Router Bits

[jim12345]

Evening Gents,

Can i get some decent recommendation for router bits?

They're mainly being used for just cutting kitchen worktops at the moment. The ones i've had are, to be fair, useless and are only good for cutting a couple of worktops until they lose their bite. I bought a longer trend cutter (green) but i've not really had much out of that one either. I was looking at some freud ones earlier on today but thought i'd ask here for a bit of advice before i hand over my hard earned cash.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Argee]

Wealden cutters are extremely good, IME. Their site is here. They offer an excellent mail-order service.

Ray

 

[TheTiddles]

If they are on offer, CMT are great too, they are pricey but sometimes you get the most phenomenal deals at Axminster. I paid less than £100 for a set worth over £300

Aidan

 

[Max Power]

Worktops are very abrasive on router bits. Even the better bits will start to lose their edge after doing a few joints

 

[Eric The Viking]

Wealden cutters are extremely good, IME. Their site is here. They offer an excellent mail-order service.

Ray

Ditto.

I should get two Wealden cutters in the post tomorrow morning: a worktop cutter (TXL1412.7M, which has 75mm depth!) and a 6-wing surface trimmer (T6150-1/2), the latter as an experiment.

The tall cutter is borderline too long to plunge in the Trend (it theoretically has 80mm), but it will make an excellent improvised planer in my router table. It's a tried and tested method: you can either offset the two fences slightly, or pack the out-feed side with a strip of laminate. Line the edge of the cutter up with the outfeed surface, and voila! Improvised planer. I've got a new Axminster table, and it's very easy to offset the fences by a precise amount. I've got some nice results so far, probably making finish hand-planing unnecessary.

Their straight cutters (over 9mm) have a third blade across the end, meaning plunge rebate and mortice cuts are really clean. I already have a 15mm one of these, bought for a specific job, and it's been superb. It was initially used as an ultra-clean-finish drill into laminated chipboard (don't ask!), and it worked brilliantly. I now use it as a general-purpose rebater and plunge cutter.

I've also got really good results with Freud straight worktop cutters- before Wealden they were my favourite for general rebating etc. in the router table. They aren't that much more expensive than the 'no-name' brands, but the carbide is great, they come with a really good edge and seem to last well in most jobs (better than Trend's green 'hobbyist' series), and can be hand-honed fairly well. Toolstation had them on offer recently, but they're cutting back dramatically on the range they carry, and I can't find them singly, only in sets.

(edit) Found them! #10744 (12.7 x 63.5mm) is £22.37, worse than I thought, and they only have three in the warehouse. #47453 is 12.7 x 50.8mm and a more reasonable £17.94.

I've had one that I think was faulty though. It's developed cracks at the back of the blades. I think they're brazed in place and it's this that seems to have cracked. When I get a moment it's going back to Freud UK (lifetime warranty, supposedly), as I think it may be a bit dangerous. We'll see what they say.

I rate their mitre saw blades too. I've fitted them to a couple of Elu/DeWalt 701s and the results are outstanding.

HTH,

E.

 

[cutting solutions]

The BEST Router cutters made in UK are available from Titman. I have been selling them for over 25 years without problems.
More exepnsive but you pays your money and gets your choice.

BTW....make sure to ask for a little :wink: discount on the list price.

 

[jasonB]

If you are regularly doing worktops then get one of the replacable tip cutters, works out at about £5 per new cutting edge. I use the versofix from Wealden

Jason

 

[cutting solutions]

If you are regularly doing worktops then get one of the replacable tip cutters, works out at about £5 per new cutting edge. I use the versofix from Wealden

Jason

Jason
I agree with using the disposable knife system.
You get a harder grade of carbide, which cant be brazed onto the base metal and constant diameter when replacing the knives (sharpening reduces the diameter on TCT cutter)
Is 50 mm long enough for some works tops?
Though at 5.00 per edge they are very expensive.....how about 2.70 per edge for essentially the same knife?

 

[Eric The Viking]

Disposables are not worth it for me as my usage is too infrequent, but I found the saw doctor thing advice very helpful (will contact the Glastonbury chap). I find the cheap cutters, that you can fettle don't hold an edge, and the expensive ones, that are worth doing, are too tough to hone easily!

Regarding tool balance, I hone either side for several strokes, then repeat - it takes ages, but it does keep things sharp if it's done carefully. It also makes me look at the cutters with a decent lens - I found the cracks in that Freud bit that way, and have spotted chips and latent damage in others before they've become a nuisance. I also always check for vibration afterwards, but I'm rarely doing it to big complex cutters - I don't really have any!

I use carb cleaner to get the crud off. It works a treat, but it's probably doing something horrible to them - it certainly does to me if I breathe it in! Bearings never go near it though.

 

[jeffinfrance]

give doug a call at cutting solutions.

i know this isn't really the place for selling products but he is patient, knowledgable (is that a word....he knows his stuff) and helpful.

i'm currently eagerly awaiting the arrival my new cutter head and made to measure tct knives. he stopped me wasting loads of time and money.

jeff

 

[jasonB]

Is 50 mm long enough for some works tops?

They won't handle the trendy 60mm worktops. You either need to do say 40mm with the standard 50mm long bit then use a bearing guided trimmer against the top edge. Or its back to brazed cutters with the long cutting edges, think Wealden ones have a 75mm cutting edge which is long enough to take jig thickness into account.

Will be in touch next time I need a box of blades, assume they fit the same holder.

Jason

 

[cutting solutions]

Will be in touch next time I need a box of blades, assume they fit the same holder.

Jason

Yes they are made by another manufacturer. Not Titanium plated but will last almost as long but at nearly half price are good value.