Ha! The irony of how much I value my super-cheap set of Chinese forstner bits - all of which are very slightly out of spec...which is so fantastic when I need to cut a hole which is just a bit smaller or larger than an accurate standard measurement...which is pretty often actually when considering the nature of the fit (loose, slip/slide, interference/press) I'm after. Now I need to find some less than accurate speed bits!
Well, John, having had access to the gamut of them, comparing Austrian bits to Chinese ones, and running lots of tests, there was up to a 500 times longer working life in the expensive Euro ones; then throw in some hard tropical hardwood or aluminum, and the difference was often apparent on the first hole. Yes, I did have certain advantages as a well-known dealer, like even getting full sets for free to test. But the very best Forstners in the world were US made, and they didn't give out samples to anyone. Nor did they sell through any retail outlet or woodworking store, even online. Hundreds of dollars per bit, true industrial quality. We used them in our big door shop for lock boring.
Euro cup hinge cabinet boring is another application which distinguished the men from the boys when it came to Forstners. The cheap import knockoff ones delivered only grief. If you like the idea of slightly off-sized diameters, just get a Chinese drill press with a little wobble in the spindle! My own method - get a termite inebriated and tell it to walk in a circle.
Closer to home : I make my own hardwood picture frames. The average hardware store bit will either break in usage or burn high silica woods and oily tropical ones, just like the distinction between shaping bits. It might take only a few minutes for the wrong bit to ruin they day. The best you can buy is always the cheapest. And gosh - looking a my Ebony mahogany camera - that was a serious woodworker! - and precisely making them in true ebony wood as well was even more demanding. I sold equipment to a fellow commissioned to make all the doors and windows out of solid ebony wood on a personal residence where even the detached barn had twelve guest rooms and seven bathroom on the upper level. The main house had 21 rooms, and there was an intermediate sized "guest house" too - all matched. There goes another rain forest! And the cost of the carbide alone - yikes!
Dave, did you receive your camera screws?
Curious if you did. I need to call them again about mine.
CH
Originally Posted by Dhanner
Carlos, I did receive them a couple of days after that e-mail.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last fall I had a couple shipping issues with Ries -- but when I called Spencer and spoke to him -- he made it all right.
Very happy with the products and his service.
David
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