Panel Raising over or under

[nathandavies]

looking at whitehill panel raising blocks, I've always thought of using cutters from the underside, but looking at these you can go for above or below, what do people prefer?

nathan

 

[Jacob]

Under, as a rule. If the cutter is over then any error caused by a bit of chipping, or a shaky hand, or a bend in the wood, will lift the workpiece towards the cutter and show as a cut mark too deep.
Vice versa and errors lift the workpiece away and show as an undercut, which can be remedied - either by passing over again, or by hand, on the bench.
Depends what you are doing of course, sometimes you have no choice.

 

[doctor Bob]

i tend to go cutter over / board underneath on panel raiser due to the size of some of the cutters, makes diameter up to 280mm which done fit in the hole.
Some panel raisers are tiddles though.

 

[custard]

Cutter under...and a power feed on top!