Sharpening Forstner Bits

Brent Dowell

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Reno NV
Wow, What a difference it can make even on a cheapo Grizzly set like mine.

A while back I picked up a forstner bit sharpening kit like this one

forstnerbitsharpenkit.jpg

Someone I know needs to borrow a bit, so I thought I would clean it up and sharpen it. What a difference that made.

It made shavings like those that come off of a pencil sharpening, and made smooth clean cuts in cherry.

My only problem now is that my forstner bit kit has so many bits in it...
 
I stretched a high carbon set from Woodcraft for years by doing a touch up now and again. I think the set was about $15 and boy, did I get my money's worth. Several folks sell sharpening sets now and all are pretty inexpensive. As your experience shows, a little love can really bring your bits back to like new performance.
 
I'm pretty cheap about replacing my bits... I use the large bits for pepper mills, 1 3/4, 1 9/16, 1 1/2 and a couple of others... I have a cheap HF 1" belt sander and when the bit s stop cutting well, a quick touch on the sander works wonders.... you and slip the slot in the bit over the belt and touch the flat side of the bit to sharpen... probably not as well as using the hand tiles, but works for me in a pinch.
 
I stretched a high carbon set from Woodcraft for years by doing a touch up now and again. I think the set was about $15 and boy, did I get my money's worth. Several folks sell sharpening sets now and all are pretty inexpensive. As your experience shows, a little love can really bring your bits back to like new performance.

Glenn,

I've got plenty of love. What I need is skill.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
Just sharpened a couple bits yesterday---used some diamond files for the two cutters--- but chucked a chainsaw sharpening stone in my dremel tool. Next used a sharpie to darken the inside of the cutting rim---proceeded to very carefully freshen the inside surface--and this old and much used bit cut like or better then new---FYO--works for me.
 
To each their own but, I use a diamond paddle to file the face of the flats as shown in the Wood slideshow as opposed to the tops of them as shown in the John Heisz video. There is a large bearing surface to use as a reference when you file the face which makes it easy for me to keep the correct geometry. I put an acorn shaped Dremel stone in the drill press for doing the inside of the rims. Whatever works for you works and as Brent originally pointed out, the difference in a restored bit will put a smile on your face.
 
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