Thread: Forstner Bits in Imperial

Depends on the size of hole you want to drill. 1/2" is 12.7mm, 3/4" is 19.05mm etc etc. Millimeters or inches, a hole is a hole, it doesnt get bigger or smaller depending on which units u used to measure. The only important thing is to match the drill bit to the size of hole you want to drill.

Does the reputable brands eg. Freud, Colt, etc make Metric bits?

Originally Posted by wwf9984

Does it matter when the German Forstner Bits are in Imperial where as in Australia, we measure in Metrics.

Since they are not the exact same measurements.

I actually prefer to work with Imperial since my chisels and plough planes are Imperial.

It is interesting that the bits to which you refer are Imperial and not Metric, since I assume that Europe is Metric.

Who is the manufacturer?

Regards from Perth

Derek

I was looking at Amazon for Colt MaxiCut..
obviously amazon being American would sell Imperial, but couldn't find any metric else where.

Originally Posted by wwf9984

Does it matter when the German Forstner Bits are in Imperial where as in Australia, we measure in Metrics.

Since they are not the exact same measurements.

a large diameter hole is a large diameter hole -- only rarely does anything need to be a tight fit as many holes are just for clearance

However, if you're making joints, then you need to pair a forstner with a tenon cutter -- and the normal rules apply 25mm tenon cutter is paired with a 25mm forstner -- and 1" is paired with 1"

I thought that wwf 9984's question more broadly was: can I drill a hole in imperial when "the rest" is in metric?
We know, a hole's a hole, but it may not be acceptable to have a 12.7mm hole and a 12mm tenon...if the use of an imperial bit is required

Dereck indirectly suggests: "Imperial with Imperial" and, by implication (my own guess), metric with metric which, BTW, doesn't answer the original Q either.....

yvan

G'Day "wwf9984",
I really only do toys but I have both metric and imperial as when you are using a plan in imperial measures, it only works if everything is done in imperial measurements and vise-visa for metric.....
I originally bought a Rockler imperial set and a Carbitec metric set; these have slowly been replaced with the Colt MaxiCut.....
Cheers, crowie

PS - Make sure you get to the Melbourne Wood Show, it's on this weekend.....

Originally Posted by wwf9984

I was looking at Amazon for Colt MaxiCut..
obviously amazon being American would sell Imperial, but couldn't find any metric else where.

try these links

Dictum https://www.dictum.com/en/tools/wood...fKey=5sFdNWv1r

Dieter Schmid http://www.fine-tools.com/colt-forstnerbohrer.html

Caba tec sell individual metric bits.
Their sets from memory are all imperial no matter what they are advertised as.
H.