How Do Forstner Bits Work?
Video transcription
There are a lot of drill bits used in woodworking, but only one of them is going to give you a nice, clean flat bottom hole. I am Dave Trull with The Trull Gallery, and I'm going to talk about how Forstner bits work. Forstner bits are a little bit different than most drill bits. They have a centering bit which lets you get right on your mark and drill exactly where you want to drill. They have teeth on their outer edge, which give you a nice clean cut on the sides of your hole, and they also have a scraping edge on the inside between the centering bit and the outer teeth, and that cleans out the bouts of the hole. And because of that edge in the middle, it gives you a nice flat bottom finish. Forstner bits can be used either in a handheld drill or in a drill press. You want to go ahead and use not just the one spot on your chuck to use your chuck key but go ahead and use the other one or two that's there as well. That keeps it nice and centered, and gives you a nice snug fit. Another thing you want to keep in mind with Forstner bits is they are removing a lot of stock so that you can't just lean right in and blast right through. You want to go ahead and make light passes, set it in a bit then pull it out and allow it to clean all the, allow it to clean the chips out as you are working and then go back in and make your final pass. If you are doing a deep hole you may need to clean that out several times. If it's a shallow one, you may only be able to do it once. So, that's how Forstner bits work. I'm Dave Trull with The Trull Gallery, the fine art of furniture making.