This Router Bit is Insane! 

If you're not terrified the entire time you're routing or using a table saw, you're not paying enough attention

Dave I worked in a Manufacturing woodshop that had a shaper router table, that is what that helix bit would be used on, a shaper motor is a bit heavier to handle a bit that is about 3.5 to 4.5" tall and yes it scared the SH*T out of me when I had to use it(it once grabbed the peice and throw it across the room I went to the staff locker room to change my shorts)

Love the Norm Abram love this week. New Yankee Workshop is the reason I have the audacity to think of myself as a woodworker. Also the reason I tap my glasses and say “always wear these [tap tap] safety glasses,” whenever I’m about to do something dangerous. 😅

It shall be known as 'Excalibit' and great will be its deeds. I'm imagining that you're walking through the hardware store and there, suddenly, in front of you is a large boulder with this bit is embedded in it. You hear an ethereal voice saying, 'Whosoever shall pull this bit from the stone shall be King'. And the rest is history.

Comparing a router bit to a banana is the scary part!! 😅

Man... Even as a child I was fascinated by Norm Abram when the NYW was broadcast over here late at night. Same calm energy as Bob Ross, but with more dangerous equipment.

It's a planer blade attached on one side. Definitely deserving of one of those terrifying heavy machinery warning stickers that shows a stick figure with a bloody stump for a hand and blood and fingers flying away from it. Also, if you haven't already thought up your next old/cheap to fine woodworking idea, I think a good one would be to turn one of those cheap plastic Eveready/Rayovac flashlights that never work consistently into a superfine wood flashlight. It's a small thing, but could turn out pretty cool, especially if you make it a part of a set of things like a fine furniture road emergency kit.

Smart man to be afraid of that thing! It's basically a flesh eraser if used haphazardly.

I'm reading the other comments and a lot of people seem to be intimidated by this bit. I have used a good few routers, as well as planer/jointers and thicknessers at home and at my Menz Shed. I currently have a Triton TRA001B in my router cabinet, and Bosch 1600E handheld, and love them both. But my favourite tool is a HAFCO 10" thicknesser/planer with spiral head. It is so much quieter than tools with HSS blades. It makes nicer chips that don't clog the extractor, but best of all, the finish is amazing. Noticeably better than the 16" thicknesser we have at my Menz Shed, and that also has a spiral head. It can be annoying swapping between thicknesser and jointer functions, which takes about ten minutes, but that can be reduced with planning. Spiral heads with carbide inserts is definitely the way to go IME, and judging by what I just paid for this bit, they are getting more affordable.

I have a spiral bit on my box planer and it's SOOOO!!!! much better than straight knives. Always enjoy your videos. I always learn a lot. Thank you. The tile pattern will make a great side grain cutting board.

Respecting tools is super important. Not being cautious or a bit scared (😂BIT scared...) is when you get hurt. Power tools are no joke, specially these days. Safety 3rd! Love your style Dave! You might not like teaching in your videos but I still learn a lot! And that's a friggin sweet Norm portrait 🤘🏼

That is one intimidating bit! I can see why you have been trepidatious to use it. And yes… I like that you added that you remained focused, reassessed and continued every once in awhile. Sage advice! And that tiling app, great find! Really useful! Thank you

A healthy respect for spinning with sharp blades is key for any woodworker who wants to keep all their digits. Thanks for reviewing that beast of a router blade. I think the table top looks good, but I’ve got to admit that I’m a sucker for the artsy bowl set.

You're a much braver man than I am, David. I love the projects you demonstrated, but I would probably quit woodworking before handling those spinning blades of death. The jet engine sound alone is terrifying. 😂

Always love your stuff, David.

Dave, that's wild! Thanks for the heads up on the bit, it looks amazing!

You crack me up every time I watch your videos, great editing, humour and informative content…love it

Hahaha! Great video! I especially like seeing Norm in the back, getting sawdust flung at him.

Looks like a jointer replacement shaft. Lol. Them bowls are cool

Thats some great dust collection at your router table 😂

Very cool ideas love both ideas thanks for sharing

I’ve had my eye on one of these bits for a while. Thanks for the video!

A bit of great information on a great bit I wish I knew about this bit a bit earlier.😊

Damn! I can relate to your fear. That looks truly terrifying, but incredible useful when dealing with thick material. Thanks for the video!

Those bowls are so clean! Those would make great gifts.

The “cutters” are carbide inserts…or cutters, kinda interchangeable…but basically the same as I use on CNCs for metalwork at the shop I work at. I’ve never used them on wood though. I would think they’d last a really long time. Love your videos. And thanks for always putting out great ones!

This guy is fantastic!

Cool bit. Scary af though. Even cooler project you made with it

dude love trhis content but I gotta be real Norm and the New Yankee Workshop is absolutely legendary. I remember watching it as a kid and it was one of the reasons I got into wood working. Love the tribute area in the shop! Keep up the amazing content

Thank you!

Just fantastic filmmaking again. That slow pan from the TV blade guard scroll to the router bit had me smiling.

We use tungsten carbude inserts that look similar. Depending on how those are held in and indexed into the tool you could probably find different inserts to utilize for different types of grooves and designs for edge detail. Just a thought.

I totally thought for a sec you chucked that honk'n bit into your handheld router to hollow out the bowl. I was like, "but he just said he wouldn't... what is he doing?!".

This should be added to the Picciuto line of badass builds. The design and end product looks amazing.

That thing's a beast and less expensive than I had expected. Including the extra cutters is a nice touch.

"If you don't have a _______ use a _______." Is my favorite one liner.

That bit is a beast!!! I think I will pass on it. I think I'm too terrified of it. LOL. I love my router. One of my favorite tools. But man... routers are also the scariest of tools to me. I still enjoyed watching it in action. Great content. I love the little bowls and the table top.

Totally agree with your thoughts on the bit - I've always said my router is the scariest thing in my shop :)

I think it’s wise to be treat the router with a ton of respect like you do. I’ve had a few near-disasters with them (especially the little ones).

That thing is terrifying just to look at from home, let alone in person with my hands anywhere near it. You're a brave man!

Saw one of these bit in an arsenal for one of CNC mills during the engineering training programme. I knew how it works, now I have seen it in action.

omg… I want… THAT BIT! I FLIPPIN’ LOVE IT!

0:52 *in baseball announcer voice* "Oooooh, that one was just outside..." 😂

I use this bit in my Bosch 1617 to joint boards (among other things) on my router table. It's works so well that I sold my jointer. The 60mm cutting height is great for 8/4 stock. I agree this puppy is scary at 18k rpm.

that bit is so scary that if I were using it, I would have worn an apron made out of steel in case one of those carbide cutters flew off and, well, hit me in an area that I would not want to be hit in. Thanks for posting this.

"I don't know what I'm doin'" , my kinda woodworkin' !

I have a similar size Infinity bit and it scares the crap out of me also. I keep the fence as close to the bit as I can depending on the piece. I think it makes it safer and definitely helps with the dust collection.

I am with you on that one David & would never use a router bit like that, ever/never! 👍👍

Cool video. Awesome builds, gorgeous. Mahalo for sharing! : )

I just KNEW that the thumbnail was a photoshopped jointer head. 1 minute in and I had to stop it and go get the hubby to see the beast! Remember, bravery is doing a thing despite the fear. The rewards were great. The bowls are amazing! Love your work.

I have a spiral cutterhead from that company in my Dewalt planer. It's awesome and about 1/2 the price of the Byrd head.

I am definitely going to grab one of these bits! I love the fact you can turn the cutters to basically get 4 fresh flush trim bits out of it, and it comes with extra ones as well. However, I think their packages are kind of silly, since the bit takes 12 cutters, and you can pick a package with either 10 or 24 extras. Umm, maybe 12 or 24 extras? Just sayin!

Saw a bit like that one time at a briss. Moyle said it was his favorite, called it the pickle-duster. But what he had, that Dave didn't, is a fence with great extraction. Can you imagine what would be flying around had he not?

Absolutely terrifyingly awesome

Your video is very entertaining. You definitely have guts to put that bit in a router, even an inverted one. Smart to check it often to make sure it remains tight. If you can ever upgrade to a shaper that has router bit collets it’s much safer. One observation on your tabletop. It looked like you were using pine and walnut together. The difference in the density of the woods will probably cause a problem as the wood expands and contracts. In the future try using ash with the walnut. It gives similar tones as pine and has about the same density as walnut. I’ve done several projects over the years using these woods together and they still look great. Don’t mean to be critical just a helpful hint.😁

Great video. Use the different bearings by flipping your piece over periodically so that you are always doing a “downhill” cut with the grain & there will be less grabbing/fear. That is the whole point of this bit.

Saw the thumbnail and was terrified!

I needed to get rid of a cat-door cut in my 95 year old kitchen door. I used my CNC to cut two templates and I bought a router bit with a 3 inch cutting face. You're right, the bits are intimidating, so I had my general contractor do the work and the patch is flawless.

Your videos never fail. Love it man. I bet the ones from China are even scarier lol

I'm gonna say what I want! I totally agree, that's the finger deleter 5000 😂

whole new meaning to "committed to the bit"

"Say what you want!" I'd like to tell you I'm about 98% sure I was behind you in traffic the other day while listening to the Making It podcast and I really debated pulling up next to you woth the volume cranked way up 😂

I can't wait to hit the play button. This will be interesting to see. Typical HSS bits are not meant to go the speeds routers go. Inserts* (what Machinist call them)

I'm 45 seconds in, just gotta ask. Is that your Bob Barker mic? Always great seeing your videos! Also, I really dig that you make your own music. 👍

I'll stick with my Whiteside compression bit. It's not inexpensive, but if you do a lot of pattern routing, it is the way to go. With it, you don't have to worry about your grain direction.

Looks like the fancy cutter for a planer or jointer

I'd be terrified of that bit too, so you're not alone.

I thought the table saw was scary until my router table ripped a piece out of my hands and threw it into the garage door. That thing looks frightening, wouldn’t want to strip any threads holding those cutters. Glad you came out unscathed 😃

Dude, this is exactly what I need for a big-assed table I'm building soon--the base will have large, thick curved legs, and this cutter just solved my problem--how to template route them. Thanks!

I received mine today - i got it from spe tools .. customer service was really good and it didnt take much time to arrive ... It is not much different than template routing on a shaper - the shaper template bits look quite similar but even bigger 😂 ... What i think i will do is make custom push blocks with hand guards (incra have one made of plastic) and i will make something similar to the woodpeckers freehand guard which is plexi glass that extends beyond the bit .. that way if the bit catches and pulls the workpiece , the pushblock hits the plexi glass and cannot go anywhere near the bit

I bought one of those. Put it into the router table and turned it on. The sound was terrifying! I immediately turned it off, put it back into the tube it came in and put it away. Haven’t taken it out since.

That banana tho!🤣

Looks like a good tool for thicker stock. I would use it

I'm a full time fine furniture builder. The reason you are scared of this router bit is because you don't have the start pin on your table setup. You should never expect to safely shove an unsupported piece of wood into a spinning bit. Fence for straight cuts, start pin for free form. Hope this helps.

Awesome video as always. Dave a question : why a banana 😂.? A banana in a woodworking shop, I don't know, why did you use a teipe measures? 😅😅😅 . Mate remember , you have to get rid of that Ikea thing, where you have your record player,. Greetings.

I love seeing Norm. I'd be more worried about someone who isn't scared of that bit.

I am actually buying one, and probably it in my shaper once I get my Hammer C3 31 Comfort cleaned up.

Watching that bit spin reminded me of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon. Probably with the same results if it ever got loose.

we have a lot of them in the industry, even some big ones... scary as f at my last work place, i preferred the old style router they had, it was build big and heavy, in an table, with an over head running wheel and protection, it made it quite a lot more comfortable to work on

And I love your videos.

Fear just means you respect it. Gotta respect your tools to stay safe in the shop!

Okay so this is the middle of the night here. I doesn't watched this video yet . In fact I have not watched in years, so I don't know if the sand-in-the-place-where-you-live meme is still going on or not. BUT! I stumbled upon a Steve Ramsey video and I remembered that in an early-early Steve video you can hear in the background that song! Steve rocking your meme in the past where it doesn't even exist! It's the greatest accidental woodworking meme collaboration that ever happened surely. If my time allows someday I will search for that video :)

"Say what you will": I think that a healthy respect for unfamiliar tools is the mark of a careful craftsman!!

Norm literally taught me woodworking, and I was sad when NYW ended. I hope he is doing well and enjoying his retirement. As for that bit, the size is scary, but I think that the same size bit of conventional size would be just as dangerous - perhaps more so since, because of the cost, you might be tempted to use it when it's no longer as sharp as it should be.

That could have been a cool that a demon would have killed a person with in an opening scene of "Supernatural". The blood spatter the TV playing "The New Yankee Woodshop" would have been epic.

@4:50 it's a good thing you have dust collection cuz it looks like it creates a lot of dust/chips. 😂. But seriously, I can think of so many uses for this 'bit'.

I want to konw where you got the Norm holding the saw art. That is great. Thank you for your videos!

They are carbide insets. We use them a lot in machining. They are a great option for planers too.

Nice! Exercise bike today haha

That bit looks intense for sure.

Stunning work, Dave! Really beautiful pieces!!! 😃 But yeah, that router bit scared the heck out of me as well! 😬 Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

The Ron Jeremy of router bits.

It's a really cool and really scary bit. The only downside I see is the bearing seems to damage the template so eventually it will get smaller.

Like the video & the scary bit! Would you dust collection not be better placed to the right of the bit, where the majority of the debris flies off?

I only have 1 arm/leg function, and the router is a tool I'm most comfortable using. They do everything. A table saw is my "no go" tool. I mean, look at how many 2 arm/leg people get hurt using them. (Sadly, no one naked a good left blade track saw, so ripping sheet goods is a nightmare using just my one right arm.)

Looks like it might be great for those who use their routers as edge jointers.

That bit looks absolutely terrifying - I'm sure it produces a great result but damn.

When is the bowl plan going to be available on your website? What a great design.

That is impressive! I suppose looking at the size of it,its 1/2 inch shank only?

Great video. Miss Norm Abram.