forstner versus saw tooth and end grain

[hughie]

I have to drill many holes in end grain blocks and spent some time looking at the difference between Forstners and Sawtooth cutters and thought probably I'm not the only one who could find this useful

http://www.americanwoodworker.com/blogs/reviews/archive/2009/12/14/forstner-bits.aspx

Ok its from 2004 but the info stills holds to this date as these cutter havent had any significant design changes that I'm aware of.

[FenceFurniture]

Thanks for that Hughie - will read in detail later (just out the door).

There is also the style that has a retractable brad point pilot drill in the forstner (don't think it was mentioned there, but I only scanned it so far). These are primarily designed for drilling at an angle, on shoulders etc, but they also have the advantage of being able to remove the pilot altogether (after starting the hole) for when you want a flat bottomed hole without the pilot or brad point mark in the middle (e.g. when drilling to within a few mm of the other side of the wood). I only have one of these, which is HSS.

[Christos]

Very interesting article.

It seems to be directed to people that have not used Forstner bits before. Well worth the read as all information increases and strengthens our knowledge.