neilyweely
Established Member
I am not sure if these have been covered already, so at the risk of repeating someone else I am going to give a quick appraisal of these bits.
I was fortunate enough to be given one of these bits, a Bormax 35mm, which certainly appeared to be far superior to the others I have. These 'others' came in a set of 12 or 14 for about the same price as one of the Famag bits. That said the truth is that for all bit the very softest soft woods my 'Titanium Nitride Covered Saw Tooth Pattern Forstner Bits' are useless. They burn their way through rather than drill or cut, and as a result I am always very reluctant to use them. Of course at £30 a go I will be somewhat reluctant to use the Famag too, but for drilling the hole for kitchen cabinet hinges I will be using this bit.
It is easy to center on to a mark, and makes progress through the wood at a rate of knots. There is very little tearout round the edges of the hole in ply and that which there is can easily be removed with a sharp chisel leaving a perfect hole. There didn't appear to be any deterioration of the cutting edge after ten holes. I should have asked the gentleman who gave me this bit more about sharpening it, but to be honest I didn't expect to be quite so impressed.
So, all in all a thorough recommendation of the Famag forstner bits.
This pic is of the bit and a hole cut in a piece of ply (actually oak engineered flooring). Probably not the best for a demo, but informative enough and certainly able to show the dramatic improvement over cheaper bits. The rate of cut is amazing. I am going to have to use a depth stop to avoid going through the doors!
I didn't have a piece of oak in my living room to test it on (I did have a piece of engineered oak and a pillar drill though!! The Mrs will love that when she gets home!) so the flooring had to do. Workshop is alarmed, locked etc etc and a pita to get to at the moment.
I was fortunate enough to be given one of these bits, a Bormax 35mm, which certainly appeared to be far superior to the others I have. These 'others' came in a set of 12 or 14 for about the same price as one of the Famag bits. That said the truth is that for all bit the very softest soft woods my 'Titanium Nitride Covered Saw Tooth Pattern Forstner Bits' are useless. They burn their way through rather than drill or cut, and as a result I am always very reluctant to use them. Of course at £30 a go I will be somewhat reluctant to use the Famag too, but for drilling the hole for kitchen cabinet hinges I will be using this bit.
It is easy to center on to a mark, and makes progress through the wood at a rate of knots. There is very little tearout round the edges of the hole in ply and that which there is can easily be removed with a sharp chisel leaving a perfect hole. There didn't appear to be any deterioration of the cutting edge after ten holes. I should have asked the gentleman who gave me this bit more about sharpening it, but to be honest I didn't expect to be quite so impressed.
So, all in all a thorough recommendation of the Famag forstner bits.
This pic is of the bit and a hole cut in a piece of ply (actually oak engineered flooring). Probably not the best for a demo, but informative enough and certainly able to show the dramatic improvement over cheaper bits. The rate of cut is amazing. I am going to have to use a depth stop to avoid going through the doors!
I didn't have a piece of oak in my living room to test it on (I did have a piece of engineered oak and a pillar drill though!! The Mrs will love that when she gets home!) so the flooring had to do. Workshop is alarmed, locked etc etc and a pita to get to at the moment.
