Forester Tear Out

[Mark Beattie]

Has anyone dealt with chattering forester bit when facing the shank? On Kurt's advice a while back, I purchased a Freud 1.5" forstner bit, which has been working good, but as of late has been leaving a bit of 'tear out' on the shank face. When I advance the bit into the briar, it has a tendency to bounce a bit and this leaves a rough surface. I will say tere is a bit but it isnt extreme. Do these bits need a freshening on their cutting edges every so often? Any remedies?

Cheers,

Mark

[Sasquatch]

Take a tiny file and sharpen it. Sounds like a dull tool to me.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

I agree with sas. My Freud 1.5" is getting dull and cutting as you describe. You could try to sharpen it. I would break out a fresh $20 bill and buy a new one. Maybewhen you have 3 or 4 dull bits it would be worth having them sharpened professionally.

[Mark Beattie]

Yup. A couple minutes with a small needle file improved the cut quality. I forget how much I paid for that bit, but if it's $20 then I guess it would be worth it. Seems like pipe making is 40% pipe making and 50% running around, searching for tooling. The remainder is spent pulling your hair out and scrambling around forums. Thanks for the help Sas and Fuchi_jeg.

[Kenny]

It's well worth the investment to just buy the sharpening kit from Rockler. I comes with a 600grit diamond paddle, 600grit diamond triangle file, CeramCut honing stone (little rotary piece) and complete instructions on how to sharpen most any forstner bit. And the results with the diamond far exceed a normal file.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... te=ROCKLER

Best $20 you'll ever spend on drill bit maintenance. And it's better than a drawer full of dull bits.

[Charl]

I'd say take the Subura back to the car dealership if it rattles.

[FredS]

I'd say take the Subura back to the car dealership if it rattles.

Ha