# New Whiteside metric bit set



## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Our campaign to make metric bits available in the US has paid off. The new Whiteside 460 metric bit set is now available for purchase here: Buy Whiteside Set 460, Metric, Straight Double Flute 3-Piece Set, 1/2"SH, 6mm, 10mm, and 12mm D at Woodcraft.com

Note: Aussie members can buy from Woodcraft too.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Mike said:


> Our campaign to make metric bits available in the US has paid off. The new Whiteside 460 metric bit set is now available for purchase here: Buy Whiteside Set 460, Metric, Straight Double Flute 3-Piece Set, 1/2"SH, 6mm, 10mm, and 12mm D at Woodcraft.com
> 
> Note: Aussie members can buy from Woodcraft too.


Mike, We are up to our necks in a sea of metric tools here in Australia and we don't need to import them, most of the European bits are metric and most of the ones made here by our fine Australian Toolmakers are metric as well, I was thinking about sending some over to you as there seems to be a shortage in the USA. NGM


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Neville, two Whiteside metric bits are already available in Oz; they are used with one of the Woodpeckers Australia jigs. Freud offers metric bits in the US now and so does another in house brand. I'm not saying anything against Carbitec? I know of no comparison testing done in Oz. Are you aware of any?


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Mike said:


> Neville, two Whiteside metric bits are already available in Oz; they are used with one of the Woodpeckers Australia jigs. Freud offers metric bits in the US now and so does another in house brand. I'm not saying anything against Carbitec? I know of no comparison testing done in Oz. Are you aware of any?


Mike, we have some outstanding cutter manufacturers here but you spelling "Carbitec" does not ring a bell with me, we do have a Carb-I-tool here and they make great cutters in both metric and imperial, including, that I have had them make specials cutters for me that were also great, they are at - [email protected] - and if you go there you can see their range, we also do have a tool distributor here called Carba-tec and they sell many cutters, as well as other tools/machines, both from here and from everywhere else inc Europe where they are mostly metric however these days I wish that someone here sold a variable speed controller that I could use here, the US ones look fine to me but you all there use 110volts where we use 240 volts so your "speed controllers" are no good here, Freud are great and they have more than just router cutters, I also use local cutter/saw/tool sharpeners to make cutters as anyone who can sharpen them can make them, so feel free to email me if you wanted to talk "Australian tools" and about me talking about "metric is not evil" to all you US guys, well what can I say, what can I say? as I was just enjoying myself messing with your heads, NGM


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Neville, I am sure you will appreciate that it is tough to keep tools straight world wide, hence the ? after my brand name mutilation.  I am sure members from Oz would appreciate any opinions you have formed on the quality of different Aussie brands. Here in the US magazines have run comparison testing on how well different brands perform and Whiteside has always come out on top. Amana has plants in 5 countries and Freud is the largest bit producer in the world.(now owned by Bosch) Most bits perform well out of the package but over time edge retention shows big differences between brands.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Mike said:


> Neville, I am sure you will appreciate that it is tough to keep tools straight world wide, hence the ? after my brand name mutilation.  I am sure members from Oz would appreciate any opinions you have formed on the quality of different Aussie brands. Here in the US magazines have run comparison testing on how well different brands perform and Whiteside has always come out on top. Amana has plants in 5 countries and Freud is the largest bit producer in the world.(now owned by Bosch) Most bits perform well out of the package but over time edge retention shows big differences between brands.


Dear Mike et al, I think that there was one time when I did pick up a router cutter and I used it because it was an “exact metric size” but after many decades of me using the router, that is permanently “welded” to my arm, then I just cannot remember when that was, I really have never cared that a cutter was “metric” at all, as I use the “edge” and not ever the “exact cutter width”. I would always use the “biggest cutter” that could do the required job, as a bigger cutter spins better, it cuts better, and gets less hot, so as “bigger” cuts better under load and stays sharper”, then it would be very rarely that any cutter that I did use, was the “exact width of the thickness of my working material” so metric does not affect me at all, so then as there is “no cutter that just suits the material thickness” that I intend to use, so then I “trench and rebate”. I would pick any cutter that was, in cutter size, about 75% of the thickness of my material to be inserted, and I would set up and run the trench with particular attention to the out-side, or the top-side line, of the line of the trench or groove, and I would run the trench, then I would rebate the underside, or inside, of the material to be inserted, and set the thickness of the tennon created by that rebate, to suit the cutter I used for the trench, and I would pay very close attention to the size (overall width of the seen area) of the shoulder created, as “it” the shoulder, sets the finished size, of the assembled item when it is pulled up, and I would cut he overall pre-rebated width of the inserted item to be slightly less than it should nominally be, as it is only the “shoulder size” that matters, and I would want a little space under the tennon after the joint was assembled anyway, so as, this “tennon one” and “rebate the other” method, is always my preferred way, and me doing that also means that I don’t use thousands of Lamello or Domino type joiners, then I really don’t care about metric at all and I never have. The short reason why I choose any cutter over any other is the same old one, “bigger is better”, and if you have a bigger one then you should use it, when you can.

Now, I am sure that you are talking about cutter sharpness and longevity, so, if a brand new cutter, when it is held in your hand, does not have a good thick slab of tungsten on it, and it does not lay open the skin on your thumb when you run it across the cutter edge, then don’t buy it, 

_*”now pay close attention kiddies, I am not saying that you test that to the point where you need to have your thumb stitched or that you would need to see a Doctor or have to mop up any of your blood”*_, 

but if it is not that sharp out of the box then don’t buy it and as the very good ones can open your finger to the bone, so don’t go and do that when you test that edge. I have found that all the cheaper cutters and cutter moulding sets, do not have that much tungsten on them, and they are never polished that sharp, it is the quality and thickness of the tungsten used, and that professional care and attention given to the final sharpening and polishing when that cutter is made that decides if it is good or not and even though I have not had the pleasure of using some cutters made in the USA, then I am very sure that the good ones made there would be as good as any made here or in Europe, you all could go the Carb-I-Tool.com.au web site and compare the pricing if you like as they would ship to the USA, and most likely they do, and I can say that their cutters are as good as any that I have ever used and I can also say this, some cutters that are made in the high volume production factories do seem to have thinner tungsten so after a few time being sharpened then there would not be that much left, and I have never seen one of the Carb-I-Tool cutters where the tungsten looked thin to me. There is also this, after a cutter is sharpened a few times then that thicker tungsten makes it last longer and, no cutter is the same size it was made, after it has been sharpened a few times so the “trench and rebate system” is good for that problem too. Good cutters are worth buying in the first instance and are worth being cared for, and proper and professional sharpening is worth the money, this is a throw away world but if you do want to throw them away and not sharpen them the do send them to me instead and I will adopt them myself and I will give them a good home and not assault them, up too much, on my router table. I have never seen any cheaper cutter that cut my thumb’s skin when I took it out of the box, they are just not worth the money.

I have been buying and using some of the spectacular up-cut and down-cut “spiral solid tungsten cutters” in sizes from 12 to 16mm, I did think that they were all made in Europe but we also do make them here and I imagine that they are also made in the USA, I have been astonished at how good they are, we do make them because if you can sharpen them you can make them and we do, these cutters are expensive yet they are worth the money to me as I do commercial runs, that is, that I cannot remember ever making “one” of anything I ever made and even if I was asked to make one, then I would make at least two, and more often ten, once I set up for a cut then I do a few of them as the extra machining is free, I swore to not treat them harshly but please forgive me “Router Cutter God” as I have, and they have never let me down, it does not matter where they are made and by whom but good cutters with good thick tungsten, that have been made well, and polished to a fine edge, are worth the money and the cheap cutters or cheap sets do not last and do not cut cleanly so never buy them, even if you are a hobbyist then buy the good ones, these sets of cheap moulding cutters are normally not worth the money so buy individual cutters as you need them, and then love them, or buy the best that you can afford as the cheap ones will let you down and never cut well and never live a long and fruitful life, I would like to know how carb-I-tool.com.au prices compare with those from the USA and if they are worth buying when the shipping is included? I can say that these cutters are as good as any, and better than many, than I have ever used from anywhere around the world, so can someone say how the prices compare with cutters made in the USA, someone should also give them a try and then say what they then think. 

Routers are one of the most dangerous tools and are up there with angle grinders and circular saws so treat them with total respect or they will bite you very hard, so do a few cuts to get close and never do the full cut as a once only pass, when you are moulding (we heathens in the antipodes put the good English “U” into the words that you in the USA have taken it out of, so for us the “U” in moulding, should be there as should the “U” in “Colour”, I only say this so you will not say that I cannot spell) or doing any trenching, then do a final thinner last cut to get the finished mould, don’t cut to hard or too thick as that damages the cutter and dulls it and shortens it’s life, any hand held router or one in a table, is not a spindle moulder, so treat it that way, use all protective covering needed and safety glasses, keep your work area clean, In my first week as an Apprentice I was told by a tradesman, who only still had 65% of his fingers left and I think only 5 that were 100% complete, that you needed to lose a few fingers before you were good enough to be called a tradesman, I am 56 and have nicked one once on a table saw and once sanded away part of a finger nail on a linisher, but you cannot see either is damaged today, I do not believe that losing a finger is worth all the effort so use all care with a router. And Mike, you should see that I think that good cutters are good and why, and why bad ones are not worth buying.

There is no one in Australia who is not praying for the living, regarding the losses that America has just had to endure, as you all are our brothers and sisters and you always have been. No one in the USA should torment themselves and try to understand why a lunatic does what he does, it could be that they want to be famous or they are just such a psychopath that they just don’t value human life over their own deluded mind and plans, I do not always believe in the death penalty myself but were it my choice, then in instances such the new one that you all have had to endure and all instances the same, then I would choose the path of the Presiding Judge in regard to the murder of Abraham Lincoln, he should be hanged and then his name should be spoken no more. May God protect and take into his care the lost and innocent Americans and may he also care for the minds of the living. NGM


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