Freud Precision Shear Forstner bits

[Glenn de Souza]

Hi,
Has anyone had any experience with the Freud Precision Shear Forstner bits?

I'm guessing these are a new and improved bit over the regular Freud Diablos. They are made in Austria. The improvement seems to be serrated edges plus some other changes to the bit geometry. A 16 bit set going from 1/4" up to 2 1/8" diameter seems to run about $225. The regular Diablos are around $170 for the same set. Lee Valley's answer is over $300.

The Precision Shear bits were not around when FWW did their Forstner showdown some years ago so I was hoping there might be some user experience here.

Thanks

[Jake Elkins]

I recently bought one of their 2" Precision Shear forstner bits. I have previously used other nice(ish) European-made bits, and this new one was the best that I can remember, including other Freud bits. Price sounds good for the set. If I needed a new set, I would seriously consider that one.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Do you think the serrated edges of these bits are designed to chop up the shavings into smaller pieces, rather than shearing them into spirals, so they can be sucked into the dust collector more easily ?

[Jon Endres]

I have several Freud forstner bits that I bought individually a few years ago for specific needs. I'm guessing around 2004-2006. They all have serrated edges. I don't recall if they said Diablo, but they were all in the $8-$12 range each. I think if they're the same ones you guys are talking about, you'll be very happy with them. Mine are razor sharp and cut a very clean hole.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

I have the Freud Precision Shear set and they are worth every penny. Cut quality is superb and the craftsmanship is second to none. I would buy them again in a heartbeat and have been extremely pleased with their performance.

[glenn bradley]

Someone was commenting on these as far back as 2009. I believe I have a few and have always found the non-BORG bits to work quite well. I wanted steps of 1/16" and so now have a HSS set that I built up over time. I have a box of "overflow" including the Freuds that come in handy if some need sharpening and I haven't gotten to it yet. I don't think I would hesitate to buy the Freuds again. I think I have only touched them up a half a dozen times or so over the years.