Craftsman Hardware | Forstner Bits

The main purpose of the Forstner Bit, is to create a cylinder in timber. You could consider it to drill a hole, but in reality, it actually cuts out a hole.

When only looking to cut a hole, you could use a holesaw, but that won't allow you to drill only half way through the material, with a hollowed out area. So, holes that are created with a Forstner Bit, are often intended for replacing the timber that is drilled out, with dowels for line-up of glued pieces, screw head concealment, timber plugs, cutting out the bulk for mortise joins and in some instances for cutting concave curves.

TCT or Carbide Tipped tooling has the ability to deal with higher stress loads and dirty timbers, without going blunt or heating up too quickly, ultimately leading to longer lifepsan of the tooling

Tool steel, is a cost-effective solution to getting high results and the ability to easily sharpen on-demand. Generally speaking for anything that is less than light industrial use, tool steel is the base product range to stick with. When dealing with hardwoods on a commercial level, it would likely benefit to look at the TCT range. Either way, you can find FAMAG Forstner Bits in both variables, at Craftsman Hardware.

For woodworking, it is difficult to provide a stable feedrate when boring with a screw auger which feeds itself into the timber, so we will always recommend a centre point or centre drill. The difference between these two, is a point is for level application, either horizontal or vertical to the workpiece, while a centre drill will allow for off-level application such as round workpieces or for beam roof trusses that require working level, on a work surface with gradient.