Router Bits Reviews

My only complaint (after practicing with the finger joint bit all afternoon) is the limited instructions that come with it. Safety advice only. You have to figure out yourself how to use this properly, but once done it makes tight joints.

First thing to know is that all cutter heads need to remain on spindle to have to nut engage the threads, cutters you don't need are placed above the wide top cutter and just "cut the air" above your workpiece.

I used it on a shaper with a mitre gauge. Was impossible to hold the workpiece tightly against gauge so I built a sacrificial fence (this also reduced chipping as the cutter exits the back side). First attempt was too deep a cut and bit pulled work free from my clamp AND knocked my mitre gauge off 90 degrees. This made next hour's worth of practice confusing as the cut was deeper on entering the wood than on exited. Getting the mitre gauge back to 90 degrees mitre solved this.

Cutter does indeed cut 5/16" deep as they say, so I started marking a 5/16" guideline on my workpiece and aligning this to the end of my fence; this allowed me to touch the collar bearing but also to clamp the workpiece to my fence. Pull the workpiece slowly thru as a lot of wood is being chopped if all or most of the cutter heads are used.

I had to adjust height of bit for mating halves. I measured from the side of the workpiece cut by the wide top cutter to where the last narrow cutter (one above collar bearing) ended. This distance became the height of the bottom cutting edge on the wide top cutter and it fits beautifully.

All in all a great product.

It cuts the slot, but you have to move the bit along the work to get the full width of the biscuit. This makes sense since biscuit routers have very large diameter bits (~6") and this bit is only about 2" in diameter.

I'm using it to cut repetitive slots on my router table on small pieces. I made a jig to hold the wood and some stop blocks and it works fine.

The 99-270 bit set I purchased took a little getting used to. When I first opened the package and studied the profiles, there was no way these bits would match. Or so I thought. After some practice cuts and a little trial and error I was on my way. The bits are of course Freud quality all the way. Mine unfortunately were assembled incorrectly from the factory. (4 Stars) One of the cutting heads on one of the bits was installed up side down. This made for an interesting first cut. After correcting the assembly error, I had no problem making all the parts for a divided light window. You will however, have to use mortises to assemble your project. Overall these are a great addition to my Freud collection. Solid as expected!

As always, Grizzly router bits never dissappoint. I have bought a few others from them, and they are just great to work with. There is a little bit of chipout when I use this one on maple, but I think that is to be expected when you buy the cheapest bit in the Grizzly catalog.

I suspect spiral-bladed bits would do better on reducing chipouts. Even the cheapest bits from Grizzly are wonderful. They are an excellent value compared to the ones in the stores, and I have had nothing but good expericences in dealing with Grizzly. You won't be dissapointed!

OK, this isn't your everyday router bit. In the first place the picture is misleading as it shows a MUCH smaller roundnose bit. This one is a big mushroom head deal, with a diameter three times the 1/2" shank size. But if you need to make a big trough in wood this is the ticket.

For an art project I needed to rip some 1-1/2" copper tubing lengthwise. I don't have a band saw, and I don't have the shop space for one anyway. But I do have a table saw and a laminate blade that will also work on non-ferrous metal. So I split a 2x4 and ran both pieces over this big cutter on my router table. Put the pieces back together and voila -- a rectangular box with a circular cutout 1-1/2" wide, a perfect carrier to hold the tubing so I can rip it on the table saw. The cuts, in redwood stock, were nice and smooth.

Grizzly's packaging is pretty good, which is important for a heavy cutter like this one. The bit fits in a two-part clear plastic box. Inside the box the cutter was in a heavy protective plastic coating, which took 2-3 minutes to carefully cut away with my utility knife.

The cutter's two carbide flutes look pretty substantial. They'd better be, as they remove a LOT of material: my two 3' passes on this cutter turned 64 cubic inches of redwood 2x into sawdust, which made an interesting, colorful decoration for my back yard. I had to crank my 3-1/4 HP router motor up to top speed to do the job. My only reservation about this bit is whether it's going to hold up to repeated use; I don't know yet.

Delivers a Great finished edge with minimal wood burn. Definately worth the money.

I only wish this was a carbide set. The accuracy and weight of this set is excellent, and the price was very good. Also it was difficult to find a raised panel set that is roman ogee in style.

Works good on large flat areas. Too large a 'platform' for tight areas.

I bought this kit hopeing that it would fit on an old Craftsman 315 series router, so that I can make dovetails on the Porter Cable 4112 dovetail machine. The Milescraft website is not clear whether or not it will fit, but sure enough it does.

Comes with 3 bushings...an 3/4" OD, a zero clearance (not sure how to use it), and a bushing to accept Porter Cable template guides. Centering pin is handy as well.

Overall, it is 100% plastic, but very ridgid plastic. Outside of buying a new router, this was the next best thing.

4 stars becuase it is all plastic and the Milescraft website does not clearly detail ALL routers that this will fit (mine was not included in Milescraft's list).

After reading a couple of Internet reviews, I ordered this from Amazon. I have only experimented on a couple of pieces of MDF, but I had little trouble impressing my wife. Maybe she's easily impressed! Since I am still getting used to a plunge router, my only mistake was the depth slipping a little since I did not have it locked tight enough. No damage fortunately other than to the pattern. You may end up with a lot of extra plastic pieces. Turning the pattern is a bit of a pain since the pieces fit together rather snugly. Once you have it clamped down on the work piece, you really can't get your fingers around the template to lift it out. Hopefully over time, this will get a little wear around the edges, and the fit won't be so tight. The turn-lock base place, bushing guides, etc. are all extra pieces that I don't need. I end up with three pieces that I do need. Actually four if you count the fact the base plate is two half pieces that snaps together. Knowing this now, it seems a bit pricey for $35.00. Maybe Milescraft should offer a basic set without the turnlock plate, etc. I have to strongly disagree with another reviewer on a different Milescraft item as to their customer service. It has been great. I asked a couple of questions before purchasing the Spirocrafter concerning my base plate on a PC 891 router. Their response was very quick and courteous. I am also looking at the Signcrafter, again a courteous and quick email response in less than an hour, but I will again have a lot of extra pieces with the turnlock plate included in this also.