Forstner drills

Aldi have a tempting offer on them, but I cant think of much use for them. what do you use yours for?

NT

Reply to
meow2222
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what do you use yours for?

Today I used a forstner bit to drill a counterbore to fit some allen cap screws into a slab of wood. Always do the counterbore first and then us a lip and spur bit to completer the hole. Trying to counterbore an existing hole will not work as the tip of the forstner has nothing to bite into.

Check the quality of cheap bits - many are cr4p and do not hold an edge, then they burn and loose their temper.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

I have one I?ve used for cutting hinge holes in kitchen cabinet doors and another that does the right size for cam locks for the same. Not frequent uses, but if you need to modify such a cabinet they are ideal (unless you have the relevant router+ bits). But you need to make sure that the Aldi ones include the right sizes.

Reply to
Jon Fairbairn

Good point, thank you. For everything else it seems an auger is a better be= t.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Good point, thank you. For everything else it seems an auger is a better be= t.

NT

But I don't have a dril press, so I don't think 26 & 35mm forstners would b= e usable. Ah well.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

I bet they're not Forstners, but sawtooth bits. These are similar, but they're better at going into end grain, although at the cost of not such a smooth hole and not being able to drill near-semicircles in the edge of a board.

IMHE, cheap Forstner/sawtooth bits are worthwhile, but very badly sharpened. Some work with a small diamond hone is well worth it.

Their downside is that they don't clear chips, past their own depth. Big ones are OK as you can vacuum, but small Forstners are a pain.

I use mine a lot (Sawtooth and forstner). Pretty much any large hole in timber where I want a clean edge. I use augers for small stuff, up to about an inch, if I don't care about surface quality.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

usable. Ah well.

Then no Forstner is usable.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

usable. Ah well.

Has anyone tried predrilling a pilot hole 2/3 the width of the central point, then using them without drill press? I'll probably stick to augers.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

usable. Ah well.

Indeed. Sorry I forgot to mention that. Forstners are much better for blind holes than augur bits; multi-angle drills can do clean blind holes with a hand drill, but it?s difficult to keep them perfectly straight.

Reply to
Jon Fairbairn

They are quite popular for clearing out the bulk of a mortice in a drill press.

For cabinet doors, you need to watch the size of the point. One of the cheap hinge bits I bought had such a huge great point on the end that it would have been through the face of the door long before the hole was hinge deep!

Reply to
John Rumm

be usable. Ah well.

then using them without drill press? I'll probably stick to augers.

I've got a cabinet hinge borer bit like this

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I have used freehand a few times on the end of my electric drill. You've really got to go for it with complete confidence and know how the drilled material is going to react. One problem with the auger (apart from the pointy bit at the end) is that it can grab the material and drag itself through way deeper than you intend unless it is firmly under control - something you can do with a pillar drill but not freehand. Well, I can't anyway.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Odell

be usable. Ah well.

then using them without drill press? I'll probably stick to augers.

I ended up getting them, 6 bits with 25&35mm. Definitely need a sharpen.

When a round twit is found I'll try them with pilot holes

NT

Reply to
meow2222

You need the central point to locate the initial drilling.

Once you have the full diameter started, you can easily freehand a Forstner, but you do need that initial start.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

but you do need that initial start.

If you use a large Forstner bit to drill say, halfway through a piece of say wood,/chipboard/ply/MDF, is the resultant centre indentation sufficiently small to accurately locate a smaller Forstner so as to keep their holes concentric?

Reply to
Frank Erskine

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