Forstner or Sawtooth?

[Routermonster]

Hi All

I need to buy a 38 mm Forstner bit. I know that there's a big choice out there, but I'll probably end up buying from A*******r. I know that they also sell sawtooth bits, but I have never used one. Do they work the sama as a Forstner bit? Are they any better?

Thanks for your help.

Les

 

[Rich]

Rutlands appear to be doing a good deal at the moment for sawtooth, 35 of them IIRC, I don't think there's much difference other than drill speeds.

Rich.

 

[Waka]

Les

The immediate difference I can see between the Forstner and the sawtooth is the price. Rich is right Rutlands seem to be doing a good deal on Sawtooth sets at the moment.

I would personally go for the Forstner myself.

 

[JonnyD]

A decent quality sawtooth bit cuts very well better than any forstner bit i've tried. I have some from trend and clico which are very good.

jon

 

[DaveL]

I maybe wrong but I thought that the saw tooth was better when drilling end grain? :-k

I have a few of the cheap carbide tipped forstner type bits, they work really well when drilling hard wood, I have not tried them on end grain. :-s

 

[OPJ]

I've always been happy with the Axminster and Silverline-branded Forstner bits. I did buy a saw tooth cutter from Wealden a while back and they do bore a very clean, tidy hole. They also make a bit of a squeal as you retract the bit :shock: (Wear ear defenders!) :wink:

The one I bought was a lot longer than the average forstner - I guess that follows on from DaveL's comment with regards to drilling end-grain, presumably in a lathe.