Router Bits

[Mike Mortenson]

I would like to hear opinions on different brands of router bits. Are the expensive bits worth the money or are less expensive ones more practical. Also which brands do you like best. Thanks

[Donnie Raines]

I have found that there are only a small number of bits that I use regularly. Spiral bits, cover bits, roundover, dovetail and some other profiles. I bought the more expensive bits in the styles that I use the most. The go longer between sharpenings and the cut is flat out cleaner. I do have a set from Woodline(I think a 60 bit set..) that I use for those every once in awhile cuts. They work well for these application for me. I have had some of the cheaper sets break apart on me.

Whiteside, CMT and Ammana are my bits of choice...for what that's worth.

[Donnie Raines]

By the way..check with your local sharpening service to see what they offer. Many will make there own bits from solid carbide for a very competative price. I have even had "one of a kinds" bits made for those special projects. The custom bits do cost more(close to 100 bucks or more) but they do all the design work and you get a one of a kind bit.

[Dan Mages]

I picked up the MCLS 28th Aniv. 30 piece set. It has quite afew nice bits for $99. It has performed nicely on the 2 bits that I have used so far.

Dan

[Chris Padilla]

CMT is always my first choice. I would go Whiteside second. Thus far, I have all CMT.

[Mike Circo]

I stay with the quality brands. Amana, Whiteside are great. CMT is top flight, but very expensive. I get CMT when quality is paramont.

Second favorites for me are Freud. Good but kind of hard to find. I also tried a couple of the Rockler house brand (blue coated), and they seem good for the odd profiles I won't use too much.

Tried MLCS and they were an unmitigated disaster. Learned the lesson of you get what you pay for.

I get Whiteside from www.Routerbits.com

CMT and Amana from www.Carbide.com

[Chris Padilla]

Try these two guys for CMT:

www.sommerfeldtools.com (http://www.sommerfeldtools.com)
www.mikestools.com (http://www.mikestools.com)

[John Miliunas]

Whitesides for my critical stuff. I've also had good results from CMT and Woodline. Believe it or not, I think some of the best bang for the buck is Woodcraft's own brand! Did some real heavy-duty routing in thick acrylic with a couple of those bits and they did a beautiful job for not a whole lot of $$. :cool:

[Kevin Arceneaux]

www.freud-tools.com

Decent prices.