Forstner Bits Bluing & Sharpening - Woodworking Talk

Plowboy · 01-05-2007, 09:58 PM

I have a fairly cheap set of Hickory (?) forstner bits. A couple have gotten pretty hot and blued. Are these hardened and now lost its original temper?

Is there anyway to sharpen a forstner bit?

Rob · 01-05-2007, 11:31 PM

Yup, lost their temper. Sharpen? I just came upon an article somewhere about sharpening, but for the low price of the new cheap ones...why bother?

Plowboy · 01-05-2007, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Yup, lost their temper. Sharpen? I just came upon an article somewhere about sharpening, but for the low price of the new cheap ones...why bother?

Kinda what I was thinking. So easy to overheat the forstners.

**TexasTimbers** · 01-06-2007, 01:04 AM

As you probably know Austria is known as the place where the best forstner bits in the world come out of. Fisch being probably the best known. They are awesome bits and have come down in price compared to what they used to cost!

But there is a brand I have been wanting to try taht has been making noise called Steelex. I googled them and could not find their website. Amazon tool crib carries them though.

Good meat ain't cheap and cheap meat ain't good. Pony up a little more cash for things like forstners because not only is it cheaper to buy the more expensive ones by far, it is also alot less headaches distracting you from you hobby or living.

Big Dave · 01-06-2007, 10:46 AM

I've got a couple of sets from Grizzly. One set is the HSS and the other are the carbide tipped ones. I've been using the carbide tipped ones lately and have not needed to sharpen them at all. The HSS ones need to be touched up a little but still work good.

Plowboy · 01-06-2007, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Dave

I've got a couple of sets from Grizzly. One set is the HSS and the other are the carbide tipped ones. I've been using the carbide tipped ones lately and have not needed to sharpen them at all. The HSS ones need to be touched up a little but still work good.

How do you sharpen them?

Big Dave · 01-06-2007, 11:22 AM

You can take them to a saw sharpening shop and they will do it for you or if their not too bad you can take a file and file the 45 degree slope. You will need to make the same number of passes on each cutting slope so that one doesn't end up extending farther down than the other. I do this from time to time but to get the sharpest edge i'd take it to a saw shop.

jpw23 · 01-07-2007, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plowboy

How do you sharpen them?

I've had pretty good luck using a small, fine cut triangle file and just dress the cutting edges a little. If its in real bad shape, I go get a new one.