Skil router bits? What's wrong with them?

[Wade Lippman]

I just bought a kit of 30 Skil router bits for $36. Presumably at that price they can't be very good, but does anyone actually know what's wrong with them? Do they burn rather than cut? Does the carbide fall off?

[Matt Day]

Quality of materials, sharpness and how quickly it dulls, etc.

[Prashun Patel]

You will find exceptions to this general rule: But mostly the cheaper bits burn more easily and don’t cut as cleanly.

For me, this is more critical the bigger the bit. So I have no probs buying a cheap 1/8” roundover bit.

As for sets, I have found that I use a few bits a lot, and others never. Ymmv, but I have slowly been retiring my large cheap set for a few whitesides.

[Lee Schierer]

I've found with router bits that you pretty much get what you pay for. When you pay $1.20 per bit you aren't buying a lot. I have purchased inexpensive bits and they don't last long and usually the cut quality is lacking when compared to better brand bits. I own quite a few Freud bits and I have been very pleased with their performance and cut quality. Their new line of Quadra cut bits are even better. I buy most of my bits from Routerbit world, no affiliation just a satisfied customer. Whiteside also makes good quality bits.

[michael langman]

Wade, I have bought some inexpensive router bits but not in sets. I found the shanks to sometimes be a little undersize, so a possibility the could slip in the collet. I have found sizes in cutting diameter to be undersize, but a lot of times that doesn't matter. The router bits with 1/4" shanks I got were not hardened, so they vibrated under heavy cuts and some broke sometimes. The concentricity between the shankand cutter may not be as accurate as more expensive bits.
A lot of the cheaper bits can be ok, luck of the draw.

[Art Mann]

I use a CNC router and some bits cut for hours at a time. Even the best brands wear out fairly regularly. I can say with confidence that some premium brands last a lot longer than others. My favorite right now for price, availability and selection is Whiteside. In my experience, they last two or three times as long as bargain brands like MLCS, and they cut better too.

Many years ago, I bought a cheap set of Grizzly half inch shank mostly edge profile bits. Some have worked well but many have never been used. All in all, they were a good value but, like Prashun, I am replacing the often used ones with premium brands.

[Ole Anderson]

I am surprised at that cost they are carbide.

[Van Huskey]

The simplest way is to answer all this yourself. Buy a Whiteside bit with the same profile as one of the Skil bits (make it one you will use often) then compare them yourself. We can all chant "burn blah blah, less fuzz blah blah, longer lasting blah blah" but at the end of the day this is a lesson best observed and a fairly cheap lesson as they go with tooling. Remember, outside of a truly worthless machine or tool the tooling is the most important part of the chain.