Blue Tornado Router bits

[ScouseKev]

I knew it would open a can of worms but thats what i was told.

I can't say if he meant that wealdons make trend craft or they dont make their own cutters.
I asked if the quality of trend craft was comparable and was told they were the same cutters but branded as trend.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I knew it would open a can of worms but thats what i was told.

I can't say if he meant that wealdons make trend craft or they dont make their own cutters.
I asked if the quality of trend craft was comparable and was told they were the same cutters but branded as trend.

But they're not - or at least they didn't used to be: Wealden's range is far bigger than Trend's, but both have specialist cutters the others don't stock (for example the Trend "Routabout" ones, which are pretty weird things). And Wealden have had a third cutter in the middle of larger straights for ages, to assist in plunging cuts. And I don't think Trend do a 75mm tall 1/2" straight (see other thread!).

If they do now all come from the same place, I wouldn't mind that much. I have a few Trend ones, and generally they are good quality and last fairly well, especially the bigger ones. The carbide is OK too.

The big difference is price - Wealdons have always been very good value. Whenever I buy Trend, I go 'ouch'. You expect a premium for convenience, but it's usually much more than just that.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

I have several of the tornado router cutters. I have found them to be of good quality with very nice results.

David

 

[Wood Monkey]

I was given a set of these cutters as a gift a few years ago and they have been OK. I've also bought some better quality bits as I've required them.

The main difference I notice is that the better quality bits do exactly what I want them to do which is of course the reason I bought them. The up side to the Blue Tornado bits is that there is a range of bits that get occasional use simply because they are there. For example I made some Oak shelf supports recently for a friend and she asked if I could put a decorative edge on them so I cut a bunch of demo profiles from the BT bits and she chose one and was very happy. I'd have never gone out and purchased that particular bit...!

The quality has been OK. I can't really comment on the durability as they haven't been used frequently enough but they feel like they will give a reasonable service life.

The flip side is that 60% of the BT bits have never been used and maybe never will...!

Jon