Whiteside Router Bits No Longer Made In The USA...Sort Of

I don't recall when I last saw Made in the USA on the Whiteside website, but it's not there anymore.

I needed a forstner bit so I called a specialty lumber yard that I frequent and spoke to the owner. She said that she only carried Amana. She said she used to carry other brands but they were getting more and more expensive so she decided to stick with Amana for the time being. She added "It's too bad that Whiteside doesn't make forstner bits. I carry their router bits and I could probably get a good deal on forstner bits if they made them."

So off to the her store I go and we continued the conversation about Whiteside. She says "Do you know that they can't say "Made in in the USA" anymore? Apparently they source their bearings from overseas so the FTC won't let them use the Made in the USA statement anymore.

I did a little Googling and found an article related to a letter that the FTC sent to Whiteside's attorneys.

Be nice if the FTC had said what exactly they were upset about.

I would not be surprised if the, Made in America, was dropped for political correctness reasons.

Some things are worth saying twice, I guess. ;~)

Sounds like the bearings. I guess they can't just make a blanket "Make America Better" but it would seem that they could on individual bits (those without bearings).

Although Whiteside bits are sturdy but they are more than expensive compered to the others.

Please define "the others".

Please define "more expensive". Are you talking about price only or are you talking about what you get for your money? Quality, longevity, etc.

Indeed. Are they more expensive than Amana? Are they better than MLCS? Will they last longer than Craftsman? What's the quality/cost/life multiplier?

BTW, I don't find most Whiteside bits to be all that expensive, in their class (very subjective, I know). Some are out there ("Ultimate Trim/Pattern Bits") but for the most part they're reasonable for the top shelf.