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Rebuilding from Hurricane and getting to use many of the new tools and these bits are well within the five star range for my money. Good buy. You may pay a little more for the name, but the quality is there. First time working with the bits today and well satisfied, as usual, with the Freud products. Very sharp and smooth.
Wish I could afford some larger ones in carbide.3"-31/2" would be nice for clock making. I chucked up the 3/8 bit to bore some holes for decorative plugs and noticed that the bit was not cutting a very clean hole, seemed like I had to apply too much pressure also. Still recommend Freud blades and cutters. Put the 3/8 back in the drill press and tried again.
I recieved this set as a gift and even though I already have these size's I was pretty excited to get a set of carbide bits. I rated it 4 stars because of the sharpening problem. I love Freud cutters and saw blades. They are usually ready to go out of the box. I pulled it out of the drill press and upon examining the cutting edge, I noticed it did not have that bright, shiney edge you normally associate with a sharp tool. So $30 and an hour later I was on my way home with sharp bits.
These are the first Freud cutter's I have had that were'nt sharp out of the box, so I won't let it influence my love of Freud blades and cutters in the future. This time the results were what I had hoped for.The bit cut thru the Padauk very nicely and left a nice clean hole. Cutting the last hole was as easy as cutting the first. I do think my HSS set does a little better job in soft wood and plywood, but it is a close call. I examined the rest of the bits and they looked the same. I have noticed no wobble in any of the bits and other than the sharpening problem have had no trouble with this set. I have a set of Freud HSS Forstner bits, and they are very good.
I cut another 19 holes and each was excellent. Their opinion was that the bits were very dull, looked like the last two steps in sharpening them had been overlooked. I work with a lot of hardwoods and you have to be careful about the pressure you use with HSS bits, so you don't burn your workpiece or overheat your bit. So I carried them down to the local saw shop where I get all my blades and cutters sharpened and ask them to take a look at the bits.
If I had to choose between the Freud carbide set and the Freud steel set, I would probably go with the steel, because it has 9 more bits. The steel bit seems to work just as well as the carbide bits. Instead I went with the 1-1/4" Freud steel forstner bit.
I have had very good results working with soft woods on my small drill press. The only problem I have with this set is that it is missing several handy sizes such as 7/8", 1-1/8" & 1-1/4". I have been using the bits for several months.
I tried to purchase the Freud 1-1/4" carbide bit on Amazon, but they appear to no longer stock them. Buying forstner bits individually can get very expensive. The bits are very straight compared to the junky Irwin bits I got at Home Depot.
The carbide bits are very sharp and cut a very true hole.
It had to be exchanged due toseveral chips in the carbide cutting edges. The surface of the workpiece had burrs where the bit first made contact and the interior of the hole showed a torn surface on the end grain side as opposed to a smooth cut.
My twenty year old hand sharpened steel bits produced better results. Overall the quality of the grinding on the carbide cutting tips and the body of the bit was uneven and poorly finished.
This is my second experience with Freud cutting tools. This forstner bit set produced disappointing results for the money.
For the money I expected more and returned these bits. The first was their 8 inch super dado set.
The replacement has performed adequately.
The carbide edges offer much longer life between sharpenings. Especially usefull for cutting shallow or flat bottom mortises, partial circles laid over the edge of your stock, and holes drilled at an angle to the surface. Also the 1 3/8" size is perfect for european cup hinges. This set is worth the money for anyone serious about woodworking. These bits offer the most controlled cutting available when used with a drill press.
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