# What causes scorching?



## LitchfieldHills (Dec 19, 2011)

Absolute newbie (to routing) here. Received a router for my birthday, and as a first small project, made a screwdriver holder out of scraps I had from other projects. Figured I could learn a little about my new tool, and clean up my workbench at the same time. I ended up with some scorching on the pieces I was routing (edge decoration, one piece with cove, another with ogee). Especially the end grain on a piece of poplar. 

All of my bits are brand new, never used before. What causes scorching? Is it pace (too slow or fast)? After the first bit of scorching, I started making the cut in multiple passes that did seem to reduce things a bit.

Thanks in advance....


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

Hi Tim. Welcome to our little corner of the 'net.

Normally scorching or burning is caused by to slow of a feed rate. Or, as you found on in your last paragraph, too big a bite.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Tim, several things can cause scorching. Many times it can be a dull bit or one that has a build up of wood sap/resin. In your case it is most likely speed. This can be moving the router too slowly or the bit speed being too fast for the type of wood. Experiment a bit and you will get it right.


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## LitchfieldHills (Dec 19, 2011)

So in this case, going super slow to be careful actually works against me. Thanks for the advice.


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## jschaben (Jun 21, 2009)

LitchfieldHills said:


> So in this case, going super slow to be careful actually works against me. Thanks for the advice.


Hi Tim - Welcome to the forum
Well, in a word, yes. But, going slow to be careful isn't necessarilly a bad thing either. What you can also do is slow the bit speed to match your feed pace to also reduce the burning. I do that quite a bit routing signs as I'm always slowing and stopping to make corners and such.


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