Freud Reviews

My first introduction into mortise and tenon joinery was with a flute up spiral bit, and a self built template, made from 1/4" plywood. I used a dial caliper, and measured the difference between the template guide collar, and the edge of the bit. Then I added that to the size of the opening-mortise, I wanted to make. After a lot of careful cutting, I made a snug fit template, which resulted in a snug fit mortise. I have since learned to use, one or a pair of Tru-Grip guides, with a stop. A lot less set up time, and the same results. Anyhow on to the bit. The beautiful thing about flute up spiral bits, is that they cut the sides of your tenon, and the bottom of the tenon perfectly smooth. Even if you are making multiple passes, you don't see a seam line. I guess perfect walls on a tenon that won't be seen when they are glued together, is not that important, but a perfect fit is. This will give you a perfectly straight even tenon. No chisel made pockets for the glue to fill. I love old world techniques, but a flute up spiral bit, is your best bet.
The 1/8" is small, and usually used for inlays and such. The shaft is 1/4" and the tip is 1/8", so you can not plunge the bit as deep as the shaft will allow. On a 1/4" bit with a 1/4" shaft, or a 1/2" bit with a 1/2" shaft, you can plunge an even cut as deep as the shaft. Good to know when making deep mortises.
Freud makes a very nice bit, and this one is very sharp, and will last a long time. Highly recommended.

I am very pleased with this set. These bits cut cleanly and do not burn your workpiece. The finished edge is very smooth. I have used Crafstman and viper bits before, and these are much better. With lesser quality bits, I spent a lot of time carefully going over the edge removing burn marks and smoothing out spintering. Never again.

These bits were used extensively in a hand held Bosh 3 1/4 hp router to customize 6 x 6 posts supporting a railing in an ornate exterior stairway. They maintained their edges and the bearings stayed cool while doing a high volume of work. Additionally, Freud's design purposefully slows the rate of cut to prevent too much enthusiasm and the problems with kickback, a quality I found useful.

I am a big fan of freud bits for a couple reasons. 1: they are durable and hold a great edge; 2: they are reasonably priced for their high quality. the value here is in the set as opposed to buying them individually. this set comes in a large case which can be handy if you dont have some other storage solution already. If you are just beginning to get a router bit collection together, this is a good starting point. go for the 5 piece round over next. stick with 1/2" bits whenever possible.

I purchased this set and they cut perfectly. Every router bit I own is made by freud. There bits cut very smoothly and they are well built. This set includes 5 bits, a matched set of rail and style bits, a glue joint bit, a raised panel bit (99-512 instead of the one that reguraly comes with the set)Bits cut so smooth that you hardly have to sand. have used other name brand bits and the freud outperform the others 10 to 1. Great bits and very well made.

Made panel doors from red oak and the rail and stile and panel raiser bits turned out a professional product with no splitting, which is common in red oak. I run a 3.5 hp variable speed router mounted in a table.

I set out to construct an aquarium stand to match my other walnut furniture. To accomplish the task, I needed to build paneled doors. This set more than met my expectations. The doors turned out beautiful! I have always had great results from Freud bits. It certainly does help if you have prior knowledge of door panel construction before using this set. I relied a bit on past experience due to somewhat poor instructions that came with the set. Price wise, the set seemed the way to go to me, because you get more hardware for your money.

The popular 5 piece set is what I initially bought. It includes the glue up joint bit, which is nice for gettting a lot of panels to line up properly while gluing. It also includes the door lock bit, which will turn your raised panel, into a drawer front by removing the material around the edge of the back of the door face.
I bought this set as well. Why? Because when making kitchen cabinets, the raised panel bit that they provide with the set is too small for a large cabinet. (Unless you prefer that look) So I bought this set, to pick up the 3 1/2" panel raising bit. That requires a large opening of at least 3 5/8" on the bottom of your router, and the opening on your router table as well. The Bosch 1619EVS is even larger than that. The Fein RT-1800 allows for the the use of a 3 1/2" bit, but the casting prevents you from plunging a bit that size. Not really recommended, because you might accidently adjust it into the base. Their are others also, but most fixed base 2 HP routers won't accept such a large bit. So measure first.
Overall this is a great set of bits. They do a great job, and last a long time. Highly recommended.

What can you say about Freud bits that hasn't been said already. Silky smooth cuts, no vibration due to computer balancing and long life due to high quality carbide.
I like the profile that this bit creates. You can use this bit on both sides of board to create a nice looking chair rail molding. Since it is a multi-profile type bit, it can be used in a lot of different configurations for making truly custom moldings.
Highly recommended.

Bought this bit to put a decorative edging on a mahogoney library table that I was building. The bit did a fantastic job and the table top turned out beautiful. There were no burn marks on the piece and the surface quality was such that I did not have to sand the profile.