: Charlie's post has me wondering what the consensus is on feed direction
: vs. bit rotation.

Les,

Consensus? On this board? Surely you joke. With a fairly sharp bit with 1 1/2" cutting diameter and fairly good cedar, problems with splitting should be quite rare. Unless your bits aren't sharp, I'd suspect it's the wood. I've cut with moisture content as low as 10% and as high as 18% with no splitting. Sawing on a bandsaw, I've found, works better if the moisture level is below 15%. Cutting with the bit rotation is normally avoided because of the hazard of it catching and firing the stick like an arrow. It can send one right through a wall or a person, so it's nothing to take lightly. On the other hand, many people do this and apparently have no problems.

Al