Routing: 3-wing vs. 4-wing slot cutter

[John Poole]

Can someone advise what the benefit and drawbacks are between a 3-wing and 4-wing slot cutter for a router?

I'm looking and making some box joints.

Does a 4 wing cutter cut cleaner and possibly last longer, but given its larger mass, does it require a heavy duty router.

Would a 3 wing be better for harder woods such as walnut?

Anyone have experience trying both in an apples to apples comparison?

[Chuck Isaacson]

I have no experience between the two, but the more cutters you add, the less that each one has to do. That would in turn increase the lifespan of the tool. I would think that it would leave a nicer cut as well. It is like adding teeth to a TS blade.

[David DeCristoforo]

More tips = more "cuts per minute" at any given RPM. Therefore a somewhat better cut could be anticipated although one extra tip is not likely to make a huge dif.

[Van Huskey]

David and Chuck have it correct.

More teeth equal more cuts per second so you at the same feed rate you should get a better finish to the cut wil the same quality and sharpness in the 2 bits. You could also use use a slightly faster feed rate with more cutters but you begin to loose the quality advantage and it would require more power from the router. The extra mass is rather small so that alone would not require enough more power to require a bigger router, the wood and feedrate would also come into play here but unless you were close to being underpowered with the 3 wing cutter a 4 wing cutter should be no problem. In general I like more cutters and ususally buy the bits with the most cutter faces as long as they are high quality. I have begun to buy the Freud quadra-cut bits when I need to buy one that Freud makes the profile in that series.

[Myk Rian]

How will you be using a slot cutter to make box joints? The reason I ask is that you will only have an inch or so height.
I use my Incra jig and a straight bit to make them.