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 In Shop Blog, Tricks of the Trade

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I learned this in engineering school and soon found out it worked for my router. It is called the “right-hand thumb rule.”

When trying to remember which way your router bit is spinning so you can feed the wood in the correct direction, you can use the right-hand thumb rule.

Pretend your right hand is a router and your thumb is the router bit. If you are holding the router with your hands and the bit is pointing down to the floor, then hold your hand in front of you with your thumb pointing to the floor. Then curl your fingers. That’s the direction your router bit is spinning.

If you are using a router table, hold your hand with your thumb pointing to the sky. Curl your fingers, and that’s the direction your router bit is spinning.

That way you will never get confused again and always know the correct feed direction.

And it works for almost anything that spins: faucets, screws (regular thread), changing a tire (if you want to know which way to tighten or loosen the nuts) etc.



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  • Tom Pongetti

    I get the router bit explanation. I don’t get the lug nut or any thread explanation though. Is your thumb supposed to be the exposed thread of a lug nut? If it is, then your fingers would’ve loosening. How about a faucet, what is your thumb supposed to be?

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