest is up spiral. Check this link:
MLCS solid carbide router bits


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Mark

" Would the edge be worse? How much? " yes,,, with the upcut bit..it's best to use a down cut bit on template work, it gives the bit something to push on and any time you lift wood up it will chip out plus by using the down cut bit it will pack the chips in the slot and help hold the part in place ,on the last pass around, flip on the vac.and the chips will come right out..

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Mark Mayo said:


> I just finished routing rectangular mortises for drawer pulls and the drawer fronts. I used a template I made and all went well. I used a downcut to get the best top edge and it did that. I found I had to stop very often to vacuum out the recess. Could I have down the same with an upcut? Would the edge be worse? How much?


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## dbdupes (Jan 29, 2011)

Mark,
Something I've done before with templates on hardwoods is to make a shallow 1st cut about an 1/8" deep or so with a downcut bit to set the cut line at the top without splintering. Then change to an upcut bit to go deeper without packing in the chips.


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## Mark Mayo (Jan 27, 2011)

Thanks to all. I agree and tried a very shallow first cut. I did this mostly to see that I had not screwed up (I did not). Then each cut was about another 1/16 - 1/8. The cut looked great and I will vacuum each pass.


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