Forstner Storage Examples

[Eric Brown]

Thought I would share some pictures showing various Forstner storage. The first picture shows an original set of Forstner, Sharp & Co. bits (1874 patent) in the cardboard container. The next set of pictures shows a craftsman made wooden box holding BGI Forstners (1874 & 1886 patents). Special features include a tapered opening box. At the cutter end are strips bored to restrain the cutters. The other end has stop blocks limiting motion. On the right side is an additional spring loaded plate. Pulling this plate down exposes the square tapers and allows lifting the ends up and out. The last picture is a common modern drill press set from China.


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Please post other solutions.

[Mike Henderson]

Very interesting. I like the design of that older box. A lot of thought and effort went into designing and producing that one.

Mike

[Steve Branam]

Oh, now you've done it! I gotta get me one of them there square-shank Forstner sets! Ought to beat the heck out of an expansive bit.

[Jim Neeley]

Eric,

The curved member under the right side plate on the BGI set makes it look like the compartment was designed for specific storage. Any idea as to what thay may have been?

Thanks for posting pictures of your collection!

Jim

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I think the curved thing you're seeing is just the leaf spring that pushes that plate back up to secure the bits.

[Eric Brown]

Joshua, you are correct about the BGI set. On the bottom of the right side is a spring. I think this case went through several changes. If you look on the left side there are extra slots, like maybe he (she?) was going to alternate bits, but they wouldn't all fit. Maybe those slots were for something else. On the right side, it looks like there was a board that went straight across, but the bits were different lengths. Maybe some of the bits were replaced. but all of them are marked the same. An interesting feature is the replacement board that zig-zags. Look closely and you will see they actually filled the inside corners with radiused fillers.

Eric