Pro/Trade/Craft router cutters.

[lagermonkey]

I guess what i want to know is if people have tried the same cutter in different quality bands. And if you have what differences have you noticed?
To make myself clearer for eg. trend do a 12.7mm diameter two flute TCT straight cutter in pro version Trade version and craft pro flavour. I want to know how these price bands transfer to the wood finish and cutter life span without having to spend a crap load of money on 3 identical cutters.

Also I must apologise for the incredibly boring question but if you want to know something you have to ask.

 

[Digit]

In my experience the difference is in the life of the cutter, in that respect what ever the cut quality, it will remain so longer.

Roy.

 

[paulm]

I have no specific knowledge of this but would guess the difference is in the amount of carbide, the more expensive ones having potential for more resharpenings, and possibly the quality of the carbide as well.

So would suspect as Roy says you wouldn't really notice a difference in performance from new, only after some useage.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[iajon69]

As already mentioned the main difference is the quality of the carbide used in the manufacture of the cutters.
It depends on what you are using the cutters for but talking to kitchen fitters who bring their cutters in for sharpening, many of them have had a bad experience of the craft range on kitchen worktops - the trade and pro range are highly thought of though. The most popular cutters used by the kitchen fitters that we deal with are Titman, Trend (trade and pro) and then Freud.

All of the cutters can be sharpened quite a few times.

Ian

 

[BradNaylor]

I'll pften pick up one of the 'Craft' cutters from B&Q if I just need it for a particular job and it's going to sit in the rack for the next few years afterwards. I might even go for one of the B&Q own brand cutters - I reckon they're the same!

For regularly used cutters however, I would always go for the premier quality ones. They cut better, last longer, and can be sharpened more.

I like Wealden Tools. Good quality, cheap prices, and almost perfect service!
http://www.wealdentool.com/

Cheers
Dan

 

[lagermonkey]

Thanks for all your thoughts.

Paul&Ian Thanks for the info on the quality and amount of carbide.


Dan I think you are right that it is worth spending a more on the cutters that you are going to use a lot.

I did on the other hand buy a set of really cheap cutters the other day as it had one cutter in that was the size I needed. I suppose it did the job. I do now have a box of interesting shaped blunt paper weights if anyone is interested. Free to a good home.

 

[Limpet]

At the school where I work we have a Boxford CNC router. Some of the bits that were supplied with it were made by Trend and all of these were of the Pro variety. These all had plenty of use and of course were intermittently broken but to be fair this was usually when machining acrylic sheet.
The other week we needed another bit in a hurry and we nipped to B&Q and picked one ( 1/8th dia ). This tool was a Trend standard/hobby type.
Unfortunately this tool broke the first time we used it, on MDF.

Coincidence? Possibly but I thought I`d post it for information.

 

[Paul Chapman]

The other week we needed another bit in a hurry and we nipped to B&Q and picked one ( 1/8th dia ). This tool was a Trend standard/hobby type.
Unfortunately this tool broke the first time we used it, on MDF.

The same thing happened to me when I bought a narrow Trend DIY range cutter - broke first time and I was taking a very shallow cut. Nowhere near as good as their pro range in my experience.

Cheers :wink:

Paul